Pure LOVE

Today I checked both hives to see the progress, and to see if the new Italian queen was released and laying eggs. All was well. The queen cage was empty and there were hundreds of eggs, each in their own happy little cell.

This photo at left shows the space between the frames where I put the queen cage. You can see the beige spot in the middle (the queen cage), and the burr comb which they built between the frames due to the too-large space created by putting the queen cage between the frames. The photo at upper left is me eating a glorious piece of honey filled comb. The flavor was amazing....a true slice of heaven. It was the first time I got to fill my mouth with a full piece of honey filled comb.

It was so nice to work the bees today...a perfect summer afternoon, with a slight breeze and friends Jimmy and Heather Paquette sharing some laughs while Jimmy took photos (http://www.jvpphoto.com/bees/large-1.html). The sun was setting across the street, and the view was just beautiful. Today, life was good. May there be many more just like it.

PURE angst

Today (Saturday June 16th), I approached my Italian hive with a new queen bee in my left pocket, and a pair of needle nosed pliers in my right back pocket. That is, a package for the introduction of new life, and an instrument of pre-meditated murder...(euphemistically called 'culling' instead of murder). I also used a bee smoker today, so it sat beside the hives lit and smoking away. Today, my work was motivated by fear of having a poor queen, so into the Italian hive I went.

Ever watch yourself in a dream? Sometimes there are moments in my life that are similar to this experience, and today was one of them. You see, 10 days ago when I discovered that the Italian hive was without eggs or larva, and that supercedure cells had hatched (meaning a new queen was born), I was content to see the course of nature unfold. The queen would leave the hive within a week of emerging, and in another week will begin to lay eggs. According to this time line, it would be expected that this new queen would be mated and laying eggs in about 14 days. Without giving it the full amount of time required, however, I observed the uneasiness of the bees and made up my mind to get a new queen. I don't know if I did the right thing or not, but I do know that I was motivated by fear of a poorly mated queen.

I do wish that I had let nature do its thing...that I had waited, watched, and learned.

I began working the hives by smoking the entrance and top of the hive. The bees buzzed audibly, and then became quiet. I waited 30 seconds, and when I opened the hive most of the bees had their heads stuck in cells gorging themselves on honey, which calms them down. It also sets the progress of the hive back a few days, so I don't like to do it unless I feel that I need to.

After the bees were calm, I began pulling frames one at a time. I was looking for eggs, and a queen. Most likely the queen would not be laying yet, but I was looking for eggs (easier than finding a queen). The first few frames had none. On the third frame I pulled I saw her, the queen, walking across the comb. I reached into my pocket, pulled the pliers our and unceremoniously grabbed the queen, killing her instantly. I dropped the queen on the ground and with both hands on the frame, began the motion of putting it back into the hive...BUT WAIT!!!!! WAS THAT AN EGGS I JUST SAW???? Sure enough, it was. WHAT HAVE I DONE!? ARGH! I killed a queen that appears to have been properly mated, and was now laying eggs. Right away I regretted not listening to my own inner voice that told me to 'watch and learn as nature does its thing.' Instead, I had listened to others who warned, "Hives that raise their own queen are more aggressive than mated queens of known quality. You'll be sorry you let them make their own."

Of course, there is a chance that these people saved me from myself. Saved me from the chance that my desire to watch the bees do their thing would have let to a story of a 'nasty hive' that I'd wished I were not able to tell. Still I wish that I had waited one more week, but the bees were getting worn and tattered. I had to ensure that there would be enough worker bees around to care for the young bees that would develop from the eggs a new queen would lay. Time was running out. So, I "requeened." Saturday I will go back into the hive and see if the queen is yet laying eggs. I will be surprised to get honey from that hive this year......instead I am hoping to simply have the bees build the honey comb for me so that next year will be easier on the colony.

I will post another report tomorrow, which will mark 1 week since the queen was installed.

