| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Peacebird |
Posted - Aug 04 2009 : 04:13:01 AM
So my original hive had been stuffed with brood and honey (I fed it for a month after an early July swarm left it basically empty)
They had brood up in the two medium supers as well as the main hive body. I pulled five frames (3 brood, two honey) and stuck them in a new eight frame hive body, replacing them with new frames with fresh wax foundation.
Now the question: my old hive had a huge "beard" of bees hanging off the front for the past couple weeks. This morning it is gone. It has loads of bees coming and going, but not a crowd on the outside. The temps outside have not changed, and the hive is still "humming" (not the dull roar I had before the first swarm, but a nice gentle "hummmm") Was the beard a sign of overcrowding?
My new hive has no bees coming and going but a quick peek inside shows the frames are active with nurse bees, and the sugar water in the feeder is gone this morning (about a quart).
This is the first time I have attempted a split. Hopefully it works out...
chickens clucking, bees buzzing, flowers blooming, all is good! |
| 18 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Peacebird |
Posted - Aug 08 2009 : 05:38:55 AM
good luck Jennifer! The himble hive has capped brod only at this point - a queen cup was started but appears empty. The pink hive still seems overstuffed to the point of getting ready to swarm, but I had to leave the bees on their own this weekend. (visiting my mom)
If no resolution by next week then I'll order a queen. :-)
Hope all goes well with your bees!
Farmgirl Sister #661
chickens clucking, bees buzzing, flowers blooming, all is good! |
| Woodswoman |
Posted - Aug 07 2009 : 6:04:08 PM
Hi there,
One thing I've discovered with bees-they keep you on your toes!
I could be wrong, but if you have split the hive, and they are robbing out another hive, they probably aren't thinking about swarming right now.
To stop the robbing (which I have had to do before)-If you are feeding the smaller hive, you can close it off completely, or just leave a single bee size opening. You can also put a reducer on the larger hive to slow them down.
Does the smaller hive have any eggs left? Capped brood? Queen cells? If no eggs AND no queen cells, I'd order a queen quick!
We're opening our hives tomorrow to check on them. Wish me luck!
Jennifer
Farmgirl Sister #104
"Nature brings to every time and season some beauties of its own".
-Charles Dickens |
| Farmtopia |
Posted - Aug 07 2009 : 06:55:30 AM
Crossing fingers for you Marianne. Do you think the pink hive still might swarm?
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| Peacebird |
Posted - Aug 07 2009 : 04:58:07 AM
TONS of activity in the beeyard last night... Seems my pretty pink hive was going to town robbing the humble hive. eeek! I blocked the door to the humble hive, and this morning when I checked on it there was no open brood at all. In a fit of desperation I stuck a deep hive body underneath, sprayed it liberally sith sugar water, added a quart of sugar water with honey-b-healthy to the humble hive feeder. Here's hoping the pink hive swarm (when it goes) will decide to land in the humble hive...! (if this works i get the "evil genius of the week" award! LOL!
Farmgirl Sister #661
chickens clucking, bees buzzing, flowers blooming, all is good! |
| Peacebird |
Posted - Aug 06 2009 : 3:40:26 PM
Thanks Jennifer!
I will check next week to see what their status is, and if no queen yet I'll order one.... Hopefully at least I have given enough breathing room (and killed enough queen cells by accident) to prevent my pink hive from swarming.
Farmgirl Sister #661
chickens clucking, bees buzzing, flowers blooming, all is good! |
| Farmtopia |
Posted - Aug 06 2009 : 12:31:47 PM
I agree with Jennifer. If they don't raise a queen within the week, I'd try to order a new queen. Sometimes they don't or can't--the egg that is used to create a queen must be only a few days old, anything more than 2 or 3 days old and it's too late to add the "queen substance" to create a queen.
Also, you are racing against time for them to raise a queen, the queen to mate and start laying eggs, and then the eggs to hatch into workers and drones--more importantly workers--because you are coming up on fall and winter--you will need workers to gather up as much pollen and nectar quickly enough to be able to feed themselves by winter. It is probably easier to buy a mated queen, and save yourself up to a month of time. But it's up to you.
By the way, here is a picture of a swarm cell.Or rather cells--the one on the right is definitely a cell, but the other was a bit suspect, as well We had to cut this off our first hive--very productive ladies!
Swarm cells are found at the bottom of the frame, there are also SUPERCEDURE cells, which look the same, and are found at the top of the frame--this is when the bees feel the queen must be replaced, due to old age, etc.
~*~Dream all you dreamers~*~
View my work:
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And *NEW* Blogs:
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Plan to save America the old fashioned way!
http://wildatheartfarm.blogspot.com/2009/05/big-project.html |
| Woodswoman |
Posted - Aug 05 2009 : 6:03:46 PM
Hi there-
I'm not really an expert at splitting hives, but I have done it once...
We pretty much did what you did-moved about 5 frames busting with bees, eggs, & larvae to a new hive and waited for them to raise a queen.
They didn't. 
We pulled some more brood frames-lots of eggs, etc. from another really strong hive and added them, then waited for them to raise a queen.
They didn't.
At that point, I called a lady up the road who raises queens. She gave us a queen in a queen cage (we helped her with some honey extraction last year, so she let us have her for free). I re-queened the hive.
Checked back a week later, and they had released the queen! We are going to check back later this week to see if she is laying.
So, based on what advice we got, just keep checking them, and if they don't raise one, re-queen with an ordered queen or combine them with another hive before winter.
