On this inspection, I didn't look closely at the bees and didn't look for the queen or eggs - I just wanted to see if the bees needed different frames and to see if they were doing bee work in the hive (building wax, making the place their own, etc.).
I also did an inspection on Bermuda and Mellona. Both had eggs, young brood, and lots of bees. Bermuda , the oldest of my hives, is burgeoning with bees. But both hives looked really good. Bermuda has four medium boxes on it and brood in every box. Mellona is building up more slowly, but building up all the same. Mellona has bees and brood in three boxes.
I do what's known as unlimited brood nest because I don't use a queen excluder and let the queen lay wherever she wishes.
On an interesting side note - I did not see one single SHB. When I first opened the hives this spring, I saw lots of them. I don't have any traps in the hives at the moment, but there is not a small hive beetle to be seen. I think this is an argument for a strong hive - great bees in charge, no evident hive beetles until at least later in the season.
So much activity in my bee yard!
Just a question - with your unlimited brood nest strategy - do you have issues with brood in what you are assuming for honey supers? How does this work out in reality?
ReplyDeleteRich Antcliff
Hi Rich,
ReplyDeleteThe issue of brood in the honey supers hasn't been a problem for me. I only have a couple of hives although this year I will have 5 or 6. So far, since I am harvesting via crush and strain, I am looking at each frame before crushing it or cutting it into chunk honey or comb honey. I haven't found brood in my honey supers except in one frame last year and I simply put it back on the hive and didn't harvest it.
Did your swarm lure work?
ReplyDeleteI'm curious, what do you use to lure a swarm? And is this lure hive near other established hives or are they further away?
ReplyDelete