Newest Hive Split Report

When I created the 3rd hive with a queen who was barely making it. When I received my new queen her attendants were all dead in the queen shipping box but she seemed to be in good shape. I installed the queen and she took.

Of course, when I readied the hive for fall and winter, I realized it was feeling light and I had some decisions to make. I left it where it was - knowing that I would have to feed it all winter because the hive did not have a lot of stores.

Then, we have had this crazy, crazy weather - too warm, sudden strong winds, rain storms and a night down to 4 degrees!

I took some raw sugar to the hive yesterday to give them something to "chew" on on a warm day and found that the bees were out foraging and there was quite a bit of activity at the entrance of the hive.

Go bees! Cross your fingers for them.

Update on New Queen

It's been a week since the hive was split and they both appear to be doing well. I was excited to see that the new queen had been released from the cage and the attendants cleaned out. On inspection, there appeared to be brood in various stages of development although I did not disturb it for too long - only long enough to give additional food.

Already thinking about getting all the hives prepared for winter.

Summer Split

I have been thinking about it for a while but wasn't ready for my split in the spring. Now, I have a friend that has offered to let me put a hive in his yard in Medford. On Sunday, Mike Long of Uriah Creek Apiary, brought me a queen -- My first queen outside of my original hive delivery. I had to get ready to get her hived.

Went over to Nature's Rescue and split one of my hives -- took 4 frames of brood and shook off a 5th frame of bees into the new hive and placed the queen carefully between two of the frames. Then, closed up the hive (already had a screen in place) and brought the new hive over to the Lighthouse Center to beef up for several weeks.

Fed them a sugar solution from a bag feeder and am hoping that everything takes. I checked yesterday (Monday, 7/4) and there are bees flying in and out so I am hopeful.

Going out tomorrow morning to feed the original two hives and check on how they are doing. Also, going to check on the weight of my honey supers. I'm looking forward to my first taste of honey from my own hives. Now, all I have to do is figure out how I am going to extract it.

Spring Hive Report

So far, my bee hives have made it through the winter. I'm trying to get a decent day where the foragers are out flying so I can really go through to check the frames. I have a sinking feeling the #1 hive has lost its queen.

Last week, when I checked the hives. #2 was calm and the bees were industrious and ignored my clumsy hands going through to see what's happening. Those frames are really glued in there! Hive #1 was completely different -- bees came flying out by the hundreds when I took the top off. Smoking them did not seem to have any effect and their buzz was not the happy rhythm I have been used to.

I wished that I had brought some sugar water in a spray bottle to distract them and decided that it would be better to wait to a warmer day, when I had plenty of time (and sugar water) to inspect the frames more thoroughly.

Well, so far Mother Nature has not cooperated with me with a warm, sun-shiney day where the foragers would be out gathering pollen and I could take the frames out one-by-one and check their disposition and their health.

I'm glad that there are plenty of bees in both of the hives and they are gathering pollen but want to give them every opportunity to be healthy and grow.

Also, I am officially a member of the New Jersey Beekeeping Association and am looking forward to my first meeting of the Jersey Cape coming up on 4/21/11.