I worked the hives today, without smoke, and Jenny took some pictures. It was nice to have someone else taking pictures, since I had a lot of work to do, and wanted to work steadily. The order of business today was to check the following things:
- How built out are the frames in each hive?
- Are the queens alive and healthy (are there eggs)?
- How are the food stores in the Mason Jars?
Russian hive:
I began with the Russian hive today. They have built out 5 1/2 frames, which means that I will add another hive body in just a few days. I might have been able to add it today, but I wanted to consult with Dan Conlon, of Warm Colors Apiary, first. His instruction is that a 2nd deep super is added to a Russian hive when 6 frames are fully built out and in use.
While I did not see the Russian queen today, I did see a few eggs, many larva, and masses of capped brood. Also, there was capped honey (capped with white wax), stored pollen (multi-colored substance in open cells), and nectar (liquid in open cells). The bees looked happy and healthy, and were doing a hell of a great job on eating the pollen patty and building out the comb. I will soon add some more sugar-water to their jars, and if I go to Warm Colors Apiary, I will get one more pollen patty. Otherwise, there is enough pollen in the environment right now that they don't absolutely need one.
Italian hive:
When I finished with the Russian hive, I opened the Italian hive. The first thing I noticed is that the Italians are taking a bit longer to consume the pollen patty. Also there were 2 frames completely built out, and (2) half-frames built out. So, a total of 6 frame sides, or 3 frames. While I was able to observe capped brood, and larva, I could not find a single egg in any one cell. This is rather worrisome, considering I am supposed to be confirming the presence of a queen by either finding her, or eggs, each time I visit the hive. This lack of eggs may be one of two things:
- The queen is no longer present
- There is simply no room for eggs right now, as the vast majority of cells I observed are in use.
I am hoping the 2nd scenario holds the answer. That there is simply not enough room for the queen to be laying eggs at the moment. I will call/email Dan Conlon, and Mike Keene, my two mentors. After talking with them, I will have an idea of what I can do to determine the right course of action. I am assuming that I will simply have to check back in 4-5 days, and see if there are eggs in there at that time. I will (first) check my 3 bee reference books and see if I can find some answers in there.
All in all, it was a good day to work the hives. I removed my veil part way through working the Italians so that I could get a closer look for eggs. Still, I saw nothing, but was able to get a clearer view of the bees, than is possible with the veil on. I wish I could work the bees, veil-less, all the time. Perhaps I can. I'll have to learn as I go.
In other business: Today a friends sent an email telling that her bees had simply vacated the hive. All that was left were a bunch of drone (male) bees, and a few workers. No queen, no eggs. She feels that this may be due to the excessive heat on Friday and Saturday. We are going to try and find an explanation. If we find a likely one, I will post it. In any event, she is a fellow first-year keeper, so I really feel for her. She is going to purchase a nuc (nuclear hive) from an acquaintance of ours, and start with it. Nucs are 4-5 frame hives with a laying queens, some built out frames (with brood, honey, pollen, nectar, etc...) The nuc is delivered, and the frames are placed into the hive of the person purchasing the bees. This should give her a head start on building up a strong colony for a good honey crop this year.
