Inspection – Page 2 – Walberg Heights Apiary Tales

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.

Third Swarm From The Same Hive

I’ve always heard Carniolans have a tendency to swarm. I now believe it. Yesterday I caught the third swarm from the same hive. This one was the second day in a row. Luckily they were lower to the ground, and I’ve become quite experienced in the last week, so it wasn’t that big of a chore.