A good site with lots of info is: http://www.beesource.com/forums/
The bee section of my webpage is: http://home.roadrunner.com/~mrfreeman/beekeeping/beekeeping.htm
Good luck!
Jennifer
Farmgirl Sister #104
"Nature brings to every time and season some beauties of its own".
-Charles Dickens |
| Peacebird |
Posted - Aug 05 2009 : 4:35:00 PM
They look sort of like a peanut attached to the frame. Sadly I must report there does not appear to be a queen cell on the humble hive, tho the nurse bees are busy trying to raise up the brood they have. It appears that the outside of one of the frames of brood has died - the larva have turned dark brown.... sigh.
Farmgirl Sister #661
chickens clucking, bees buzzing, flowers blooming, all is good! |
| Alee |
Posted - Aug 05 2009 : 4:24:41 PM
Okay so now I am curious what a queen cell looks like!!
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
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| Peacebird |
Posted - Aug 05 2009 : 09:53:15 AM
Hi Zan - Yes, I am feeding the hive. I will go into the original "pretty in pink" hive again to make sure all swarm cells are gone (If I find one intact I may swap it into the new hive just to be safe) I haven't gotten into its bottom box at all yet, because the bees get very agitated when I work in the next to last box.
What do you think? Should I give the new "humble" hive a week, and then check to see if there's a queen cell in place?
And Sarah, thanks much! I *love* bees!
Farmgirl Sister #661
chickens clucking, bees buzzing, flowers blooming, all is good! |
| chaddsgirl |
Posted - Aug 05 2009 : 07:38:30 AM
I'm with you Alee and Marly, this is just so interesting.
Marianne, thank you so much for posting this thread! I'm learning a lot.
Since I started reading MJ magazine and joined the forum I've been taking a lot more notice of the bees in my garden and around my house. I saw 1 on my tomatoe plants day before yesterday, one on the flowers on my back porch as well and another one going to town on a red clover blossom yesterday. I am planning to plant a LOT of plants specifically to attract more bees to my garden and flowers next year. Now everytime I see one working over a blossom I smile and am excited they chose to visit my garden!
A person is a success if they get up in the morning and get to bed at night and in between does what they want to do. Bob Dylan |
| Alee |
Posted - Aug 05 2009 : 06:54:35 AM
I see, Zan! Beekeeping must be absolutely facinating!!
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.awarmheart.com
www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
www.allergyjourneys.blogspot.com
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| Farmtopia |
Posted - Aug 05 2009 : 05:01:54 AM
Hey Marianne, I am assuming you are feeding the new hive since you say you have no workers, and so they wont be bringing in pollen or nectar? I hope they do end up hatching a queen.
The bee beard probably disappeared momentarily because you gave them more "breathing room" by removing extra bodies, and allowing more space for air to circulate, and so the cooler temps meant the bees didn't have to "hang out on the front porch" for air.
If you aren't sure that all of the swarm cells are gone in your original hive, you probably should cut them off. You definitely shouldn't cut them off in the second hive if you see them.
Alee, a swarm cell is a longish cell that looks almost like a peanut. I regular cell fits the hexagonal shape usually seen in the "honeycomb" pattern. Worker bees fit nicely into those. Drone bees fit into the hexagonal pattern, but there is sort of a more "bullet" shape to them.
~*~Dream all you dreamers~*~
View my work:
www.bigtownfarmer.com
And *NEW* Blogs:
Life: www.wildatheartfarm.blogspot.com
art/dolls: www.wildatheartart.blogspot.com
Plan to save America the old fashioned way!
http://wildatheartfarm.blogspot.com/2009/05/big-project.html |
| Alee |
Posted - Aug 04 2009 : 8:11:57 PM
Oh that is too bad that some of the cups broke. How can you tell swarm cells from regular cells?
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.awarmheart.com
www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
www.allergyjourneys.blogspot.com
Put your pin on the farmgirl map! www.farmgirlmap.blogspot.com |
| Bear5 |
Posted - Aug 04 2009 : 7:55:28 PM
This conversation is sure interesting. Like Alee, I have no clue either. But, reading the posts is so educational.
Marly
"It's only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth- and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up- that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had." Elisabeth Kurler-Ross |
| Peacebird |
Posted - Aug 04 2009 : 4:38:22 PM
I am hoping they hatch a queen. There were eggs on the frames so it is possible. When my other hive swarmed in late June the bees raised up a new queen has been going absolutely crazy laying eggs.... There were swarm cells but they were attached to the lower frame as well as the frame I was pulling out, so the queen cups broke and exposed the ghost white pupa of nearly fully formed queens...
The hive has loads of nurse bees on the frames still, and the original hive once more has a bee"beard". I really doubt I changed things enough to prevent a swarm.... We'll see I guess... LOL!
chickens clucking, bees buzzing, flowers blooming, all is good! |
| Alee |
Posted - Aug 04 2009 : 2:21:06 PM
I have no clue either- Never had bees. Please keep us updated!! So since you moved brood, does that mean you are hoping they hatch a queen? Or did you move a new queen with the brood?
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.awarmheart.com
www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
www.allergyjourneys.blogspot.com
Put your pin on the farmgirl map! www.farmgirlmap.blogspot.com |
| chaddsgirl |
Posted - Aug 04 2009 : 07:20:17 AM
Keeping my fingers crossed for you Marianne. I really want to start keeping bees myself, so this information would be useful for me as well. Good Luck!
A person is a success if they get up in the morning and get to bed at night and in between does what they want to do. Bob Dylan |
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