Busy Work – Page 2 – Walberg Heights Apiary Tales

Still Adding Honey Supers

I added another honey super today. That makes six 8-frame and two 10-frame supers. Even though we are trying to make the transition from 10-frame to 8-frame equipment, I added another nine frames to the 10-frame Carny hive today. Even after the 3rd year, we’re still not stocked up on all the hardware we need. I guess I need to get better at unplanned expansions, and math, and staying on top of things. The wet spring has been challenging and a new learning curve.

Open frame view of the apiary from the deck. You can’t see them, but there are lots of girls flying over your head to the north.

We are out of frames with drawn comb, so I checkerboarded new foundation and open frames again. The photo above shows how I have finally settled on setting up the open frames. I add a small starter strip of foundation that I have cut down from a full sheet. Then I add wire for stability. I try to put the open frames into the hive next to a honey frame that is already drawn out to help guide the girls when they draw new comb. Time will tell.

Changing Weather, Changing Plans

The rainy weather forecasted for the week has mostly been at night, with partly cloudy and sunny days. I know I said previously that I wouldn’t be touching the hives for a couple of weeks but plans do change. I initially went out just to heft the Roman honey super to get a feel for how it was filling up. To my amazment there were hundreds of dead bees in front of the hive and they were stinking.

They are hard to see in the gravel, but all the black specs are dead drones.

Silly Bumblin’ Beekeeping

I inspected all five hives today so this will be a long post. You’ve been warned! I was disappointed in a couple of the hives until I stepped back later and thought about it.

The original Carniolan hive, Carny, that had swarmed 3 times has two brood boxes and one super. It is still packed with bees, but no sign of any eggs, larva, or capped brood. Why? The super is half filled.

The last swarm I caught, Middle, is one brood box. I am still feeding them with a reduced entrance, but it also has no new eggs, larva, or capped brood. Why? There is still a small amount of brood that I gave them initially.

The Eastern hive, which was the original swarm I caught, is doing great. It still has the marked queen that swarmed from the Carny hive. I did see her, in addition to larva and capped brood. Eastern has two brood boxes and a partially filled honey super.