Two things this week got me thinking about whether or not to be feeding my bees right now. It's like the universe was trying to tell me something. Here's the blog post Jason made at LetMBee.com so you can read it for yourself.
Video Link
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Monday, June 25, 2012
Bee Vlog - June 23, 2012
Hive weigh-in
Queen Anne: 117 lbs (+12.4 lbs from last week!!)
Queen Beatrice: 47.5 lbs (+2.5 lbs from last week)
I'm trying things a little different with the video length. I know the internet can often give us short attention spans so I've been trying to keep the videos somewhat short by breaking them up where it seemed most logical. But instead of breaking up this video into 3 or 4 shorter videos I just kept it as one piece and got a little more aggressive with the editing (cutting out most of the time where I'm just putting frames back or prying things apart). I kept this video focused just on Queen Anne though and have Queen Beatrice in the next part.
Some of my favorite YouTube series are longer length videos now, and I don't mind that they're 30-60 minutes. In fact, one show I like to watch is usually about 30 minutes each episode. They tried an experiment with breaking it up into 4 segments and the audience revolted. So maybe internet video is ready for longer formats and can stretch beyond the 3 minute mark. Let me know what you think in the comments, if you have a preference for more short-length chopped up videos (as I've been doing) or fewer long-length videos (like this one).
Anyway, on to the inspection - The brood pattern is still looking good and they have plenty of room in the brood nest. They continued to bring in a good supply of nectar (without me feeding them) and made some progress drawing out more comb and filling up their honey stores. There's a great deal of pollen in the hive, so no shortage there. In fact, I found it interesting the way they've organized their food stores. There's honey and pollen to be found in small quantities all over the hive, scattered within the brood nest to make for easy access. But the mass quantities of honey are stored, for the most part, in the top box, while the extra pollen is concentrated more in the bottom box.
Video Link
The swarm we caught 3 weeks ago (named Queen Beatrice) is doing very well. They have a very good looking brood nest and should be getting some "new recruits" this week. So far they haven't wasted any resources with building drone comb, but that's sure to change once the population gets higher and they have enough resources to spend on drones. They only gained 2.5 pounds over last week, but it looks to me like they've maxed out their comb capacity for the current population. I don't think they're going to be drawing out much more until they have more bees.
Video Link
Queen Anne: 117 lbs (+12.4 lbs from last week!!)
Queen Beatrice: 47.5 lbs (+2.5 lbs from last week)
I'm trying things a little different with the video length. I know the internet can often give us short attention spans so I've been trying to keep the videos somewhat short by breaking them up where it seemed most logical. But instead of breaking up this video into 3 or 4 shorter videos I just kept it as one piece and got a little more aggressive with the editing (cutting out most of the time where I'm just putting frames back or prying things apart). I kept this video focused just on Queen Anne though and have Queen Beatrice in the next part.
Some of my favorite YouTube series are longer length videos now, and I don't mind that they're 30-60 minutes. In fact, one show I like to watch is usually about 30 minutes each episode. They tried an experiment with breaking it up into 4 segments and the audience revolted. So maybe internet video is ready for longer formats and can stretch beyond the 3 minute mark. Let me know what you think in the comments, if you have a preference for more short-length chopped up videos (as I've been doing) or fewer long-length videos (like this one).
Anyway, on to the inspection - The brood pattern is still looking good and they have plenty of room in the brood nest. They continued to bring in a good supply of nectar (without me feeding them) and made some progress drawing out more comb and filling up their honey stores. There's a great deal of pollen in the hive, so no shortage there. In fact, I found it interesting the way they've organized their food stores. There's honey and pollen to be found in small quantities all over the hive, scattered within the brood nest to make for easy access. But the mass quantities of honey are stored, for the most part, in the top box, while the extra pollen is concentrated more in the bottom box.
Video Link
The swarm we caught 3 weeks ago (named Queen Beatrice) is doing very well. They have a very good looking brood nest and should be getting some "new recruits" this week. So far they haven't wasted any resources with building drone comb, but that's sure to change once the population gets higher and they have enough resources to spend on drones. They only gained 2.5 pounds over last week, but it looks to me like they've maxed out their comb capacity for the current population. I don't think they're going to be drawing out much more until they have more bees.
Video Link
Monday, June 18, 2012
Bee Vlog - June 16, 2012
Hive weigh-in
Queen Anne: 104.6 lbs (+9.6 lbs from last week)
Queen Beatrice: 45 lbs (+2.5 lbs from last week)
Last week the hive looked near starvation. They had lost 7.5 lbs and had no honey stores so I put a feeder back on and gave them 1.5 quarts of 1:1 sugar syrup. They used all of it and it looks like it's really helped them get back on their feet (er...wings?) and they've built their honey stores back up again. I'm not giving them any syrup this week so I can see if there's a nectar flow on and if they are bringing any of it in.
Video Link
They are making good use of the comb in the 2nd box to raise brood and store some honey. But a couple of the frames that were new 2 weeks ago still don't have any comb drawn out, which puzzled me at first until later when I realized that the near starvation last week made it impossible for them to draw out that comb.
