The Honey Factory

[R2elk]

 

[duluthralphie]

Nice pictures Bob, like always.

Most of my bees moved inside last night. We are having 50 degree nights, and it appears not all the gals have long johns.


I picked cukes today, lots of bees in the cuke plants. The buzzing is pleasant to hear.

 

[R2elk]

Nice pictures Bob, like always.

Most of my bees moved inside last night. We are having 50 degree nights, and it appears not all the gals have long johns.


I picked cukes today, lots of bees in the cuke plants. The buzzing is pleasant to hear.

I am finding the bees all over. They are on the hawksbeard, rocky mountain bee plant, the malva zebrina hollyhocks in the garden, pumpkins, cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe, sweet clover and the curlycup gumweed. In the right patch of weeds/flowers it can sound like you are in the hive with them.

 

[duluthralphie]

I think my bees hate me.

The other evening I was watching them and I thought to myself, “Self, I think the Nuc hive is short bees, the beard is smaller than the package bees that lost a queen. I wonder if they swarmed on me”.

I figured if they had there was nothing I could do about it now. I didn’t see them hanging off any branches.

I had said I was going to go a month without looking at them. I almost made it a month, I looked back and I think July 11th was the last time I looked.

The reason I looked today was because my mentor called and asked how my bees were doing. I told him I hadn’t looked.

He told me I better look as he has 4 medium supers nearly full of honey and is adding 2 more. He thinks he has over 100 pounds of honey per hive right now.

I told him I was concerned my NUC and the jeweled queen had swarmed on me. He told me to check them, I do what I am told, sometimes.

When I opened the NUC my heart sank, I did not have one cell made on the foundation yet. There were 100 bees or so on those frames but no cells. Worse yet, I had bought the 100% beeswax foundation so I could make cut comb. Well, the little B’s had chewed holes in my expensive foundation and used it elsewhere.

There was 1,000 to 2,000 capped brood in that hive and that was it. I saw queen cells (swarm) cells but they were empty. I am hoping I have a queen. I did see some bees eating a almost fully formed larva, so maybe the queen hatched and killed her sisters. There were a high percentage of drone cells capped.

I knew my mentor used a metal queen excluder, mine was plastic. I have read they don’t like the plastic ones.

I pulled every frame today, there was quite a bit of honey in the brood boxes, but not a lot of capped honey.

Damn that jeweled Queen, she stole my heart then ran off!!


The other hive, which were my package bees that killed or lost their queen was doing semi-good.

Again no honey above the excluder and no cells!.

However, there were 35,000-40,000 covered brood, some larva and maybe some eggs. I did not see the queen. I hope I didn’t kill her checking the frames. Very little capped honey.

I am not unhappy with them considering it’s a new queen. Once again there were a lot of drone cells. Maybe they know there is a Virgin in need of a man bee?

I removed the excluder from this hive too.

I guess the WW will be buying honey this year again.

 

[Kusanar]

I think my bees hate me.

The other evening I was watching them and I thought to myself, “Self, I think the Nuc hive is short bees, the beard is smaller than the package bees that lost a queen. I wonder if they swarmed on me”.

I figured if they had there was nothing I could do about it now. I didn’t see them hanging off any branches.

I had said I was going to go a month without looking at them. I almost made it a month, I looked back and I think July 11th was the last time I looked.

The reason I looked today was because my mentor called and asked how my bees were doing. I told him I hadn’t looked.

He told me I better look as he has 4 medium supers nearly full of honey and is adding 2 more. He thinks he has over 100 pounds of honey per hive right now.

I told him I was concerned my NUC and the jeweled queen had swarmed on me. He told me to check them, I do what I am told, sometimes.

When I opened the NUC my heart sank, I did not have one cell made on the foundation yet. There were 100 bees or so on those frames but no cells. Worse yet, I had bought the 100% beeswax foundation so I could make cut comb. Well, the little B’s had chewed holes in my expensive foundation and used it elsewhere.

There was 1,000 to 2,000 capped brood in that hive and that was it. I saw queen cells (swarm) cells but they were empty. I am hoping I have a queen. I did see some bees eating a almost fully formed larva, so maybe the queen hatched and killed her sisters. There were a high percentage of drone cells capped.

I knew my mentor used a metal queen excluder, mine was plastic. I have read they don’t like the plastic ones.

I pulled every frame today, there was quite a bit of honey in the brood boxes, but not a lot of capped honey.

Damn that jeweled Queen, she stole my heart then ran off!!


The other hive, which were my package bees that killed or lost their queen was doing semi-good.

Again no honey above the excluder and no cells!.

However, there were 35,000-40,000 covered brood, some larva and maybe some eggs. I did not see the queen. I hope I didn’t kill her checking the frames. Very little capped honey.

I am not unhappy with them considering it’s a new queen. Once again there were a lot of drone cells. Maybe they know there is a Virgin in need of a man bee?

I removed the excluder from this hive too.

I guess the WW will be buying honey this year again.

I wonder if you could put a queen excluder on both sides of the queen, basically once she's knocked up and laying lock her butt inside.

 

[duluthralphie]

I wonder if you could put a queen excluder on both sides of the queen, basically once she's knocked up and laying lock her butt inside.

I have no idea, but if something happened to the queen, the hive would be unable to raise a new one then.

 

[Kusanar]

I have no idea, but if something happened to the queen, the hive would be unable to raise a new one then.

They could raise one, just couldn't send her out for her mating flight. Though, I think I saw somewhere where virgin queens are about the size of a normal bee until their laying kicks in. So, it may be possible for them to hatch a new queen, she might be able to squeeze her butt through the grid to get outside and breed, then get back in before her big butt gets too big to fit. If that is true, then that would work really well, impossible to swarm but they could still produce and mate a new queen if needed.

 

[duluthralphie]

They could raise one, just couldn't send her out for her mating flight. Though, I think I saw somewhere where virgin queens are about the size of a normal bee until their laying kicks in. So, it may be possible for them to hatch a new queen, she might be able to squeeze her butt through the grid to get outside and breed, then get back in before her big butt gets too big to fit. If that is true, then that would work really well, impossible to swarm but they could still produce and mate a new queen if needed.

Or I could learn bee AI..

 

[Kusanar]

Or I could learn bee AI..

Oh, I want to see a video of you doing bee AI...

 

[duluthralphie]

Oh, I want to see a video of you doing bee AI...