New Queen Still Not Up to Speed

One week later and the new queen is laying a bit better but not as good as I had hoped for at this point in her young life. (She's 24 days old today.)

I'm worried that there are only eight cells containing wscovered brood, very few eggs and even fewer larvae and that the queen has continued to lay just on the one side of the one frame on which she was hatched.

As you can see in the photo, she's laying a small but nice, tight pattern but there are three cells in which there are two eggs. I wondered if this was the result of workers taking matters into their own hands as this hive is aging with no new brood, so to speak, that will help it survive.

I moved over a frame full of brood in the various stages (it also had capped honey) from the OV hive. My intent is to give the hive more of a population than the queen is currently providing.

A call to Chip Whipkey, who raises queens, reminded me that the eggs of laying workers will be more to the side of the cell as in this example. Chip also explained that I didn't really need to move over brood as the bees will work things out, providing nurse bees from older bees if needed. (This also accounted for the entertaining young foragers when I first made the split.)

Chip suggests that, because there is now more brood, I need to up the nurse bee numbers in the new hive so that there are enough to keep the brood warm. To do that, Chip explained that essential oils such as Honey-B-Healthy can be used to mask the scent while I add them from the OV hive. The process is quite easy:

1. Have handy a spray bottle containing a sugar syrup / Honey-B-Healthy mixture.
2. Select a frame in the OV have that is full (both sides) of brood.
3. Spay the nurse bees on that frame with the sugar syrup / Honey-B-Healthy mixture, and then
4. Dump those bees into the new hive.

 The essential oils mask the scent and the bees won't know these new bees don't belong with them and the new nurse bees won't know the difference from the inside of one hive to another. Smart! :-)

I will do this in the morning as I think the population of the OV hive needs to be thinned out a bit. They have not yet started to draw out the comb in the honey super but the brood boxes have plenty of pollen, nectar and capped honey in two of the three boxes. I did find a blown out queen cell (pictured here) that I think the bees decided to clean out instead of allowing it to hatch, but there are also two queen cells containing larvae that are not yet closed. I did spot the queen as well as eggs, larvae, etc. so I'm not sure if these are Russian bees just being Russian bees or are truly planning to swarm. Removing some of the population should help if the tendency is towards a swarm.

New Queen Not Yet Up to Full Stride

Checked in on the Sasha hive with the new queen. There are so few bees in that hive that the queen is easy to spot. There are some larvae but didn't see any eggs, if they were there. The may be a very few (1 - 3) capped brood cells, but that's hard to say because the bees have not yet cleared away all that died. (Dead from a few cold nights after making the split and the cluster couldn't keep them all warm.)

I watched the queen travel all around the frame pictured here. Every cell in which she chose to want to lay was already occupied with nectar. She would travel to the other side but that frame has a wax moth trail (I killed the larvae) so the queen would just walk around, eventually returning to the other side.

Concerns:

• The brood pattern is not large or tight.
• The bees are not drawing any new comb, nor taking from the top feeder.

Interesting to note, the queen is always found on the frame from whence she hatched. I have never found her on the other frames.

The hive does have foraging bees so pollen and nectar are coming in. I'm worried about the queen's progress — but it is still early in her young life. Next week should be much better!

Quick Check on the Hives

Even though this is what Russian bees do, I was worried about the queen cups in the OV hive because, while I saw the queen on Sunday, I didn't take the time to really inspect for eggs and a queen that stops laying could be a sign of a pending swarm. By the time I could check the hive today, the sun was already low in the sky making it hard to spot any eggs but I did see young larvae as well as my lovely queen. There is lots of nectar in the top two boxes so I added a honey super.

While in the bee yard, I checked in on the Sasha hive. Again,it was hard to spot any eggs this time of day but there is larvae and I even got to watch the young queen lay an egg. :-) The bees have begun to open and remove the covered brood that didn't hatch but I swear I saw one moving it's head as it cleared away the covering! A bee typically hatches in 21 days so all  brood that was moved when I made the split should have hatched by April 9th. But today makes 31 days and I just do see how this could be possible! It had to be some trick of the eye. Call it wishful thinking!

We Did It! We Successfully Split a Hive!

It's finally safe to celebrate that we have successfully split a hive and created a new queen! Today we saw that she has begun laying her eggs! I didn't fund as many as I had expected, or was hopeful to have found, but we did have cool, rainy weather this past week which probably delayed her maiden flight.

