Springfield swarm update

When I captured the swarm I was unsure if I was able to capture the queen because there were so many bees. I had my doubts after the owner called me later in the evening this last Wednesday. He said he thought there was 1000 or 2000 bees at least that had reformed on that mailbox. I estimated that I had taken between eight and 10,000 bees from that mailbox. That's what you see in the picture.

My gnarly hive continues to make queen cells and so I announced I had some available for those that may need a queen. Dawn(from our club) came with me today to check that hive and take a few queen cells. While we're at it I checked the swarm hive and lo and behold found eggs! Now we'll see how they survive throughout the summer. They have good numbers.

And on the 8th day bee eggs were found

Jackson and I checked the bees in the back yard and the two Carniolan hives are doing well with comb and eggs which looks like very active queens.

Da Queen

Eggs

The fiasco!

So this could be a long story but I'll try to minimize it. Went to check orchard hive and was distraught as soon as I pulled up. Normally there would be a plethora of activity at the entrance. None what's so ever.
Pulled lid off and top cover, there were four large wasps sitting to top. Dispatched two as it's hand when you have a bee suit on. Pulled super and brood boxes off and there were about 40 bees. I thought for sure they were just robbing the hive. Pulled the first frame with half the bees and was astonished to see a queen within the mix. There were no brood or eggs.
Sealed back up and went home. Pondered what I needed to do and then call on fellow keeper Eric. Between the two of us, we agreed to split an aggressive hive I had and try to get rid of the "bad queen".  Went back and collected the lone queen and took her to the aggressive hive. Knowing I'd most likely have trouble finding the queen I called on club members Betsy, Jess and Eric.
Attacking with our own aggressive behavior we smoked and started to search. Lots and lots of bees, and lots of drone bees, which often means that the hive is about to swarm or the queen is failing.
Eric suggested that if we find her I could split off some bees. To no avail she was not found but did find a couple closed queen cells which I later promptly loss somehow.
Installed old new queen in a queen cage and took the other deep with brood and nurse bees over to the vineyard. Installed and went over to help Eric with his bees. Lucked out and happened to find a couple queen cells and when finished took them back over to vineyard and installed. Cross your fingers!

4-14-16 Install

Been so busy lately with my real job and of course new bee installs. Catching up with a little info. Installed two carnolian packages and italian packages. Everything went very smoothly. Breezy but around 75 degrees. End the day helped local count Cole with his Eagle project, which happened to be a package install at Ditmars Orchard.

4-9-16 Yard Hive

The yard hive today. The temperature was 30° this morning and it's about 60° now. Sunny and breezy. We have a field day for the Loess Hills Beekeeping Association tomorrow. This hive has been active for a good month and a half. Bringing in lots of pollen for the new brood. Let the 2016 season begin.