On Sunday, June 28th, I installed three nucleus colonies into our newly built bee shed. What a feeling it was seeing the little girls flying out for the first time! On that day, I officially became a beekeeper. Uh oh. Well, no, it's not bad, but I suddenly realized that I was now responsible for the well being and health of thousands of little creatures. Yikes! OK, seriously though, I'm good, really, I'm good. Buzzzzzzzz.
The next day I went back to the shack to observe. I sat there for about half an hour and was mesmerized by what I saw. Bees were bringing back pollen, guard bees were directing traffic, drones were buzzing loudly around the hive entrance, lots of fun. My joy, however, quickly turned to dread, as I noticed that some robbery was taking place with one of the nucs. Bees were wrestling around on the landing board, which I had read, was a sure fire sign that robbers were in the area. I quickly reacted and decreased the size of the entry to 1cm. The robbery didn't stop however, all I could do was wait and see. Buzzzzzzzzzz
On Wednesday, July 1st, I moved the bees out of their nucleus boxes, and into their 10 frame hive bodies. The move went well as I only had to move 4 frames from each box. I did a quick inspection on the frames, trying to find the queen or evidence of her presence. About the queens: We decided to name each one. It isn't a bad idea as it makes it easier to identify colonies when talking about them. The queens are; Adriana, Chewbacca, and Leia. Chewbacca?! I know, not a name you'd expect for a queen bee, but, the jury had spoken. Adriana is the name of our neighbor, she asked if we could name a queen after her; sure, why not. If you're gonna have a Chewbacca then it is only fitting that a "real" royal be in the mix, hence Leia. Katie and I decided that I will care for Adriana and Chewbacce and she will care for Leia. Good deal. Buzzzzzzzzzzzz
Adriana's colony is thriving. She's laying eggs and all seems good. Food is also in abundance. I was quite pleased after moving her in. Things were a little more interesting with Chewbacca. Her colony had decided about a week earlier, that they had had enough with the tight confines of the nuc box and were preparing to swarm. I discovered a capped swarm cell on the third frame. Since I had already discovered eggs on the previous frame, I knew the queen was still alive, so the bees were not raising a queen out of necessity. I broke the swarm cell, which turns out was the right course of action. Leia's colony was the colony where I had observed some robbing. Everything looked fine though. They had some honey and plenty of pollen, and I was fortunate enough to actually spot her. A fine looking queen she is indeed! Buzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I finished the moving activity by feeding each colony approximately 1.5 kg of sirup. That was a mistake! According to my mentor, they don't need that much food right now, they need a fifth of that, just to give them a little motivation to draw out comb( a fact I found out after two times of feeding them!). Also, I kind of encouraged more robbery of Leia's colony. It was a rookie mistake, hopefully one that I will be able to live with. More on that later. Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
After a couple of days, the bees had seemed to be settled in nicely into their new hives. The robbery of Leia's colony was still going on! I peeked under the cover of Leia's hive to have a look into the hive-top feeder and when I did a cloud of bees came shooting out: robbers! I closed the hive, praying that the inspection on Saturday would disprove my fears. Buzzzzzzzzzzzz
Saturday came with great expectations, but alas, such could not be confirmed. It appears that Leia's colony was robbed entirely of its honey-stores. Drat! The other two colonies are still thriving, but I was beginning to worry that Leia would be difficult to get started. I decided that I would feed them at dusk, when no other robbers would be flying (again, a mistake, but unbeknownst to me at the time). Leia got 2kg of food, the other two 1.5 kg of food. Buzzzzzzzzzzzz
The next day, I spoke with my mentor. He told me I did the right thing breaking out the swarm cell from Chewbacca, but I fed them too much. He also said I must reduced the size of the entry. His advice had my quite worried. Did I set Leia up for failure? Would I lose her colony before she even really got it up and running? I dashed home, picked up Katie, and raced over to the bee shed. OK, racing is a bit exaggerated, but I was worried. Upon arrival to the bee stand I was relieved to see that there was no evidence of robbery at the landing board. Regardless, I reduced the entry. Then, I opened the hive cover, and to my relief, not a single bee flew out. All the food was gone, which means that my strategy may have worked. Leia's bees hopefully were able to bring the food in themselves. Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Today, I will inspect the colonies again. I hope I have some good news to report in my next post.
