The Honey Factory

[duluthralphie]

I didn’t know you could split a hive that close to the original.

I thought you needed 3 miles between them or they would rush back to the original hive.

I do see some uncapped larva, so if they stay and I am wrong about the distance, you should have a queen in 16 days.

 

[duluthralphie]

Nice job!... I can’t tell from the pictures if you got what you needed, maybe someone else can... but you’ll have to keep us posted...

were they well beehaved? And did the hive smell good? Lol

I thought I saw only honey cells, my brood cells all have really dark caps. But I blew this picture up and it looks like uncapped larva..

but again, I am a novice and most likely wrong about everything.

 

[R2elk]

I can’t see the tiny eggs with my glasses on and I need my glasses on to see everything else!

That's what magnifying lenses are for.

 

[CindyinSD]

During a good nectar flow,the smell when walking past the hives is so strong that I can practically taste the honey. Mine is not a fermented smell.

I did have a hive that one year did smell of fermented honey and when I harvested it, it was fermented.

Ready-made mead?

 

[CindyinSD]

I know I had seen some where the hive was in a building with a pipe right on the hive entrance for them to go outside, but they didn't stop in the building on the way out. I had my doubts on if they would use it if they had room to fly in between. Thanks

I read about someone's project, doing something similar. I'm sure I just searched "beehive in greenhouse" or something similar. I'll bet you could find it.

 

[R2elk]

Ready-made mead?

It wasn't very good. It was a dark honey that I suspect they made from the Russian Olives. It was fine for cooking with.

 

[karenerwin]

That's what magnifying lenses are for.

I do well to not drop the frames just trying to hold them and take a photo! I can't imagine trying to add a magnifying glass to that mix too!
I did notice that I need to work on taking my photos from a better angle though. I can't even see down into a lot of those cells in the pictures.

 

[karenerwin]

I didn’t know you could split a hive that close to the original.

I thought you needed 3 miles between them or they would rush back to the original hive.

I do see some uncapped larva, so if they stay and I am wrong about the distance, you should have a queen in 16 days.

I asked my mentor the same thing because I also thought they had to be 3 miles apart but she said No. She said I could even put them right next to each other. I sure hope she was right!
I saw the uncapped larva but I believe you have to have some that are 3 days old or younger in order for them to be able to be made into Queens.

 

[karenerwin]

Nice job!... I can’t tell from the pictures if you got what you needed, maybe someone else can... but you’ll have to keep us posted...

were they well beehaved? And did the hive smell good? Lol

They were very well behaved!! They are very mellow bees, they didn't get annoyed with me or anything! The hive did smell good and had a different kind of stickiness to it than before. The frames were a lot heavier than before too. I think it is because of all the honey.
I am going to send all the pictures to my mentor and see what she thinks. I will also see if we can set up a time for her to come check out the hive (either to see if they have made a queen cell or 2+) or if she can't get there sooner, then to see if she can help me find the queen (after the 16+ days are up).

 

[duluthralphie]

They were very well behaved!! They are very mellow bees, they didn't get annoyed with me or anything! The hive did smell good and had a different kind of stickiness to it than before. The frames were a lot heavier than before too. I think it is because of all the honey.
I am going to send all the pictures to my mentor and see what she thinks. I will also see if we can set up a time for her to come check out the hive (either to see if they have made a queen cell or 2+) or if she can't get there sooner, then to see if she can help me find the queen (after the 16+ days are up).

The waiting!!!

I am trying to be patient.

I want to open the one hive and see if I have new eggs or larva. But I know I have to wait.

I am thinking I will open them next week, if the one hive is as strong as I think it is and the other as weak as I am afraid it is, I might take a frame of brood from the strong and move to the weak.