Sunday, June 9, 2013

Super added on May 22nd

Update post to make the date on the first inspection, during which one super and one nadir were added. The colony was found to be very strong, with 4 boxes containing combs, three boxes relatively heavy. A fourth box was full of bees, but no comb. Total number of boxes after inspection is 7.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Expected colony failure

My second hive was a late small swarm of last year. It had three handicaps: a very late swarm, a small swarm, and a third swarm from the same hive. Here is the beehive where I set it up:

I only put two sections, knowing it was already doubtful the colony would have time to fill them up. To have a chance to survive our winter, a colony should have at least two full sections. With three sections, survival is more likely.
A few days ago, my other colony was very active, while this one showed no signs of life at all. Today is sunny, and again, my other colony is active, while this one was quiet, so I decided to open it. After removal of the roof:

Cool bee art, but no bees. The bottom of the hive section shows some mold, which is pretty common, except mold usually forms at the periphery, not the center like here.

After removal of the top section, the section below was completely empty:

The bottom of the hive showed must less dead bees as I expected. It looks like the colony absconded, or merged with another colony.

I will probably add a new colony from a package in this spot. I may try to put the hive on a stand, as I am not happy with the hive being on the ground, too much moist gets in, as well as ants and other critters.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Emergence 2013

The picture below was taken two days ago. Looks like the colony survived the winter. This year I may try comb honey. The Warre hive is ideal for comb honey. I better start preparing the honey super.