Buzz Buzz Buzz
The next day I went back to the shack to observe. I sat there for about half an hour and was mesmerized by what I saw. Bees were bringing back pollen, guard bees were directing traffic, drones were buzzing loudly around the hive entrance, lots of fun. My joy, however, quickly turned to dread, as I noticed that some robbery was taking place with one of the nucs. Bees were wrestling around on the landing board, which I had read, was a sure fire sign that robbers were in the area. I quickly reacted and decreased the size of the entry to 1cm. The robbery didn't stop however, all I could do was wait and see. Buzzzzzzzzzz
On Wednesday, July 1st, I moved the bees out of their nucleus boxes, and into their 10 frame hive bodies. The move went well as I only had to move 4 frames from each box. I did a quick inspection on the frames, trying to find the queen or evidence of her presence. About the queens: We decided to name each one. It isn't a bad idea as it makes it easier to identify colonies when talking about them. The queens are; Adriana, Chewbacca, and Leia. Chewbacca?! I know, not a name you'd expect for a queen bee, but, the jury had spoken. Adriana is the name of our neighbor, she asked if we could name a queen after her; sure, why not. If you're gonna have a Chewbacca then it is only fitting that a "real" royal be in the mix, hence Leia. Katie and I decided that I will care for Adriana and Chewbacce and she will care for Leia. Good deal. Buzzzzzzzzzzzz
 | ||
| Katie inspecting her bees Copyright 2015 Jason Hotham |
Adriana's colony is thriving. She's laying eggs and all seems good. Food is also in abundance. I was quite pleased after moving her in. Things were a little more interesting with Chewbacca. Her colony had decided about a week earlier, that they had had enough with the tight confines of the nuc box and were preparing to swarm. I discovered a capped swarm cell on the third frame. Since I had already discovered eggs on the previous frame, I knew the queen was still alive, so the bees were not raising a queen out of necessity. I broke the swarm cell, which turns out was the right course of action. Leia's colony was the colony where I had observed some robbing. Everything looked fine though. They had some honey and plenty of pollen, and I was fortunate enough to actually spot her. A fine looking queen she is indeed! Buzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I finished the moving activity by feeding each colony approximately 1.5 kg of sirup. That was a mistake! According to my mentor, they don't need that much food right now, they need a fifth of that, just to give them a little motivation to draw out comb( a fact I found out after two times of feeding them!). Also, I kind of encouraged more robbery of Leia's colony. It was a rookie mistake, hopefully one that I will be able to live with. More on that later. Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
After a couple of days, the bees had seemed to be settled in nicely into their new hives. The robbery of Leia's colony was still going on! I peeked under the cover of Leia's hive to have a look into the hive-top feeder and when I did a cloud of bees came shooting out: robbers! I closed the hive, praying that the inspection on Saturday would disprove my fears. Buzzzzzzzzzzzz
Saturday came with great expectations, but alas, such could not be confirmed. It appears that Leia's colony was robbed entirely of its honey-stores. Drat! The other two colonies are still thriving, but I was beginning to worry that Leia would be difficult to get started. I decided that I would feed them at dusk, when no other robbers would be flying (again, a mistake, but unbeknownst to me at the time). Leia got 2kg of food, the other two 1.5 kg of food. Buzzzzzzzzzzzz
The next day, I spoke with my mentor. He told me I did the right thing breaking out the swarm cell from Chewbacca, but I fed them too much. He also said I must reduced the size of the entry. His advice had my quite worried. Did I set Leia up for failure? Would I lose her colony before she even really got it up and running? I dashed home, picked up Katie, and raced over to the bee shed. OK, racing is a bit exaggerated, but I was worried. Upon arrival to the bee stand I was relieved to see that there was no evidence of robbery at the landing board. Regardless, I reduced the entry. Then, I opened the hive cover, and to my relief, not a single bee flew out. All the food was gone, which means that my strategy may have worked. Leia's bees hopefully were able to bring the food in themselves. Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Today, I will inspect the colonies again. I hope I have some good news to report in my next post.
Buzz Buzz Buzz
Comments
Post a Comment