He added another “SUPER” to one of the remaining 2 hives this week. Hopefully the bees will fill each one of those with OUR honey. The honey that is already produced in the brooder boxes (should be 100 pounds) will be needed for them to survive the winter months.
14 Jun
Super Dee Duper ! ! !
Curt has added a “SUPER” box to the top of the strongest hive yesterday. I am only sure that it means if we are getting any honey for ourselves and family and friends, it is happening soon !
Definition from Bee Book that I have been quoting: SUPER – any hive body used for the storage of surplus honey; normally placed over or above the brood chamber
6 Jun
Not much to report here
Balloon
Balloon
There is not a whole lot to report. Other than he has added the Brooder Chamber to all 3 hives. He continues to fill the top feeder with the sugar water mixture. The purpose of this additional hive box is to crowd bees for comb honey production. He may be adding a “SUPER” to the hive that is thriving the most as early as next week. The “SUPER” is a hive body used for the storage of surplus honey which is normally placed over or above the Brooder Chamber.
Another 1st year bee keeper wants to compare notes on how each person hives are doing. It will be interesting to see someone else’s take on it.
Bee Guardian
12 May
Added a Brooder Box to one hive
- Brooder box added May 12
Mr. Curt has added one brooder box to one of the hives today. This week he observed bees going into the hives with their legs covered in yellow pollen!
QUOTING FROM A BEE MANUAL:
During the 1st 21 days after installation into a hive, a package bee colony experiences about a 35% loss in population. This loss occurs because new adult workers require 21 days to develop, during which time the older bees of the existing population die.
After this period, the rate of emergence of young workers begins to exceed the rate of death of older bees and the population grows.
About 4 weeks after installation, the population is completed restored.
Newly hived packaged bees are very susceptible to nosema disease, which often leads to queen supersedure or queenlessness.
About 1 1/2 to 2 months after installation, when the colony requires additional space, you should PLACE ANOTHER HIVE BODY OF FRAMES ON TOP OF THE BROOD CHAMBER, EITHER AS A SUPER FOR SURPLUS HONEY OR FOR BROOD CHAMBER EXPANSION.
1 May
Short report
I was away for the weekend so I do not have much to update other than Curt said one of the hives looks a lot weaker than the other two.
Til later . . . . . .
27 Apr
Looking good :)
flowering tree
This is the flowering tree that Curt sees bees on during the day, but when I get home, they are gone!
The clover that was planted beside the fence is growing! However, it is too small to take a picture of it.
When Curt checked the hives today, he is pretty sure the queens are almost out of the “mini crates”. About 1/3 of the sugar water mixture in the top feeders was gone, so he refilled them.
26 Apr
Checked the inside of the hives today
Curt and I are now on the opposite work shifts for the next 4 weeks. I am asleep when he gets home from work and he is asleep when I wake up in the morning. : (
So our standard methods of communication are notes on the kitchen counter, phone calls, and text messages.
I received a text message from Curt earlier this afternoon. It said “Queens are almost out and they are making honey”
On the kitchen counter was a note that said “honey bees working on the plant below the front window”
When I got home from work, it started to rain (imagine that!) so I did not get a chance to go back to check it out.
Hopefully tomorrow!
24 Apr
Keeping our fingers crossed
Well, we have had the bees for 24 hours now. Curt keeps going back to check on them. He is calling them our “kids”.
Yesterday afternoon, it did warm up nicely and they were busy flying everywhere.
When we were back there about 7:30 pm today, there was not a bee to be seen! Considering the weather, I do not blame them at all for not being out and about. They are staying in a cluster to keep warm and not leaving the hives. They are thriving off the sugar water that is in the top board feeders.
Curt might have to pull the panels out to see if the queens have exited her special boxes. She needs to start laying eggs as soon as possible because they have a 21 day hatching period. The bees we just got should only have a life expectancy of about 30 days or so. This is a critical time in the establishment of the hives.
Also, the weather needs to do a 360 degree turn around (warmer & sunnier) so the workers will leave the hive boxes and find pollen. Some of the bees have wax glands & will produce wax for combs for the queen to lay her eggs in.
23 Apr
Mission Accomplished
3 hives
- mini queen box into hive
- Tiny box with queen inside. candy plug will be eaten away by other bees so the queen can emerge.
- Hive with “mini crate” they arrived in – lower left
- bees in hive
- hive with parts of a 2nd hive on top
- hive with crate
- smoker
- sugar spray
- bees in mini crate
We are officially proud bee keepers ! ! ! ! !
Everything went fantastically. The rain held off and the temperature remained in the 50s.
When we got to the supplier, it was very busy with activity. Several customers were loading up their truck beds with “mini crates” full of bee packages. After going inside the store and having our name crossed off the list, we loaded our 3 packages into the trunk of my Toyota Corolla. You could either buy full packages with a queen included or just the queen. There was a warmth to the wood part of the crates and surprisingly, not a lot of buzzing. A low hum is how I would describe it. As we were leaving, there was still pick up trucks pulling in to receive their order.
After Curt suited up and I put on a veil/hat, he loaded the mini crates into the wheel barrow and went back to the fenced area. Surprisingly, I was not afraid and took pictures and video right beside the bees.
He first sprayed the wax sheets with the sugar water mixture. Then he took the lid off the mini crates and dumped them into the hive box. Because they were not all falling, he had to lightly pound the sides with his hands and shake them a little bit. There was a very small wooden box that housed the queen. After he took off the wooden plug, he had to puncture the sugar candy with a toothpick. Then the whole unit was taped to one of the hive panels. The other bees will eat away the candy and the queen will emerge so she can start producing eggs. He also put an oblong thin sheet of a sweet treat which they also feed on.
After assembling the unit, he put the top feeder in which was filled with the sugar/water mixture. The top feeder has an open side where the bees climb up to drink the sugar water and go back down to the hives.
This process was repeated 2 additional times for the other 2 hives with each time getting more efficient.
After coming back to the house, Curt decided to make a return trip to the supplier to see if he followed the correct steps.
Several steps need to be addressed so he has returned to the hives to make the necessary corrections.
curtsbees 