May 30

May 29 – Apiary Update

Good Morning fellow bee sustainers.  Hope you all had a good Memorial Day as you took some time to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for us.  Thought I would bring you up o date on what I know is going on in our Apiary.

  1.  Just over two weeks ago we replaced Irene’s Queen.  A few days later we went back to make sure she was released (she was) and discovered her old queen still milling around.  We captured her and ended her life quickly.  We did catch a glimpse of the new queen as she is marked, but we need to get back in this hive ASAP and determine for sure she is well and laying.
  2. Checked on Keli’s hive as well as my new hive.  Both hives seem to be adjusting nicely.  I checked on all the hives in the apiary with an external observation only.  All hives appear healthy and busy as they should be.
  3. we also need to check Leigh’s new queen.  All looks well, but need to check and see that her laying is up to par.
  4. this appears to be the season of lost queens.  Went to my Alexis Apiary yesterday and discovered a queenless hive.  I decided to combine this hive with my new swarm of bees.  I used tissue paper to separate them and by the time they eat through, all should be well!
  5. Any visit we make to the apiary should not only include our own hives and the scheduled work we need to do…but also should include an observation of all hives in our apiary.  You are welcome to remove the observation panel on the top bar hive and not the progress our bees are making here with all natural cone.  If you see anything out of the ordinary, please report your me right away.  As a new beekeeper, Sandy has done a wonderful job of observing our bees and had noticed several unusual events that allowed us to save some bees both times.  It is important that we all support and help each other.
  6. Sean and Andy should be doing weekly Inspections to make sure they have their hives properly supered.  Not only do you lose Honey, you can also lose half your bees due to swarming caused by over crowding.