Video Link
Last week I found a couple frames of empty comb in the bottom box. These were frames that normally contained brood that had all emerged and the queen hadn't gotten back around to them yet. Today we spotted her on one of those frames and watched her lay eggs. It was nice seeing her do her thing and that she was laying in the empty comb. She has plenty of room to continue laying eggs. I don't think it will be necessary to expand the brood nest out any further. I think she's now being stretched to her limits.
Video Link
I verified that the last couple of frames are still very full of pollen. They have been bringing plenty of it in and have no shortage. I also need to get more experience stacking the hive boxes. I haven't gotten the hang of it yet. The bees just want to suddenly come crawling and flying out of the hive right when I'm trying to put another box in place and they just get in the way. The longer I take to try to avoid crushing them the more they come flowing out. I got very frustrated with the situation.
Video Link
Queen Beatrice is doing very well. They nearly finished off the 1.5 quarts of syrup I gave them last week. They are still drawing comb and even managed to produce a bit of capped honey (I'm sure it's just syrup, but if I'm not eating it I don't see the point in differentiating). I really didn't expect to see any of that as I haven't seen any capped honey in Queen Anne's hive. The brood pattern is looking really good with a good mix of eggs, young larva, and capped brood. Just a couple more weeks and they should have some reinforcements beginning to emerge.
Video Link
Queen Anne: 104.6 lbs (+9.6 lbs from last week)
Queen Beatrice: 45 lbs (+2.5 lbs from last week)
Last week the hive looked near starvation. They had lost 7.5 lbs and had no honey stores so I put a feeder back on and gave them 1.5 quarts of 1:1 sugar syrup. They used all of it and it looks like it's really helped them get back on their feet (er...wings?) and they've built their honey stores back up again. I'm not giving them any syrup this week so I can see if there's a nectar flow on and if they are bringing any of it in.
Video Link
They are making good use of the comb in the 2nd box to raise brood and store some honey. But a couple of the frames that were new 2 weeks ago still don't have any comb drawn out, which puzzled me at first until later when I realized that the near starvation last week made it impossible for them to draw out that comb.
Video Link
Last week I found a couple frames of empty comb in the bottom box. These were frames that normally contained brood that had all emerged and the queen hadn't gotten back around to them yet. Today we spotted her on one of those frames and watched her lay eggs. It was nice seeing her do her thing and that she was laying in the empty comb. She has plenty of room to continue laying eggs. I don't think it will be necessary to expand the brood nest out any further. I think she's now being stretched to her limits.
Video Link
I verified that the last couple of frames are still very full of pollen. They have been bringing plenty of it in and have no shortage. I also need to get more experience stacking the hive boxes. I haven't gotten the hang of it yet. The bees just want to suddenly come crawling and flying out of the hive right when I'm trying to put another box in place and they just get in the way. The longer I take to try to avoid crushing them the more they come flowing out. I got very frustrated with the situation.
Video Link
Queen Beatrice is doing very well. They nearly finished off the 1.5 quarts of syrup I gave them last week. They are still drawing comb and even managed to produce a bit of capped honey (I'm sure it's just syrup, but if I'm not eating it I don't see the point in differentiating). I really didn't expect to see any of that as I haven't seen any capped honey in Queen Anne's hive. The brood pattern is looking really good with a good mix of eggs, young larva, and capped brood. Just a couple more weeks and they should have some reinforcements beginning to emerge.
Video Link
Monday, June 11, 2012
Bee Vlog - June 9, 2012
Hive weigh-in
Queen Anne: 95 lbs (-7.5 lbs from last week)
Queen Beatrice: 42.5 lbs (+4.5 lbs from last week)
Today I needed to see if the queen cups have eggs, larva, or have been capped. I picked up more hive equipment to do a split if necessary, but before setting up the hive stand and getting everything in place I wanted to see if it was even necessary. Fortunately I found that the queen cups were in the same state as last week and unoccupied. Unfortunately I also discovered that the hive had no honey stores. They still have plenty of pollen, but either they've been using all the nectar they've been bringing in or there just isn't much to bring in right now. We also saw the queen up in the top box. She's still at work and doing fine.
Video Link
In this video I go through the middle box and find that the queen cups I saw last week are empty. I wonder if bees make queen cups "just in case" or what. No honey found in the middle box either.
Video Link
I found 2 frames in this box that were completely empty. It looked to me like they had recently hatched and the queen probably just hasn't made her rounds to that spot of the hive yet to lay eggs. Hopefully I'll find eggs/larva in those 2 frames next week. But I've also heard that bees will take a break occasionally, and since it doesn't look like much nectar is coming in, this may be one of those lulls in brood rearing. No honey was found in any of the 3 boxes, so to keep them from starving I added a syrup feeder.
Video Link
I finally got to open up the hive where I put the swarm I caught last week. They really took a lot of the syrup I gave them. There was about 10 oz left of the 48 oz I gave them. They've built up a good amount of comb. We saw the queen, and she's been busy laying eggs. So in a few more weeks we should have a population boom in that colony. They're looking very good so far. It will be interesting to see what differences, if any, they exhibit compared to the other colony.
