May 13

Swarm Mystery Solved!


Well,Queen Marilyn (Keli’s Bees) are the ones who decided to swarm.  Marilyn now lives with her subjects in the Top Bar Hive as I was able capture them in my swarm box.  Notice how I have added the approximately 1000 bees left behind to Irene’s hive which is the weaker hive in our Apiary.  Otherwise these late hatching left behind bees would all die.  We also discovered Irene’s problem.  She had plastic foundation rather than bees wax foundation that had not been painted with bees wax.  This is unacceptable for the bees and they have been tejecting it.  We have now taken both off these boxes off and added a box with wax foundation.  Hoping this will inspire her queen to start laying better.  The good news for Kelly is I am picking up a new Nuc of bees for her next Saturday and we will get her back in track!  This has been a very busy week that has really tested my knowledge of Beekeeping!  Glad I went to bee school!  Thank you Gaston County Bee Association!


Posted May 13, 2017 by Scott Griffin. (Mr. G) in category Uncategorized

About the Author

Elementary Teacher (37 years retired), Photographer, Storyteller, Bee Keeper. Started keeping bees with my grandson when he was 3 years old. It is something we enjoy learning and doing together. Proud member of the Gaston County Beekeepers Association, North Carolina Beekeepers Association. Graduate of the Penn State Beekeeping School. We are all about the bees first. The honey is simply their way of saying thank you!🐝🐝🐝

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