Here is my lovely, all mated and beautiful and running away from me. She would bury herself under the bees so I couldn't get a clear picture and she wasn't happy that I kept wiggling a finger to move them.

I have had the top feeder on for a week now but they don't seem to be taking it at the moment. There is plenty of pollen and nectar stored on the frames. Will keep the feeder on to encourage them to draw out the frames.

I did find another wax moth larvae, but he was encouraged to visit the "big hive in the sky" under my hive tool.

Interesting of note were the large amount of covered brood still existing on the two frames. They should have all hatched by April 9th. Are they delayed through the stress of the split or did they die. Will research this further and report on the findings.

Crazy Russians

These crazy Russian bees must be hitting the vodka in the evenings as they have been building up these crazy looking swarm cells. Russian bees will do so, just in case they need them, and then tear them down when they don't. That keeps them ahead of the game.

I have one frame in each of two supers (remember I'm using three mediums instead of two deeps). This is the most complex of the two.

Rotated the boxes as there was nothing going on in the bottom box and they need the space up top.

Interestingly, I didn't notice eggs or larvae but found the queen (marked by the white spot), all lovely and dark as she is. I'm sure the brood is there as all else seems well with the hive.

Metamorphosis of a Queen Bee

Egg hatches on Day 3

Larva (several moltings) Day 3 to Day 8½

Queen cell capped about Day 7½

Pupa about Day 8 until emergence

Emergence about Day 15½ - Day 17

Nuptial Flight(s) about Day 20 - 24

Egg Laying about Day 23 and up

Queen Out for a Sunday Jaunt

Needed to check on the OV hive today to see if they were getting ready for another box. Actually, they are not ready but are doing very well. The bees have removed the queen cups that were at the bottom of the frame and I easily spotted the queen along with eggs, larvae and pupae. But the replacement frames that were put in when I pulled some for the split are not yet drawn out, and there is plenty of room for food and brood elsewhere, so I simply closed up the hive.

As I was right next door, I did a quick check to see if I could find any eggs in the Sasha hive, even though I'm not expecting any before tomorrow... but you never know!

There's not much to inspect as the one frame of food is heavy with pollen and the other two frames that were brood are now hatched and mostly covered with bees. No further wax moth larvae have been found, so I'm pleased about that. The queen's cell remains intact (except for the end where she chewed her way out.) There is no trace of the queen cell that was on the right-hand side of the frame.

While doing my inspection, I happened to look down to see the queen on the edge of the box! She sat there for a few moments then crawled down between the frames. At that cue, I put the feeder back on, surrounded by a short box, and then the inner cover. It was then that I looked towards the hive entrance and spotted her walking back out.

I was treated to a rare (at least for me... ) experience of witnessing the queen's orientation flight. She'd crawl around a bit and then fly up and down, and side to side before taking a rest as pictured here on the inner cover. She even flew up to check me out a couple of times.

It was an incredible experience!

The Need for Hive Nicknames

Because of the need to differentiate between the donor hive that I have had for a year and the new hive made from a split, we've given them the names of two Russian hockey players. (Russian cause that is the type of bees that they are and the player selection is from the Washington Capitals, my home team.)


(Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)

The split hive is the left-hand hive of the two, as is Alexander Semin in this photo, and so is nicknamed Sasha.

Of course, that means the donor hive on the right-hand side is Alex Ovechkin, nicknamed OV.

 If life were like hockey, bees would need really little pads, skates and sticks. :-)

Spotted the New Queen!

Spotted the new queen today! That's her by herself, facing downward towards the bottom of the photo.

All looks well in the hive with pollen and nectar being stored.

You can see in the photo to the right that the queen cell that was on the right-hand side of the frame is being cleared away.

This sure has been a fascinating learning experience!
Next, we'll be looking for eggs beginning April 11th.

Second Queen Cell Still Intact - Why?

The second queen cell had not yet hatched as of yesterday afternoon and that queen would be 18 days old as of then. No sighting of the first queen but you would think that she would have destroyed any other queen cells in the hive.

Nearly all the dead bees that were on the bottom screen were now cleared away. Things seem well in the hive... but where is she? She will not beging to lay eggs until at least the 11th of April but I would sure feel better knowing she's around.

Happy Queen Day! (It's a Girl)

Came home this afternoon to check on the hive and found the left queen cell open and empty! I searched for some time for the queen, but it was a cool, breezy day so the bees were keeping tight together. I tried blowing on them, doing a gentle finger wiggle, etc. to scatter them some but still could not find her. The queen cell on the right of the frame was still intact. No matter how hard I tried to clear the bees away for a photo, they were staying put. I will do a quick check tomorrow to see if the second queen cell is empty.

