Hive Activity 5/19/10

Bravo post swarm:
after 3 swarms this hive still looks very strong, lots of bees sitting on the landing board, and lots leaving every minute, looks like a strong hive in summer. Not sure what the number of bees were in the swarms, both were pretty large as we caught 2 of the 3 swarms. Still not sure if the hive has a queen even as the weather has been dismal and not have an opportunity to get into any of them. They are bringing in pollen, lots of it, so unless we have a laying worker, it may mean that we are queen right. So lots of activity at this stage.

Charlie:
package put in this year, they are very aggressive (Russian) they will sting at any attempt to enter the box, hoping that her brood is more docile, will wait and re queen in the fall if necessary. Otherwise they appear to be doing well. Building up well and as they were placed on drawn comb, the queen went straight to laying brood.

Nuc 1:
swarm that was captured from Bravo, all looks good at the entrance, pollen being brought in and lots of activity.

Nuc 2:
swarm that was captured from Bravo, all looks good at the entrance, pollen being brought in and lots of activity.
Speculating as to combine both the swarm nucs into a top bar hive that i have built and ready to use.

Overall the weather has been dismal, lots of rain and cool temps for the past week or so, getting into the hives have been impossible due to the rain, odd side note some of the girls have been landing in the mud in packs and are gathering something though i do not know what.

SWARM II

Well we believe with the amount of activity in Bravo yesterday and this morning that it we may have just postponed the swarm accidently until this morning, and like clockwork while I was outside they started to swarm again this morning. My son and I cut the limb down and put them in a box again, and (fingers crossed) they are doing housekeeping and some orientation flights now. Hopefully everything went off without a hitch this time.

The first photo is the ball of bees in the tree, the other photo is our beagle sitting under the tree and watching the bees ball up.

SWARM!

Went outside to check on the hives and look off to my left and there is a ball of bees hanging out a branch, looks like Bravo swarmed! I got my gear and a box and then with my wifes help we cut the branch and put the girls in a box.
Less than an hour later and they had swarmed again. We looked everywhere nearby , but could not find them again.
Oh well, hopefully they will find a home and do okay. At least we are helping to reestablish the depleted bee population here in the area anyway.

Rain

I attended the 2010 Indiana Beekeepers field day on 4/24. There was a pitch in dinner and a hive inspection for the newer folks with bees and then a seminar from a local member regarding swarming. If you are not in a local club I strongly suggest you get into one, as the benefits are many for the novice bee keeper.

Weather has not been kind the past couple days. Nothing but rain and storms. Havent been able to get into any of the hives, was going to attempt some queen grafting this weekend if the weather permitted, but was not to be. There is always next week I guess.

The above pic is of one of our bees that landed on my wife's finger

A great inspection!

Sunny

70 degrees

We opened bravo and charlie on sunday and were very excited by what we saw. Charlie only been in for 2 weeks and the queen is laying and everything looks good. No comb to draw since we provided them with comb already. Bravo looks fantastic, after coming out of winter very small, they have built up quick and large.

Queen is laying good brood patterns and several orientation flights have already taken place, they have built up so well I added another deep today as they are already filling 7 of the 10 frames in the brood super.

It looks to be a great year for beekeeping as the weather is really cooperating for the girls.

She's out

Checked today and the cage is empty, so her majesty is out and about. Havent checked for eggs yet but we will in the coming week or so. All appear to be doing well, as the weather here has been great.

Bravo bringing in the pollen and are very busy as well.

All for now

The Russians are here

Sunny 60 today

My son and I went to Kelly's and picked up the russians today and put them in the box, was fun and a challange as usual. But we are getting better at it. i enclosed some photos as well.