The Honey Factory

[OhZark Biddies]

I always wondered what to feed a pet rock? Mine died many years ago, probably my fault.

I think pet rocks just eat dust... but I’ve gotta couple like this big flat one near my bee hives that like to eat lawnmower blades if I’m not careful

it would be nice to see a bee on that clover sometimes... I let the clover get tall and bloom for the bees... and then I rarely see them working it near the hives

 

[shawluvsbirds]

Okay I do not have that many lucky rocks

 

[karenerwin]

My mentor came over today and we opened the new hive. Lots of Queen cells being made!!

This is my mentor. She is allergic to bees so she wears the jacket, gloves and veil and carries an epi pen on her.

That’s all of the pictures of the new hive that I took. The bees were very mellow again today

 

[featherhead007]

My mentor came over today and we opened the new hive. Lots of Queen cells being made!!
View attachment 2201678View attachment 2201679View attachment 2201680
This is my mentor. She is allergic to bees so she wears the jacket, gloves and veil and carries an epi pen on her.View attachment 2201681View attachment 2201683View attachment 2201685View attachment 2201687
That’s all of the pictures of the new hive that I took. The bees were very mellow again today

Looks like you are well on your way to healthy hives. I'm so glad your bees are BEEhaving.
It's BEEn a long time since I did BEEkeeping. I'm happy to see your progress! "Long Live the Queen!

 

[duluthralphie]

I think I have a hive that is too weak and one that is too strong.

I have watched this video a couple times. I know he is working with a nuc, but I am wondering if I can move a frame or two of capped brood to the weak hive.

Tell me if this looks kosher to you?

I would put a couple empty frames in the strong hive and a couple full brood and nurse bees in the weak hive.

I have extra frames so I would not have both boxes open at once. I would do this Sunday so I have over two weeks from my last looksee.

If I don’t add them to the weak hive, I think I should make a nuc and start a new hive. I am worried about a swarm in the strong hive. I wish my phone could pick up how many bees that hive has. There are what looks like thousands of bees landing and taking off at once. The vent hole in the top brood box is bulging with bees. Some taking off from there, I did not see any land there.

It’s like they are using it as an extra departure point.

I think the best comparison is they are like flies around a dead rotting deer carcass.

I won’t make a final decision until I get into the box on Sunday, I am just trying to figure out my options .

I have read a good queen will lay up to 2,000 eggs a day or more. If I did the math right a frame can hold about 6,000 eggs. She will have had 32 days on Sunday, since I got her. That could be 64,000 eggs Since I got them.


If I figure half the brood box is honey and pollen, and she had 3 filled frames of brood when I took her out of the nuc. (She might have had 4 frames of brood, there was not room for one more bee in that nuc when I got it. I am surprised they had not swarmed there were so many in it.

I got them from a couple, in South Eastern Minnesota, The woman told me the nuc were overfull and they should have been picked up a couple weeks earlier.

I think they were being paid by the apple orchards to pollinate their trees. Our apple trees bloomed late so they kept the bees in the orchards longer than they planned too.

When I ordered the nuc my pick up was suppose to be May 10th, they didn’t let us have them until May 25th. I think that was why the nuc was so full.

But I digress, so she could have my brood frames full, even counting the 21 day cycle, emptying out cells, I could be crowding them. I have a medium super on them now and have another medium ready to add Sunday.

I would ask the guy helping me but he has been MIA lately.

thanks

 

[R2elk]

I think I have a hive that is too weak and one that is too strong.

I have watched this video a couple times. I know he is working with a nuc, but I am wondering if I can move a frame or two of capped brood to the weak hive.

Tell me if this looks kosher to you?

I would put a couple empty frames in the strong hive and a couple full brood and nurse bees in the weak hive.

I have extra frames so I would not have both boxes open at once. I would do this Sunday so I have over two weeks from my last looksee.

If I don’t add them to the weak hive, I think I should make a nuc and start a new hive. I am worried about a swarm in the strong hive. I wish my phone could pick up how many bees that hive has. There are what looks like thousands of bees landing and taking off at once. The vent hole in the top brood box is bulging with bees. Some taking off from there, I did not see any land there.

It’s like they are using it as an extra departure point.

I think the best comparison is they are like flies around a dead rotting deer carcass.

I won’t make a final decision until I get into the box on Sunday, I am just trying to figure out my options .

I have read a good queen will lay up to 2,000 eggs a day or more. If I did the math right a frame can hold about 6,000 eggs. She will have had 32 days on Sunday, since I got her. That could be 64,000 eggs Since I got them.


If I figure half the brood box is honey and pollen, and she had 3 filled frames of brood when I took her out of the nuc. (She might have had 4 frames of brood, there was not room for one more bee in that nuc when I got it. I am surprised they had not swarmed there were so many in it.

I got them from a couple, in South Eastern Minnesota, The woman told me the nuc were overfull and they should have been picked up a couple weeks earlier.

I think they were being paid by the apple orchards to pollinate their trees. Our apple trees bloomed late so they kept the bees in the orchards longer than they planned too.

When I ordered the nuc my pick up was suppose to be May 10th, they didn’t let us have them until May 25th. I think that was why the nuc was so full.

But I digress, so she could have my brood frames full, even counting the 21 day cycle, emptying out cells, I could be crowding them. I have a medium super on them now and have another medium ready to add Sunday.

I would ask the guy helping me but he has been MIA lately.

thanks

You can do this but.... If the weak colony really is a weak colony due to a poor performing queen, any temporary measures that you make will be temporary. The only real solution to a weak laying queen is to replace her with a good queen.

I just went through something similar with my hives. Two of the hives were very active with lots of bees coming and going. One hive seemed to have very little activity. Once I stopped feeding that particular hive, the activity has greatly increased. It now looks nearly as active as the other two hives.

 

[duluthralphie]

You can do this but.... If the weak colony really is a weak colony due to a poor performing queen, any temporary measures that you make will be temporary. The only real solution to a weak laying queen is to replace her with a good queen.

I just went through something similar with my hives. Two of the hives were very active with lots of bees coming and going. One hive seemed to have very little activity. Once I stopped feeding that particular hive, the activity has greatly increased. It now looks nearly as active as the other two hives.

I think it is very possible, I have a new queen in there based on what I saw two weeks ago and since.

I think I mentioned seeing a queen flying, land on the landing crawl inside about an inch then leave. I was just sitting watching them when i saw it. I stayed and watched longer than normal because there were so many drones on the landing and flying.

My thought is and it sure can be wrong, the queen hatched right before my last inspection. It is my hope that happened and the brood and extra bees would just be a jump start while her brood hatches.


I am making a trip to the bee store Saturday, I already checked and they have no more queens this year.

 

[featherhead007]

You really need to put a little red carpet on the landing/entry area so that the Queen can know that the hive is HER castle.

 

[duluthralphie]

You really need to put a little red carpet on the landing/entry area so that the Queen can know that the hive is HER castle.

Hopefully she is snug inside it was about 10 days ago I saw her outside the hive.

I would like to get a pen and mark her, but I have heard of people killing the queen marking them.

 

[featherhead007]

Hey, it's BEE keeping, Run with it. Have fun with it!