It's been a while since I have had time to write blog entries. We have a huge construction site behind our house and it is taking up all my free time. Anyway, today, I took the time to check in on my colonies and my nucs. Things are looking good all around. I will need to harvest the last round of honey next week and soon thereafter begin with formic acid treatments on the full colonies, but I'll save that for a future entry.
The nucs have all been placed in their own hive bodies. As you may recall, I started on May 21st by placing three frames from colonies one, two, and three into a single hive body separated by two separation boards. The separation boards are just pieces of wood cut out to fit exactly in the hive body without letting bees pass into the space behind it. The boards are often times used to shrink the amount of space the bees have in the hive, in case a colony is weak in numbers and needs time to develop. The nucs were then placed in my neighbors backyard, due to the aforementioned construction site in my own backyard, and were left alone for four weeks. After four weeks on June 18th, I opened the box and discovered that all three nucs had raised a queen, and that the queens were laying eggs, a good start. I also took the opportunity to rid the nucs of varroa mites (if they had any at all) by spraying them with a lactic acid solution. The lactic acid solution is used when the colonies are brood free, or at least no capped brood, as the acid is not able to permeate the wax cappings. I then closed up the box and waited one more week.
The week after that on June 25th, I moved the nucs out of the nuc box and into three seperate hive bodies. I gave each nuc two new frames with wax foundation. Ideally, I would have given them two drawn out frames each, but I didn't have any left over from last season. The two new frames were placed in positions two and four, with the three other frames at positions one, three, and five. I narrowed the hive entry to one bee width to help the bees guard against robbery, placed a hive top feeder on the hive and covered them up. After that, I started giving each nuc 250ml of 1:1 sugar water every second night. Giving them 1:1 sugar water simulates a honey flow and helps them draw out comb faster and causes the queen to lay more eggs.
Yesterday, July 2nd, I checked in on them. All three nucs were well on their way of drawing out the foundations with each nuc already having at least some eggs in the newly drawn out cells. Nuc one even had cells with six day old brood; busy bees! Nuc three I will have to keep an eye on as they had drawn out a swarm cell with four day old brood already inside. I think if I check them weekly, and give them each week wax foundation to draw out, they should come along nicely. The next few weeks are critical to ensure that the bees have developed enough to raise winter bees.
The nucs have all been placed in their own hive bodies. As you may recall, I started on May 21st by placing three frames from colonies one, two, and three into a single hive body separated by two separation boards. The separation boards are just pieces of wood cut out to fit exactly in the hive body without letting bees pass into the space behind it. The boards are often times used to shrink the amount of space the bees have in the hive, in case a colony is weak in numbers and needs time to develop. The nucs were then placed in my neighbors backyard, due to the aforementioned construction site in my own backyard, and were left alone for four weeks. After four weeks on June 18th, I opened the box and discovered that all three nucs had raised a queen, and that the queens were laying eggs, a good start. I also took the opportunity to rid the nucs of varroa mites (if they had any at all) by spraying them with a lactic acid solution. The lactic acid solution is used when the colonies are brood free, or at least no capped brood, as the acid is not able to permeate the wax cappings. I then closed up the box and waited one more week.
The week after that on June 25th, I moved the nucs out of the nuc box and into three seperate hive bodies. I gave each nuc two new frames with wax foundation. Ideally, I would have given them two drawn out frames each, but I didn't have any left over from last season. The two new frames were placed in positions two and four, with the three other frames at positions one, three, and five. I narrowed the hive entry to one bee width to help the bees guard against robbery, placed a hive top feeder on the hive and covered them up. After that, I started giving each nuc 250ml of 1:1 sugar water every second night. Giving them 1:1 sugar water simulates a honey flow and helps them draw out comb faster and causes the queen to lay more eggs.
Yesterday, July 2nd, I checked in on them. All three nucs were well on their way of drawing out the foundations with each nuc already having at least some eggs in the newly drawn out cells. Nuc one even had cells with six day old brood; busy bees! Nuc three I will have to keep an eye on as they had drawn out a swarm cell with four day old brood already inside. I think if I check them weekly, and give them each week wax foundation to draw out, they should come along nicely. The next few weeks are critical to ensure that the bees have developed enough to raise winter bees.
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