About day 23, April 11th, the queen will start laying eggs. The top feeder was placed on the hive just 3 days ago but I'm not seeing evidence they are using it. They have eaten all the nectar and honey that was on the frame included when I did the split. Pollen is now in most of those cells.

There are a few pieces of hard fondant containing Mega Bee remaining on the top of the frames. Feasting on a piece was the wax moth larvae, so it paid for it's gluttony with it's life. I was happy to see a couple of bees cleaning out under the comb eaten out by the wax moth larvae. I didn't see any new evidence of other wax moth larvae so am hopeful that will be the end of that for the time being.

Reassuring Advice on Rearing a Queen

Mentors are everywhere! At work yesterday, by pure happenstance, I found myself on the phone with Chip Whipkey, President of the Association of Southern Maryland Beekeepers and we were discussing my concern over finding wax moth larvae in the new hive and the disappearance of the first queen cell. Chip explained that I considered a gloomy scenario can be fixed as simple as destroying the wax moth larvae the next time I am in the hive. Whew!

More puzzling was why the bees totally removed any trace of the first queen cell. While I knew that a queen reared from a young egg is infinitely better than one reared from larvae, I assumed they had done so, given the range of brood on the frame. Chip explained that the bees probably knew which egg/larvae would make for a stronger queen and took action accordingly.

Knowing that I created the split on March 19 and that the egg was at least a day old on that day, and that it takes 16 days to rear a queen, that makes today Queen Day at the Apiary! 

We have storms passing through today but I hope to take a peak in the hive should there be a break in the weather just to ensure the two queen cells have hatched.

Thank you Chip for being there with your wisdom! While I had read so much about a walk-away split, making a queen and wax moths, I was second guessing myself. But this is how one learns!

Queen Cups in the Donor Hive

In my winter reading I learned that Russian bees maintain active queen cells through out the brood-rearing season. In Italian colonies, the presence of queen cells is interpreted by beekeepers as an attempt to swarm (reduce overcrowding by establishing a new colony) or to supersede (kill and replace) the resident queen. This is not the case with Russian colonies, as the workers often destroy the extra queen cells before they fully develop. As you can see here, I have four queen cells.

As you recall, I'm using three medium supers instead of two deeps for the brood boxes. In these three, I have some frames not yet drawn out (from where I pulled frames and made the split) as well as frames drawn but not yet utilized.  I spotted the queen, seen here in the photo. She's a wonderful dark Russian bee! I am not so much worried about a swarm in this hive but will monitor and learn from them.

Lessons in Making Your Own Queen

Checked in on the new hive today and evidence of how much stress a queenless split places on the bees is quite evident. There are lots of dead bees on the bottom screen, to include two pupae, and one frame has waxy moths. I killed one wax moth larvae and was tempted to pull that frame, but there are so few brood in that hive right now that I don't want to weaken it further by removing population. A strong hive will kill the wax moth larvae so I'll keep an eye on it to see how things progress. Just another week or so and hopefully, I'll have a laying queen.

The original queen cell is gone, the queen cup that was to the left of it is now capped and there is a second queen cell on the right. (Both queen cells are visible in the picture.) I searched for some time for a possible new queen but as she is smaller than she would be were she mated, I cannot say she was definitely spotted, which further makes me believe that the bees removed that queen cell. In comparing last week's photo to this one, you can see that there is no trace of the first.

I put the feeder on and am giving them 1:1 sugar syrup with Honey B Healthy. I've gone from being excited last week, to now worried about the wax moths. Hopefully, these Russian bees will be able to hold it off until the numbers increase and they can then remove the problem.

Bee Informed Partnership - Be Included, Be Involved, Bee Informed!

The Bee Informed Partnership is an extension project that endeavors to decrease the number of honey bee colonies that die over the winter. Managed honey bees are important to our agricultural security because many fruits, nuts, vegetables, and other crops require bees to pollinate them to ensure production of quality produce. The project proposes to help beekeepers keep colonies alive by initiating several levels of surveys.

This project is motivated by the conviction that beekeepers, when presented with beekeeper-derived data that objectively show which management practices worked and which did not, will adopt the more successful practices. This, in turn, will reduce colony losses and increase the availability of pollinating units overall.

Please encourage all beekeepers you know to participate! http://www.beeinformed.org/.