Worn and tatterd

I only had time to work the Italian hive today. The bees were anxious, loud, and restless, as was I. They are getting worn and tattered. I found no queen, and no eggs. There was only one supercedure cell left in there. The bees are building out honey comb, on existing frames, without minding the 'bee' space needed to fill out the frame next to it. What a disappointment. Part way through working the bees, I put a pair of gloves on my hands. I was afraid. The bees are unhappy and I don't blame them. They live for their queen, and she is not there, or not well. I finished working the hive by sheer force of my own inner will. I did not want to finish working the hive today, but HAD to because I do not want to go back in there until I am ready to install a new queen.

Tomorrow, weather and time permitting, I will work the Russian hive. The Russian hive has been BURSTING with bees lately, as the first baby bees are emerging, as workers, and taking their orientation flights....there are so many new bees doing this, that two days ago I thought the hive was being robbed by another colony of bees. I am SO grateful to have two hives. It takes the *sting* out of my troubles with the Italians.

YIKES!

Today was filled with a few new experiences and a new mystery. To me, that is about as good as it gets.

(In the center of this photo at right is a picture of what seems to be a new Italian queen. A VIRGIN queen, which may have been created by the bees to replace the original queen which may have been lost or killed.)

I am grateful to Jim Moscatel, a great friend of mine, who donned a veil and became today's 'beetographer' while I worked the hive with friend and fellow bee keeper, Michael Keene, whose help I am also very grateful to have had today.

Last week, the order of business was to see how much comb the Russian bees had built. The measure was 5.5 out of 10 total frames. This was 1/2 frame shy of the minimum of 6 frames needed to trigger the addition of a 2nd 'deep super' (bee box). It was also found that the Russian queen was alive, evidenced by the presence of eggs in the otherwise empty cells.

This week, the Russian queen was still laying eggs, and 7 out of 10 frames were fully built out with comb. The queen was observed to still be laying eggs. There were bees in all stages of growth, and an additional deep super was added. In order to encourage the bees to move upward into the new super and build comb on those new frames, a presently used frame from the bottom super (with bees, honey, pollen, and nectar) was added to the new box before placing it on top of the first. The frames in the new super were also sprayed with sugar water to further encourage the bees. The Russian hive is doing WONDERFULLY.

In the Italian hive last week presented a number of concerns. First of all, there were no empty comb cells on any frame. They were all filled with brood, honey, pollen, and nectar. There were no eggs, no larvae, and no queen to be found. Not knowing whether the queen was gone, or simply unable to lay eggs due to a lack of space, I closed the hive in anticipation of waiting one full week prior to rechecking. At this point, I assumed that there would be empty cells, and that a mated and healthy queen would resume laying eggs, or there would be evidence of a problem. Unfortunately, what I found today WAS evidence of a problem.

What I found were 'supercedure' cells, which are created by the bees to replace a missing or faulty queen. In the center of this photo, you can see a bee with her head inside a supercedure cell that had previously hatched. I think that the queen in the photo at the top of this blog, may have been hatched from this cell. I belive this to be the case because the were approx 8 supercedure cells (7 of which were not yet open), and many empty 'standard' cells without eggs or larvea. This tells me that it is likely that the original queen is dead and or not laying eggs and that the observed queen is a likely a virgin queen who has not yet taken her mating flight yet. Before I can determine that, I have the following questions that I need answered:

• Can a queen be created from a frame of capped brood?
  
• At what age does the queen make her mating flights?

As I recall, last week I was unable to find any larvae or eggs, so how was a queen created? Looks like I will have my head burried in reference books tonight to get the answers. I am, after all, a newbie beekeeper.

Finally, the new mystery the presented itself today. While closing the Italian hive, many bees stood at the entrance to the inner cover and began fanning. Fanning is typically for orientation of the colony. The only time I have seen fanning prior to this was at the ENTRANCE of a hive, when hiving a new package of bees into a hive. What was the reason that they fanned at the top of the hive, when bees were not coming or going from that location? I am grateful to have this new mystery to uncover, and other answers to seek.