Video Link
Queen Anne: 95 lbs (-7.5 lbs from last week)
Queen Beatrice: 42.5 lbs (+4.5 lbs from last week)
Today I needed to see if the queen cups have eggs, larva, or have been capped. I picked up more hive equipment to do a split if necessary, but before setting up the hive stand and getting everything in place I wanted to see if it was even necessary. Fortunately I found that the queen cups were in the same state as last week and unoccupied. Unfortunately I also discovered that the hive had no honey stores. They still have plenty of pollen, but either they've been using all the nectar they've been bringing in or there just isn't much to bring in right now. We also saw the queen up in the top box. She's still at work and doing fine.
Video Link
In this video I go through the middle box and find that the queen cups I saw last week are empty. I wonder if bees make queen cups "just in case" or what. No honey found in the middle box either.
Video Link
I found 2 frames in this box that were completely empty. It looked to me like they had recently hatched and the queen probably just hasn't made her rounds to that spot of the hive yet to lay eggs. Hopefully I'll find eggs/larva in those 2 frames next week. But I've also heard that bees will take a break occasionally, and since it doesn't look like much nectar is coming in, this may be one of those lulls in brood rearing. No honey was found in any of the 3 boxes, so to keep them from starving I added a syrup feeder.
Video Link
I finally got to open up the hive where I put the swarm I caught last week. They really took a lot of the syrup I gave them. There was about 10 oz left of the 48 oz I gave them. They've built up a good amount of comb. We saw the queen, and she's been busy laying eggs. So in a few more weeks we should have a population boom in that colony. They're looking very good so far. It will be interesting to see what differences, if any, they exhibit compared to the other colony.
Video Link
Monday, June 4, 2012
Bee Vlog - June 3, 2012
I caught a swarm yesterday so today I'm just checking on the outside activity. I don't want to open it up until this Saturday so that I don't disturb them too much.
Video Link
Video Link
Bee Vlog - June 2, 2012
Hive weigh-in
Queen Anne: 102.5 lbs (+11.6 lbs from last week, not counting weight of additional box)
Queen Beatrice (swarm): 38 lbs (starting weight, approx. 3 lbs of bees)
I was asked to give more information on the hive stand, so here it is.
Video Link
After combining the dying colony with the healthy one I was curious to see how progress was coming along in the 3rd box. It looked like they were using it mostly for honey, which is fine, but I wanted the brood nest to expand up into the 3rd box. So I'll be moving some frames up to continue the pyramid in the next video.
Video Link
Well, this was a complete surprise, to find queen cups! I never expected them to do anything like this just 2 months after I installed them from a package. They've got plenty of room, so I can't understand why they'd want to swarm. The queen is doing very well so I can't see why they'd want to supersede her. It's quite a puzzle for me. But I think I have an idea of how to deal with this if things progress to full capped queen cells.
Video Link
The bees didn't like my waterer with the rocks and the tray. I never saw them use it and I never found any evidence of them using it. But they like the neighbor's dog's watering bowl. The neighbor is cool about it, but I still don't want to bother them (and any other neighbors that might not be so cool about it). So I put together a new waterer. The idea came from milapostal's video here. I really like this waterer. Let's hope the bees agree with me.
Video Link
I got another call for a swarm. Another easy location that didn't require a ladder. This location was also just a few blocks from where I caught my last swarm. It took me a little while to figure out how to catch it due to the complicated spot it was in, but I eventually worked it out.
Video Link
Queen Anne: 102.5 lbs (+11.6 lbs from last week, not counting weight of additional box)
Queen Beatrice (swarm): 38 lbs (starting weight, approx. 3 lbs of bees)
I was asked to give more information on the hive stand, so here it is.
Video Link
After combining the dying colony with the healthy one I was curious to see how progress was coming along in the 3rd box. It looked like they were using it mostly for honey, which is fine, but I wanted the brood nest to expand up into the 3rd box. So I'll be moving some frames up to continue the pyramid in the next video.
Video Link
Well, this was a complete surprise, to find queen cups! I never expected them to do anything like this just 2 months after I installed them from a package. They've got plenty of room, so I can't understand why they'd want to swarm. The queen is doing very well so I can't see why they'd want to supersede her. It's quite a puzzle for me. But I think I have an idea of how to deal with this if things progress to full capped queen cells.
Video Link
The bees didn't like my waterer with the rocks and the tray. I never saw them use it and I never found any evidence of them using it. But they like the neighbor's dog's watering bowl. The neighbor is cool about it, but I still don't want to bother them (and any other neighbors that might not be so cool about it). So I put together a new waterer. The idea came from milapostal's video here. I really like this waterer. Let's hope the bees agree with me.
Video Link
I got another call for a swarm. Another easy location that didn't require a ladder. This location was also just a few blocks from where I caught my last swarm. It took me a little while to figure out how to catch it due to the complicated spot it was in, but I eventually worked it out.
Video Link
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