Checking on New Queens in Hive #4 & Nuc - (July 1)

Sunny - 101 degrees.

Today I checked on the 2 new queens and their hives (Hive #4 and the Nuc). 

Hive #4:
The frames in the bottom box on the #4 hive were heavily covered with capped brood.  I also saw uncapped larvae and eggs.  This queen looks to be a really good layer.  The bees have started to draw comb on the top brood box as well.  Within the next two weeks the hive population will probably double.

Nuc:
The Nuc also has capped brood but not in the numbers as the #4 hive.  This may be because there is less space to lay in as I noticed plenty of capped honey, uncapped nectar and pollen in all 5 frames.  The brood pattern was tight and in the middle of each frame.  I’m just thinking she does not just have the open space to lay huge numbers of eggs right now.

Hive Setup / Configuration - (June 21)

Here is a picture that shows the hives and how they are setup.  The markings on the hive are so the bees know which hive to return to.

Hive 1

·         Chris’s original hive from a 2011 spring Nuc. 

·         Currently 2011 Buckfast Queen that was purchased in 2011 (soon to be re-queened with her naturally raised offspring queen that is temporarily in a Nuc).

·         9 frames per honey super.

·         2012 - Harvested 89 pounds of honey from 23 frames.

Hive 2

·         Christin’s original hive from a 2011 spring Nuc. 

·         Currently 2012 Minnesota Hygienic Queen (purchased).

·         2012 - Had swarming issues in the spring from the 2011 queen (pinched her). 

·         Captured the swarm to make Hive 3 (self-raised queen).

·         2012 - Had a drone laying queen from a naturally developed queen (pinched her). 

Hive 3

·         2012 - Created from a Hive 2 swarm in March 2012.

·         2012 Minnesota Hygienic Queen (Naturally raised.  Her offspring will be ½ Minnesota Hygienic crossed with several different species of Drone bees).

Hive 4

·         2012 Created from Hive 1 split in May 2012. 

·         2012 Buckfast Queen (Naturally raised.  Her offspring will be ½ Buckfast crossed with several different species of Drone bees).

5 Frame Nuc

·         Using this to raise a queen to re-queen Hive 1.  This Queen was an offspring of the 2011 Buckfast Queen in Hive 1.

Hive 4 Queen is Laying / Marking the Queen - (June 18)

Today I checked on Hive #4.  This is the hive I created from a split from hive #1.  The new queen has a large abdomen and is actively laying.  I saw a nice pattern of freshly laid eggs.  I spotted the queen laying many eggs in the short time I was inspecting.  She would first stick her head in a cell to check it out, then put her abdomen in and lay one egg, then move to the next cell and repeat.

I decided to go ahead and mark this queen even though I’m not sure if the eggs she is laying are fertilized.  Since these eggs are only 1 day old, it will take a total of 9 days to cap a worker bee and 10 days to cap if it’s a drone.  So I plan to check on this hive again on June 27 for capped larvae.

Here is a picture of the queen cage I used to trap the queen and mark her with a yellow dot on her back.  The queen is circled in red under the cage.  I also filled up the bucket feeder with 1:1 sugar water to give them food for the new larvae.

The Marked Queen.  Yellow = 2012.

 

I also checked on the Nuc I am creating to re-queen hive #1.  This queen also has a large abdomen but has laid no eggs at this point.  She should start laying in the next day or so.  I added more 1:1 sugar water to the entrance feeder.