Installing the Tom Swarm

Jeff went home to his family and I drove home with the split nuc and the swarm nuc in the back of my car.  Bees were everywhere.  I got most of them out of the car,  but when I locked it for the night there were still a few clusters of bees in the car!

I set the split nuc on its on set of cinder blocks, put a little leaf and grass pieces on the landing and left it.  The queen cell looked pretty newly capped (it was light biscuit as per Billy Davis), so it probably has almost its full time left - since the queen has a way to go in her development, it will be a month before the new queen is laying and three more weeks before any new brood emerges to add to the population, so it will be mid May before this will be an active hive, if then.  So the split is a hive to increase hive numbers but not one to expect to provide honey to harvest.

The swarm is a different matter.  The queen is mature and able to lay.  The bees with her have gorged themselves on honey to prepare for the journey and prepared to make wax.  I put this huge swarm in three 8 frame boxes (the equivalent of 2 10 frame boxes plus four).  I had some unharvested honey from another hive that I gave them (2 frames) and a few frames of drawn comb, although they should be ready to make wax right away.

I put frames in the bottom box and used the next box as a funnel.

 The bees on the comb are on a frame filled with honey.
















Once I got most of them into the hive box, I gently added in the frames and then put on box number three and added its frames.  It was a slow process because there were so many bees.  There were still a number of bees in the nuc box and on the lid so I left both facing the new hive.

I don't have the best track record with getting swarms to stay but I employed everything I've learned from previous errors to make this work.

1.  I used old comb in each box and a frame of honey in each box
2.  I put them on a screened bottom board, but closed it up with the sticky board.
3.  I put on an entrance reducer, reduced to the smallest entrance (as per Billy Davis)
4.  I gave them plenty of space (3 8 frame boxes and a slatted rack.)
5.  I put pine needles on the landing to help them re-orient (we are miles from Tom's house - no chance of their returning home).
6.  I used last year's not-yet-painted boxes (they like the smell better than newly painted)

For a while a large group of bees were clustered right outside the entry.  But by nightfall, all were inside and the nuc box was empty.

I put frames of honey in the swarm and put a frame of honey and pollen in the nuc.  I will however, make bee tea and feed it to both of these new hives - one recipe's worth until they get "on their bee feet."

I realize as I write this that I forgot to date the frames, most of which were foundationless.  I'll do it on my first inspection in about a week.

I did bring all the hive drapes into the house to wash as well as my car quilt (which protects my car from bee stuff), my swarm sheet, etc.  So my washing machine is on bee duty tonight.

Jeff and I need to install a Billy Davis robber screen on this and the hive we moved from Sebastian's.  I say Jeff and I because I really need him to operate the staple gun which I HATE doing.

Well, they are in the hive for the night, but I don't take anything for granted so I am crossing my fingers as hard as I can and hope they stay in the new home I have provided for them.  I am exhausted and am now going to bed after a long and very productive day.

Ventilation and the Screened Bottom Board

I am short a couple of screened bottom boards. I didn't mean to have seven hives, but two swarms came home with me and I had ordered three new nucs this year, feeling sure that one of my hives would die over the winter. The hives lived, the nucs came and I brought home two of the three swarms I caught. As a result two of my hives are on solid bottom boards and they are hot.

My first year when I saw the bees bearding, I was sure a swarm was about to happen, but I wasn't acquainted with Hotlanta beekeeping at that point. Now I know that slatted racks and screened bottom boards make all the difference. Most of my hives have both but the equipment I have ordered to fix the situation on my other hives has been back-ordered for a while.

This morning at 6:30, it is already hot in the less-ventilated hives. Below you can see my apparently queenless hive with bees all over the front porch, even hanging off the front edge. I love the way they cling to each other like circus acrobats. You can see this ability in the close-up of the entry. This hive has a solid bottom board - not good for either ventilation or varroa mite control.




One of my hives out in the yard is on a solid bottom board. The bees here are also gathered on the front porch.



You can really see the effect of the SBB and the slatted rack in Bermuda. Bermuda is teeming with bees, but it has plenty of ventilation so there are less bees on the front of the hive. The bottom narrow piece of wood at the bottom of the stack is the slatted rack on this hive and the whole thing sits on a screened bottom board. Makes a real difference!

Splitting Proteus into Proteus A and Proteus Bee

Well, today I split the two-queen hive, but I don't know if I did the right thing. I moved the top hive into an 8 frame medium. I moved the brood frames into the first box over the slatted rack and SBB and then put the second box above it, with the honey frames from the old hive. I tried to keep the brood in the same place in the hive.

After I did the whole transformation I started thinking that I didn't really see any larvae today in the upper hive (Proteus Bee) although there was plenty there on Wednesday. There's a picture to the right of the brood pattern which looked more filled out than when I saw it on Wednesday, but I'm not sure there was any new brood since Wednesday. For a few minutes I thought I should put it all back and just remove the queen excluder, letting them be one big hive.

Then I decided that I might as well go ahead and make a split even if the queen were no longer present. So I took a frame of very young brood and hopefully eggs from Bermuda and added it to the brood box in the new hive. I put the two hives side by side, in the way that Michael Bush describes an even split.

Although now in looking at the first picture I wonder if the queen isn't the bee in the middle of the first picture on the left side. It's out of focus so you can't really tell. Well, if she is, great, and if she isn't there, the new frame of brood gives the hive an insurance policy.

