Believe it or not another swarm in the back yard. I am thinking at this point that it is again from Hive #1 - they decided to swarm a long time ago and are continuing to fulfill that mission.
Unfortunately I am out of boxes! I quickly assembled a makeshift hive from a couple of unfinished mediums and some plywood boards. The bees were in the middle of one of my blueberry bushes :( which I had to cut up a bit to get them out. They did come our rather easily and I dropped them in my makeshift hive. Since I had no real bottom board, I just put a stick under the top piece of plywood to make an entrance.
Meanwhile, I contacted my co-beelaborer who lives nearby and borrowed a Nuc to put these girls in for at least a little while. This morning, I went out and transferred the bees from my makeshift box to this Nuc. The bees were already distributed across several frames so moving them was pretty easy. The Nuc has a bottom entrance so they were looking a little confused about how to get into the box, but enough were figuring it out that I assume they will spread the word.
I went ahead an bought another top and bottom board and a couple more boxes - I have got to spend some time putting all of this together!
BTW - I also checked on the other hives to see what was going on and Hive #3 (the first swarm I captured) had completely filled their boxes! I went ahead and put another (unfinished!) box full of foundation on top. Well, even if I do not get a lot of honey this year I should have a bunch of comb ready for next year!
Thats all for now...
For now - a place to capture my adventures in Virginia beekeeping.
Sweet Accounting
20012 Honey
4/21...16 pints (9 frames)
2011 Honey
8/13... (5 frames, 2 shallow)
7/17..39 pints (11 frames some shallow)
7/4 .. 10 pints (6 frames, (4 shallow))
6/12 .. 18 pints (7 frames)
5/28 .. 20 pints (8 frames)
5/14 .. 25 pints (9 frames)
2010 Honey
afraid my records were poor this year, but based on sales/gifts about 20 gallons.
'09 - honey - 24 gallons!
10/23 . 16 pints (9 frames)
9/18 ... 38 pints
7/11 ... 42 pints (14 frames)
6/21 ... 47 pints (18 frames)
6/13 ... 26 pints (11 frames)
5/26 ... 24 pints
'08 - (# of frames of honey harvested)
Hive #1 (deep frames)
5/21 ... 4
5/29 ... 2
Hive #2 (medium frames)
5/29 ... 3
6/8 ..... 5
6/15 ... 1
Hive #3 (medium frames)
5/29 ... 2
6/8 ..... 3
6/15 ... 4
6/25 ... 1
4/21...16 pints (9 frames)
2011 Honey
8/13... (5 frames, 2 shallow)
7/17..39 pints (11 frames some shallow)
7/4 .. 10 pints (6 frames, (4 shallow))
6/12 .. 18 pints (7 frames)
5/28 .. 20 pints (8 frames)
5/14 .. 25 pints (9 frames)
2010 Honey
afraid my records were poor this year, but based on sales/gifts about 20 gallons.
'09 - honey - 24 gallons!
10/23 . 16 pints (9 frames)
9/18 ... 38 pints
7/11 ... 42 pints (14 frames)
6/21 ... 47 pints (18 frames)
6/13 ... 26 pints (11 frames)
5/26 ... 24 pints
'08 - (# of frames of honey harvested)
Hive #1 (deep frames)
5/21 ... 4
5/29 ... 2
Hive #2 (medium frames)
5/29 ... 3
6/8 ..... 5
6/15 ... 1
Hive #3 (medium frames)
5/29 ... 2
6/8 ..... 3
6/15 ... 4
6/25 ... 1
Dictionary
- Brood Box - where the brood (the eggs, larva and young bees) are raised. Normally the bottom most box.
- Checkerboarding - Interspersing empty brood comb (or even foundation) into the brood area. This is done to give the queen more room to raise brood and hopefully not swarm.
- Entrance Reducer - Just a wooden stick made to fit in the entrance and make the entrance smaller. This will help keep in heat and allow the bees to guard the entrance better against bees that do not belong to the hive (robber bees).
- Orientation Flight - The first trip out of the hive by young bees. They try to understand their location so they can make it back home. Also occurs when the hive is moved.
- Super - meaning "above", is actually any box above the brood box (or boxes). Normally the location of honey!
- Syrup Feeder - Essentialy an upside down canning jar with pin holes punched in the lid. This is placed in the hive to feed the bees as needed.
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