The hives at the farm are doing great. I’m starting to add Continue reading “Moving the farm into thirds”
Moving the farm into thirds
Hive monitoring
I’ve finally gotten my hive monitoring system built and installed to a hive here at home. It allows me to see trends in hive weight from bees coming and going, gaining weight from nectar, losing weight as they evaporate water out while drying the honey, temperature and humidity inside the hive and out, and more. The monitor is Continue reading “Hive monitoring”
Going up!
The farm hives are building up nicely. I’ve added a second box to several already. We need Continue reading “Going up!”
Home hives are building up
The hives at home are building up nicely. The hives with a 4th box are already producing excess honey. We’ve had good weather this spring and are hoping to get a good harvest from a few of these. Others will be used to supplement the building hives at the farm.
Spring swarm still building comb
Our first swarm is still building comb, and fast! Here are a few frames of beautiful white comb. As bees walk on the comb over time, the pollen on their feet stain the wax it’s usual yellow color. This wax hasn’t Continue reading “Spring swarm still building comb”
Feeders on the farm
I’ve put feeders on at the farm. This will help them with brood population and comb building in their first year buildup.
Queen tracking at the hive
I’m trying a new idea this year to easily identify the queens in each hive. I made tags for each queen I have. The main block has Continue reading “Queen tracking at the hive”
Second swarm of 2017
Today I found another swarm, near the same location as the first. This swarm was large, not quite as big as a basketball. I’m still trying to figure out where these are coming from. All the hives here at home have marked queens, and they were still in place when checked after the first swarm was found. Both swarms have unmarked queens. I have a guess which hive they are from, but it’s still a mystery.
Swarm comb!
My first swarm has been building comb for just a few days and have built out 3 and a half frames already! It’s amazing how fast these gals can build when they’re in this mindset.
Bees on the farm
Today was the day. At the house I had a hive that was VERY full with bees, and a full 30 frames. about 20 frames were brood, and about 10 honey. They were meaner than I’d like. I’ve been stung by them at times even just walking nearby for a look, something none of the other hives ever care about. Rather than scrap them all, they’ll be the founders for the new farm hives. Once the new queens begin laying, her gentler bees will replace these. I took the 30 frames with bees to the farm and split them across 8 hives (2 will be populated from a pair of double nucs I wintered). I was able to put 3 or 4 frames in each hive, doing my best to balance frame composition (brood, honey, pollen, free space) and bees. When I found the queen, I kept her and that frame aside. I’ll return it to her original location to build back up again. In this depleted state they should be far less aggressive, and allow me time to generate her replacement. I’ll give them a few days to notice their queen is gone so they’ll accept the replacements I’m installing soon.