The Honey Factory

[OhZark Biddies]

I went into my hive today.

The slow hive is still slow. I did not see that queen. She is there I think, but look how sparse the brood is. These are her fuller two frames.

View attachment 2206245View attachment 2206265



This is from the strong hive:
View attachment 2206256View attachment 2206258

I moved two frames from the strong to the weak. I figure it was about 7,000 brood, they also had lots of honey. The brood was sealed.

The strong hive deep was over twice as heavy as the weak ones.

I will have better pictures coming.

Hmmm... Are the open cells on the sparsely filled frames empty? Or Have eggs/larvae but not capped, or filled with nectar? ...

I forget... is this a package with a mated queen? I recall something about you seeing a queen come back from a mating flight?... or am I remembering something from somewhere else...

I’m not sure I understand the package bees and virgin queen situation... did you install a package and then maybe the queen when awol ... and they produced a new queen?

 

[OhZark Biddies]

I went into my hive today.

The slow hive is still slow. I did not see that queen. She is there I think, but look how sparse the brood is. These are her fuller two frames.

View attachment 2206245View attachment 2206265



This is from the strong hive:
View attachment 2206256View attachment 2206258

I moved two frames from the strong to the weak. I figure it was about 7,000 brood, they also had lots of honey. The brood was sealed.

The strong hive deep was over twice as heavy as the weak ones.

I will have better pictures coming.

Also, I’m in love with the strong queen’s frame

that is some northy bee stock you should think about trying to overwinter ( said a goofball in MO that knows nothing of beeking in MN )

 

[duluthralphie]

The weak one is a package I got the first week of April.

That is the hive I saw a queen fly in and out of.

The second one is a nuc, the amount of brood she had is amazing. I think she had 14-16 frames 3/4 full of brood, larva or eggs, with the rest open or honey. I don’t think the two frames I moved out of there will make a difference.

I am rethinking my plans and will most likely try to over winter her.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

The weak one is a package I got the first week of April.

That is the hive I saw a queen fly in and out of.

The second one is a nuc, the amount of brood she had is amazing. I think she had 14-16 frames 3/4 full of brood, larva or eggs, with the rest open or honey. I don’t think the two frames I moved out of there will make a difference.

I am rethinking my plans and will most likely try to over winter her.

So the package bees didn’t love the queen and made their own?...

If that’s the case, you’d have to count days ... and compare to bee lifecycles, etc...

but from memory I figure egg to laying queen is a month (verify that... I misremember things)... so if you think that fits your timeline... it could be the queen is just slow to get started and not laying well yet, ... and many of those empty’s have eggs/larvae... but not capped...

...but it could be the frames are backfilled with nectar and she can’t put an egg there... so I’d rule that out

it could be she’s poorly mated or just not quite right ( emergency queen cells sometimes/often produce weak queens) ... but I’d rule out the other possibilities before assuming this...

I think you gotta sleuth it out... and rule out some of the above...

It’s getting late ( particularly for northern regions) to do much in the way of pinching the queen and letting them produce a new one... etc... so I’m thinking you’re likely going to have to ride it out and see what happens...

but if she gets it together in the next couple weeks... then I would pour the feed to that hive...

My theory on packages is the first year you produce bees, not honey...

let them store ‘sugar honey’ and build up to get through the winter...

but the traditional idea of don’t feed them too much, is because we don’t want them mixing sugar water with real nectar ( to be honey)... and if I’m not collecting honey from them then I don’t worry about that...

if I’m starting from a package I’m expecting them to be weak and not produce honey... and fail to overwinter unless I prop them up...

so I feed them heavy... once they come through the winter/early spring... they are on their own ...

Not sure if any of that helps... and I have a beek friend that built up and split two packages in their first year last summer...

so packages can kinda be what you make of them... but for me I think of them as weak, and not capable of producing extra honey... and needing my help to be able to make it through spring ...

In your case it sounds like the package had a setback with the queen right off... soooo... I’m thinking they need a lot of help... extra brood ( if it doesn’t hurt the other hive) and here at least because we often have a nectar dearth in july and August.. I would feed...

Worse case ... you evaluate the weak hive in September and pinch the queen and combine the hive to help the other over winter ...

Other worse case is I’m giving you thoughts based on things here that don’t apply there

 

[shawluvsbirds]

Which one of You sent the to buzz me in the pool today?
It would not go away and leave me ! I must have had some stinkum in my hair it liked.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Which one of You sent the to buzz me in the pool today?
It would not go away and leave me ! I must have had some stinkum in my hair it liked.

You have a pool?

I’m jealous... I have a garden hose and a sprinkler ... and my bees love to hang out at the well spigot and panhandle for water droplets...

But I think they are on Twitter, so they probably heard about your pool and took the Greyhound that direction

 

[duluthralphie]

I have no idea what I am going to do, I will decide in September.

The nuc is unbelievably strong, I went into it at about 1 pm in 80 degree weather with no wind, I assume most the bees were out gathering, and it was still packed with bees.


We won’t get a dearth here until September.
It might be a lot of goldenrods but there is a bloom of some kind until frost.

 

[shawluvsbirds]

You have a pool?

I’m jealous... I have a garden hose and a sprinkler ... and my bees love to hang out at the well spigot and panhandle for water droplets...

But I think they are on Twitter, so they probably heard about your pool and took the Greyhound that direction

Yes! Well... Kind of.
It is a stock tank with a pool filter hooked up to it. Lol.
It is a sitting pool not a swimming pool.

 

[duluthralphie]

You have a pool?

I’m jealous... I have a garden hose and a sprinkler ... and my bees love to hang out at the well spigot and panhandle for water droplets...

But I think they are on Twitter, so they probably heard about your pool and took the Greyhound that direction

We have two pools on our deck. Here we are soaking in it this afternoon.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Yes! Well... Kind of.
It is a stock tank with a pool filter hooked up to it. Lol.
It is a sitting pool not a swimming pool.

We have two pools on our deck. Here we are soaking in it this afternoon.View attachment 2206397

Doh! I didn’t realize I could rig up a pool... I thought I had to get rich, hire a pool building person, then employ a cabana boy

I gotta get me a pool together... no wonder my bees are taking the greyhound across the state!