blondies

here's a picture of the blondies.... some bee providers are trying to BREED this trait and offer them for sale. it's just a recessive color trait - they're ITALIANS at heart. i haven't seen this queen yet...but supposedly that's one ADVANTAGE of this bee...the queen has a big yellow abdomen and she's EASY to spot!

i'm really happy with the resulting COMBINATION of this swarm with the queenless hive. i checked them this weekend and ALL IS WELL.

Build a Bee Vac

aren't you just WISHING you had a Bee Vac? #1 on your Christmas list this year? when you're browsing the internet next time...search for: BEE VAC

there are some INGENIOUS plans out there for do-it-yourselfers! sounds like a great winter project. i see some real creativity...home-made boxes, coleman coolers, styrofoam coolers....

here's a link to wet your whistle.

http://www.beesource.com/build-it-yourself/bee-vac/

some of our friend-bloggers on the sidebar are showing-off their versions and it looks like they're having GREAT FUN - SUCKING BEES OUT OF UNIQUE PLACES!

superscedure

what are the bees TELLING YOU - before you even crack open the box?

superscedure - the replacement of your queen - without the SWARM/splitting....i think i just ran across an article in one of the bee periodicals regarding such. it seemed to indicate that hives that supersceded queens in the late-summer/fall - had better overwintering survivability.

saturday - i checked all 8 hives. beyond the other "issues" going on in the beehouse....one hive stood out....

IN ATTITUDE! i quietly pulled off the top cover....and as soon as i made the SLIGHTEST little "cracking" sound of the inner cover....BUTTS UP AND STINGERS OUT! without flying in my face...they're body language was telling me to GO AWAY! i asked them - "what are you so defensive about?" my guess was that they're cooking-up a new queen....

i was just asked this question,,,

question: I didn't think that bees would hang around if there was no queen. Guess i was wrong. What happened to your queens?

my answer and thoughts...

i think if it's a NEW hive (like a newly installed package or swarm - say in the case of a new package - the queen arrives dead and it takes too long to get a new one)...they'll move on - maybe get "absorbed" into other hives? but seemingly when they go queenless mid-summer like this - there's not much they can do but STORE in-excess. as a beekeeper - i can't really BUY a queen at this late stage (nor would they have time for population buildup for winter anyway)

as to what happened?...they probably went queenless in the "swarming". when a hive SWARMS - it's splitting the population aka "go forth and multiply". the swarm leaves with the OLD QUEEN (old reliable) ...meanwhile the hive has VIRGIN QUEENS either hatched or about to hatch. that VIRGIN QUEEN still needs to be MATED to lay eggs.....and it's precarious - she may fly out and not make it back for some reason (eaten by a bird, taken out by machinery or car)....or she might make it back and accidentally go into the wrong hive which would mean her death.

as a beekeeper i've tried (in the past) to give a mid-summer queenless hive a couple frames of EGGS from another hive (they have to have a 3 day or less old egg to MAKE THEIR OWN QUEEN) and? they JUST DON'T....it's almost like they've forgetten how....(maybe they sense the lack of time?) sometimes this lack of a queen can "stimulate" a WORKER to lay eggs...which of course are INFERTILE....leading the hive to become full of DRONE (male bees - layed from infertile eggs)

- the best thing to do is to probably combine remaining populations with another hive for winter.....

i didn't know i'd be beekeeping today

2:22 pm - swarm phone call; 2:30 mobilization; 2:55 onsite; 4:15 hived.

WOW - a nice 5 pounder or more! (remember your packages are "3 pounds")...there were way more bees than that in this swarm.

and they're CORDOVANS (blonde/light colored bees)...some of them are so light - their legs are this translucent red/orange (strawberry blonde?)...it's "strange" (your first thought is...what's wrong with them?)

one of the girls got me as soon as i shook them into the box - which leads me to believe that this swarm was hanging for awhile. i think they get CRANKIER the longer they hang. did the unceremonious SHAKE into the cardboard box technique.

when i got them home, i put them on top of a hive that i KNOW is queenless. so here's the configuration... queenless hive on the bottom (i got them down to one box - due to them being queenless...and population loss - i could rearrange frames to do that - frames with some bees left are left outside the hive yet...they'll migrate) (i suppose you could use a CLEARING CHEMICAL (bee quick) - like what you use to clear supers to get them down in the box if you had to). put a SINGLE layer of newspaper on top of the bottom box. put a queen excluder in. put the empty box on top - add your swarm (like installing a package) it will take them some time to chew out the newspaper and MELD the hive smells...meanwhile protecting your queen behind the excluder. in 10 days or so...i'll check the top (swarm) box and see if there are any signs of queen. when i think everyone will be "so happy together"...remove the excluder.

a short ditty on queenless hives. i have ANOTHER queenless hive in the bunch. and i could tell when i popped the inside cover....how? population - lack there of. i said...IS ANYONE HOME??? then i lifted the top box. YUP - QUEENLESS. how could i tell? THE WEIGHT. the buggers are storing HONEY in perfectly good LAYING CELLS. why? - i suppose they're doing something rather than nothing - they'll continue to STORE pollen and honey...and into cells that would normally be brood. the box should not be that ladened with honey this time of year! so to cut to the chase - i went STRAIGHT into the brood area and pulled a frame, then another. NOTHING going on there.....lots of nectar and pollen.... (if i don't catch another swarm for this hive...i'm thinking of combining them with another hive - what i don't like about this hive is the number of DRONE - laying worker? i'll have to inspect closer)

so - back to the swarm hive. what might happen if the swarm is queen-right....with the excluder between these two boxes - i might end up with my brood chamber in the top box...and the storage in the bottom box (cause - STORAGE is what queenless hives do). so - again in 10 days or so...if things look good - i might switch the hive bodies. (hindsite being 20/20 - i suppose i could install the swarm into a blank bottom box and put the weaker/queenless hive on top. configuration paper/excluder remains - no need for a switch later)

i'm happy so far with the swarms i've combined. i've got 2 swarm hives with supers on them already. as i don't much expect anything from "first year hives" - they're beyond my expectations.

i've said it before - but i think i'll mention it again. one thing i've learned from last year's swarm season is...HAVE ENOUGH EQUIPMENT ON HAND FOR NEXT YEAR'S SWARM SEASON!

...happy hiving.