Last day of April

Today was a nice day to check bees. Temps in low 70's and hardly a breeze. Not a whole lot of progress since last week, except eggs are still being laid and brood progressing nicely. I believe numbers are slightly smaller or many bees were out of the hive during my usual late afternoon visit. Their numbers should increase with this new crop of emerging workers. I finely spotted my number 1 queen all by myself. Hadn't done so until this point. I did not see the number 2 queen, but it looks like many eggs are laid and a lot of capped brood, soon to emerge.

Workers on top of frames.

Exchanging pollen.

Emerging workers.

Photo of Brood

A bee takes around 24 days to fully mature. These are about 7-9 days within the comb.

Beautiful day today.

These are some images from today's visit. Everything seems to be going smoothly. I'm still getting the hang of working with the hives. I may be a little more ginger that I need to be, but as I inspect the frames it tears at some of the connecting comb in between the frames. I guess it's not a huge deal but I think it is. Also getting used to the frame tool, almost dropped a frame with bees on it! They weren't to happy. Fortunately the bees that did fall were over the supers. You never know where that queen is. Speaking of queens, didn't see them today but obviously they've been busy. Temp was in lower 90's with a light breeze. No storms yesterday or today but there is going to be a little cold snap in the next few days. Down in the upper 30's with some precip possible.

 Creating art while they create thir home. Amazing isn't it?

 Eggs within the comb. Great sign in colony 1. I hadn't checked for a week, and I've already found decent sized larva. Their number will increase exponentially for the rest of the summer. The queen can lay up to 1500 eggs per day!

 Meeting of the minds.

 Capped off brood. Now that's a lot of workers coming out in about 15 days.

 Not sure what the exchange was here, but it looked interesting.

 Simply bee.

Worker at hive entrance.

Today Clarence met me out at the hives to determine if we needed to order another queen for colony 1. Fortunately only after a few minutes we were able to find her. Colony 2 seems to be doing well, didn't see queen but eggs are apparent within the hive.

 In both these shots the queen is central in the image. Her body is darker and abdomen is much larger.

Workers at hive entrance on Colony 1

Tuesday, April 17th

After leaving the colonies on Friday we had some major winds and storms come through. All seems well and Clarence visited on Saturday and said he did see the colony 1 queen. Today for me it was about the same as last. Haven't figured the best way to find the queens, no matter how hard I try. Colony 2 continues to show signs of eggs but not colony 1. Both are producing comb and continue to build out there homes. Colony 1 does seem to be producing more honey but again, no eggs. Both were out of their artificial feed. I figure right now they are going through about a quart and a half in 4 days. Temps in lower 70's and low was around 39 overnight. Light winds.

Checkup on Colonies

Here's a quick photo of colony one. Did not see queen nor did I see eggs, crossing my fingers that she's survived. They were active in both colonies with eggs in colony 2. Will post later more images.

A bee day

Did you know that worker bees only live an average of 40 days! That's like every day is 2 human years. Now that's a lot of fleeting moments.

 Queen still in her cage for Colony 2. About to release.

 Smoking #1 Colony

Checking Queen of colony 1

Released the Queens

Visited the colonies today with boys on their last day of Spring Break. Big day for colonies as I released both queens. Both seemed healthy and were still blocked by the candy plugs within their cages. I placed both in the central part of colony. Colony 1 had a nice comb started. Guessing maybe 3" by 2" shaped like an oval. Alex took some pictures and when he filled the card, he and Jackson fed the neighboring horses while I gathered my tools and closed the supers. Hope they huddle tonight as lows will reach freezing.

One more note

Found three stowaways at home from
Last nights installation. Captured all of them and reunited with the colonies. Guess I won't be bring in my bee suit into the house unless nits thoroughly checked. Of course, only one in house, one in equipment bucket and one in Escalade. :)

Another feeding.

It rained this morning, the day after install so wasn't for sure how active they would be. The sun had came out around noon. Temp was around 60, humidity 26%, wind 17mph. Drove up and they were all abuzzing around their entrances. Note....I was surprised at how many were in the grass just in front of the supers. I had to be careful not to step on them. Boys enjoyed the outing again. The vineyard was having a chocolate and wine tasting. Stopped in for the chocolate. Boys appreciated it.

Another visit.

 Getting ready to add shallow super and food.

 Puncturing my food bag for the bees.

 They are sure loving the great crop of dandelions.

 Congregation. The queens are not out of their holding cells yet. Though the colony seems excepting of  them already.

 Just covered with pollen.

 Amazing

Pollen is even dropping off they are so loaded.

Bee Installation. Yeah!

Clarence Seale III brought my bees up from Glenwood. He had earlier picked up many colonies for his classes from Auburn, NE. He ran a little late and Melanie and Jackson had to run errands. Alex stayed and took over 400 photos! He's an over shooter like his dad.

Day before bee installation

Setting up mini-apiary.