Queenless

On a routine inspection of one of my packages from this year, I found a few queen cells like these.   26 cells to be exact.  That is a lot.  These guys were serious about requeening.   Chances are the old queen died suddenly and they panicked, putting queen cells wherever there were eggs the right age, which turned out to be everywhere.   She was a good layer.  Too bad they lost her.  Also she was a Russian queen I had spent extra money on when I bought the package.   So, bummer. 

I posted this pic to Beemaster and was advised that the abundance of queen cells was a good opportunity to try making laying nucs - tiny hives to raise queens and brood for sale or for backup. 

So, I split the hive into 6, with a frame of honey and a frame or so of brood with a queen cell or more in each nuc.  One of the 6 was left in the original hive, but reduced down to 1/2 a deep.  

Long story short, 4 of the nucs absconded back home.   The last one stayed put, but failed to raise the new queen, so I combined it back on the mother hive, who had managed to raise a fabulous new queen and as of last week had brood from stem to stern. 

All the hives were contracting and even though the blasted bees haven't touched the bucket feeder I put out a few weeks ago, it's obvious that the flow is over.   I put 2:1 sugar/water on every hive.

First Inspection - July 2014

It's been a month since we installed the nucs in the hives and we did a one-month inspection this week.  

There are a lot of bees.  

But they are not in a hurry to draw out more comb.   Both hives had only 7 frames drawn out and had not even started an 8th.   Weird.    Since they came with 5 frames, I'm unimpressed.

Lily caught a pic of them festooning as we pulled the frames apart.  Bees festoon a lot and it's interesting to see how they hold on.  Blow the pic up for a closer look; it's really cool.

Both queens looked like they were laying well and each hive had a frame or two of honey.  We put a super on each hive to encourage some growth and we're feeding sugar water and honey for the rest of the season.

I hope the queens are busy, busy, busy because I'd like to have a lot of bees in each hive before winter. 

Cardboard Nuc Boxes

The nucs I just got came in these handy dandy cardboard nuc boxes.

Unfortunately, the woman who was minding the store where I picked them up gave me wrong information, and if I had done what she said, I would have been in quite a pickle.*  Luckily, I didn't trust what I was hearing and I didn't do what she said.  I don't want the same thing to happen to someone else, so here's a quick description of what's going on with these nucs.

1.  The lids: My lids were not taped on.   If they had fallen over in the car, it would have been a problem.    I suggest a bit of tape across the tops, just in case.

2.  The small holes at the bottom of each end:  These are hive entrances.    In the pic you can see the small hole is open on the right nuc box.   Notice that there is no screen on this entrance - that's so the bees can get in and out like a regular hive.    However!   On the other end of the box, that small bottom hole is covered by white plastic mesh, so you can open the other side and they can get some air without getting out.   [Clever ones will get out anyway.]  Make sure that you know which end is which before you open the vent. 

3. Larger holes in center of each end:   Those are vent holes and the bees need those to be open when the weather is hot.    In my boxes, there was mesh covering the large holes on both ends so that either end could be open for ventilation.    That should have been explained to me and I should have been told to open the vents as soon as I got home and got the bees out of the car to rest before installing them.  

4.  The insides [Sorry no pics!]:   There is a cardboard separator on each end of the nuc box that keeps the frames in place during handling and traveling.   It's nice....except when it's time to install the nucs.   Be really careful to let the bees know which end you're starting at so the queen can get away from that first frame you take out.   It's very easy to roll the bees with that first frame.   The separators prevent you from scooting the next frame over before you lift and take it out!   I worked slowly and in both nucs, the queen was on the back side of the very last frame I removed.  Smart girls.  

5. Installation:  I received no instructions on installation from the place where I got these bees and was not told to ventilate the bees or how.*  I used common sense to get them home, out of the car and up to the site, where I put them in the shade immediately, then I followed these instructions for installation. Since I did not know where the mesh was in the boxes, I had to keep the boxes completely closed until installation and I was afraid I'd roast the bees.   I waited only 20 minutes or so to let them rest after I got them home before I installed them.   I prepped the new hives, smoked them a bit and opened the nuc.  I tapped the side and top of the frame I would be starting from and lifted the first frame out carefully.   Be careful not to roll the bees!  

Tip:  After you get that first frame out, you can sort of tilt the bottom of the next frame away from the others as you get it out.  That will help prevent rolling in those cardboard nuc boxes.    [I also have a plastic nuc box that I use as a swarm trap - it has no frame separators on the ends so it's easy to slide the frames over before you take them out.]

We checked every frame for brood, stores and the queen.   Both nucs were full of brood and the queen was marked on one of them.  I must say that the bees were nice and calm even though they'd just endured more than an hour in the car and the trundle up the hill and had been closed up completely for who knows how long.  

I did not have to return the boxes.  One of the reasons that nucs are so expensive these days is that suppliers are using more of these cardboard things and you're paying for them.   They're plenty durable for a ride home, but they're not really keepable, so I stripped out the mesh pieces and recycled the cardboard.  


*I can no longer recommend that store for bees or equipment.   The beekeeper himself is wonderful, but the store manager has lost my business forever.  

New Bees - Finally!

After paying for these bees in January, I was finally able to pick them up on Thursday.   The season was slow starting this year and everyone is excited to get their new bees.  

We decided to go with 2 nucs this year instead of packages, like we did at first, so we could get a head start.    I'm glad we did.  The pic at top shows bees going in the Hello Sweetie hive a few hours after Lily and I installed them.  Notice the bee flying with with pollen.   Yay!

Nuc is a clipping of the word 'nucleus' as in 'nucleus hive'.    It's a laying queen plus 5 frames of drawn out comb, brood and bees.    A reputable dealer will make sure that there are plenty of eggs and larvae and that the queen is a good layer.    I was not disappointed.   The Hello Sweetie hive had 4 1/2 frames of eggs and larvae.   The Bowtie hive had 5 full frames of eggs and brood and was looking for more space.  

I laid a leafy weed on their doorstep to help them know to re-orient when they fly out and come back to their new home.  

After an hour and a half ride home and being trundled up the hill in the wheelbarrow, these bees were making a lot of noise in the cardboard nuc boxes they came in.   We let them rest for an hour, then installed them.   I was a bit nervous with all the noise and we suited up complete with gloves, which I hardly ever wear for inspections.   I was extremely pleased to find that they are nice and calm.  

So, I finally have two hives up and running for this year.  [Bowtie on left, Hello Sweetie on right]  Whew!   

After a lot of thought about why we lost our bees during the winter [even though they had candy boards and were wrapped appropriately], I've come to the conclusion that one hive was weak from a large mite load and all three hives were just too small to weather the polar vortex.   My goal this year is to grow lots of bees in every hive.    We will feed sugar water for the entire season and try to get very large hives that can stand the variable winters here.  

I'm praying to St. Deborah and St. Gobnait, who are the patron saints of beekeepers [Could be the same person, actually] to help me out.  Help me raise lots of bees and big hives, ladies!