I figure that this way even if the queen is dead, they have the potential to make a new queen. I had a hard time finding brood and eggs in Bermuda, but I could add another frame tomorrow and may do so, just to make sure.

In the even split method, with the hives side by side, some bees may drift to the new hive. In about a week, I'll switch the hive positions and even out the drift and hopefully also even out the population.

I looked in Mellona, my best honey producer, and found that this hive was honey bound in the way that Proteus was. Above the brood box in Box 2 was a medium, frame to frame honey. In this hive, I tried something to open up the brood area. I took out frames 3, 5 and 7 and put in their place starter strip frames. This encourages the queen to move up.

While I was looking for brood, I saw a swarm cell on one of the frames, so I think that the timing of opening up the brood box is either right on target or too late. See the newer looking frames in the picture? Those are frames 3, 5 and 7 of starter strips that I have added.

I put these full frames of honey in the super above Box 2 (Box 3) in positions 3, 5, and 7. To do this I had to remove nectar filled frames from Box 3.

I set the frames aside that I removed from Mellona - they were filled with unprocessed nectar (where are they getting it in this drought?). The bees from these frames which were leaning against the deck rails made a cluster on the rail and I took their picture. The cluster was gone 5 minutes after I removed the frames.

I really didn't know what to do with the frames. I shook the bees off of one of them and gave it to the new Proteus Bee and took the other two inside the house. They are mediums and the two upper boxes on Mellona (the hive where I got the frames) are shallows, so I can't put medium frames in them.

This is a clear argument for using the same size box all the time. I have on Mellona two shallow boxes of frames for clean-up. In the next week or maybe even tomorrow, I'll add another medium box to Mellona for brood and will put the nectar laden comb frames in that box along with starter strip frames.

I also harvested 9 frames of honey from Mellona, my best producing hive this year.

I ended my time in the bee yard today by giving Proteus A a powdered sugar shake. Proteus A is the hive where on Wednesday, I took the clear picture of the bee with a Varroa mite on her back.

I Saw the Queen Today!

I saw the queen in the small swarm nuc today. This is not a good picture but there she is right in the center of the picture. She scurried away over the top of the frame and onto the other side when she realized she was exposed.

I also saw the fruits of her labor (see the larvae in the following two pictures). She has been hard at work. I'm leaving this little swarm in the nuc until probably Thursday before the 4th of July. Then I'll move the whole kit and kaboodle into an 8 frame medium.

I have all the parts except for a screened bottom board that I ordered yesterday. So when it arrives and I paint the new hive, they will move into a new home. For the moment though, I was THRILLED to see her alive and in person (or in bee, as it were)!

Hotlanta Nights and the Bees are starting to Beard!

With slatted racks, screened bottom boards, and propping the hive tops, my hives are about as ventilated as I can accomplish. But as the Atlanta nights get hotter, so does the interior of the beehive. You can see the beard on Bermuda (left in first picture), Mellona (the tall hive). Even Proteus with its mixed up configuration has a beard beginning.

It entertains me to see that the small swarm nuc has its own version of a beard! Of course, that nuc doesn't have a screened bottom board, a slatted rack, nor is the top propped, so even though it is the smallest of my bee colonies, it is probably the hottest temperature-wise.

Inspection and First Honey Harvest!

I had many jobs during the inspection today. I saw a bee on two occasions carrying out pupae from Proteus. I want it to get more sun to lower the possibility of disease like chalkbrood, etc. So my first job was to move Proteus back one foot into the sunshine. I took off the top three boxes and slid the bottom box, slatted rack and SBB to the waiting concrete block. It went well and I blocked the entrance with leaves to help the bees reorient.

Then I did my first honey harvest from Mellona. I took the oldest box and brought the frames inside for crush and strain. I left the box standing outside Mellona to get all the bees to return to the hive. I then crushed and strained the honey. I believe I will only get honey from Mellona this year.

Proteus has brood all into the third box and has done little work in the fourth box.


Bermuda has built itself back up well but is just now exploring the third box and isn't ready for a honey super....and then there's the small swarm which won't make honey this year - we just hope it survives.

Bees passing nectar through SBB

With the robber screen on, robbing has stopped, but the bees are using the screened bottom board as a way to pass nectar into the hive.

Maybe I should now remove the robber screen when I next inspect the hives.



The other way they are passing nectar in is through this crack opening on one side of Destin where the screen isn't held too tightly.

Clustering bees at night

April 26, 2006: Opened the hives to check on the overcrowding because in spite of ventilation and SBB (screened bottom board), they are clustering (bearding) outside the hives in the evening – lots of them.

Inspection on each hive: I pulled up the frame 2 and 9 on each hive – Destin beginning barely to draw them out. I need a definition of what “drawn out” looks like. Bermuda is completely not touching 2 or 9. In general seems to be a weaker hive.

Successes: I managed to light the smoker and keep it lit. I upset the bees in spite of being as quiet as I could but I didn’t get stung. I was a little awkward with the hive tool, but I’ll get better. Also refilled both syrup jars. Forum discussions indicate to remove the syrup jars when the super is added so as not to contaminate the honey produced with syrup.

It’s raining tonight and the bees are still outside the hive. These pictures were taken at 10:45 PM - and many are outside the hive.

The medium super arrives tomorrow. I’ll paint it and get it up and running as quickly as possible – maybe add it on Saturday. These pictures were taken at 10:45 PM - and many are outside the hive.