G’day Bob, that’s great news. I’d say at this point you ARE seeing empty pupal cases from hatching bees. You’ll notice the recently hatched bees are a bit smaller, more hairy on the thorax & walking around with wobbly boot. Here’s my video of a hatching bee. When we started videoing, I thought she was almost out, we just wanted to video her coming out. It took a further 30 minutes. Had we known that we would have sat the camera on a stand to save poor Wilma’s arm from aching.
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I’ve fed them with a litre of syrup twice since then and they polished both lots off in about three hours. I realise they don’t need supplementary feeding but I’m trying to boost their numbers as quickly as possible. They still haven’t fully drawn out the edge frames. Once this happens, I will give them an 8 frame super. I expect that will be by the end of next week.
I’ve been researching how I should split up the frames when I add the super. As seems to be so often the case, there’s plenty of conflicting advice. Perhaps it doesn’t much matter as long as the brood nest remains reasonable intact. I’m thinking I will place three brood nest frames into the centres of each box with starter strip frames surrounding them. Outside these I will alternate honey frames and starter strip frames. I don’t want to have any starter strip frames adjacent to each other so I plan to intersperse them with foundation frames.
That’s the way to do it Bob, but at this stage only move “honey only” frames up to the super as your colony is still developing. Let the bees draw out new frames in the super, you may need to consider every second frame in the Super to be full foundation otherwise you are going to get cross comb.
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I inspected my hive today. It was not long after midday and very hot. I suspect many of my girls would have been out foraging because there were nowhere near as many bees in the hive.
Didn’t even see one hive beetle but I suspect there are still a few around. I went back tonight but I had the wrong torch. Last time I shone my big Makita at the hive the girls gave me a couple of zaps. This time I stayed well away.
Tried to take a video of the inspection but the iPhone turned itself off. No idea why. Lots of brood, lots of honey, lots of empty cells and some fuzzy looking smaller bees. I actually saw a few larvae nestled in the bottoms of their cells and I think I may have even seen an egg or two. I’ve read that bees should be accessing at least three different pollen sources and I counted five different colours. The pollen cells were nowhere near full and were clustered in little patches about half way down the frames.
My girls don’t seem to be drawing out much comb. The partly waxed frames at the edge of the nest seemed much the same as last time. At this rate I won’t be needing to add that super for a while yet.
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Now that I reflect on it, my girls have repaired all the chewed out comb from a few weeks ago. That would have taken a bit of wax. Perhaps I’m being a bit hard on them.
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Pollen. Where you describe it is where the bees like to keep it while brooding; next to the brood. So you get an oval of brood, an arc of pollen then an arc of nectar or honey.
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G’day Bob, one thing to take into consideration is the bees from the package are ageing so you can expect to see a slight drop in numbers before an increase. Remembering that a lot of the early brood got knocked around a bit. cheers
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I inspected the hive on Tuesday and changed over the SHB traps. Didn’t see the queen but did see plenty of fuzzy looking bees. There appears to be a buildup of comb on in the central part of the nest but the combs on the edge have plenty of open space. I guess that means no need for a super yet.
The good news is I didn’t see any SHB and I haven’t been seeing any on my nightly inspections. The dead beetle count for the past week is 54 in three traps.
It was warm on Tuesday and I’m confident my bees are reasonably gentle. I wore light coloured clothing and didn’t put on the bee suit. I used a little smoke but not much. No stings but I did bump a cloud of bees off a frame at one time. The message I’m taking away is that I should still be wearing the suit until I’m sure I can handle the frames better. I’m interested to know what others think of working bees without a suit?
G’day Bob, that’s great news. The suit I’m using now has the veil incorporated onto it. However if I was going to inspect my bees without a suit, I’d probably still use a veil. You really don’t want a sting on your face because they go for the mouth & eyes area. So currently I’m using my suit every time because it has the veil attached. I went out this morning with my suit, gloves & only thongs on my feet instead of my usual boots.
We have to remember that bees only view us as another predator, that’s how I see it. They’ll do whatever it takes to protect their next generation. This is what happened to a cane toad that entered a hive, uninvited:)
@sciencemaster I work without gloves now, I can feel the frames better. I have gone out before today and forgot to put my hood up and had no problems - I suppose you get used to your own bees and they to you.
I would not be allowed to do that at our local group and you have to respect their criteria.
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Hi Bob, I just this minute got a comment on my Youtube channel from Artisan Tony. It went something like this. “I got my first sting on my eyelid the other day. I’m going to start wearing a veil from now on:)”. That’s something to think about:) What a coincidence. cheers
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Thanks very much for all the advice. I had seen a number of you tube videos where people were working with bees without protective gear. I gave it a go but I had a real cloud of bees around me when I accidentally bumped the frame on the box. I think I was very lucky I didn’t get a dozen stings let alone not getting even a single sting.
I will be wearing my bee suit from now on having used up my share of luck.
On a related subject, can bee suits go in the wash without damage?
Hey Bob, there’s a very good chance the veil will get damaged or torn by the agitation of the machine. I fill up the laundry sink with hot water and Napisan, put in your suit and give it a good poke (I use a paint stirrer) leave to soak overnight then rinse the next day to get the smell out. Air dry and you’re done.
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Your welcome Bob, thank YOU!!! Yes they can but with the material they’re made of, I find they deteriorate fairly quickly with every wash. So I tend to avoid it as much as I can. I just try to hang them up so they get plenty of air around them. With honey being hygroscopic, the traces of honey on the suit will only cause mildew if the suit is folded up between uses.
I’ve seen those videos your talking about. Walls bee man likes to do it without protection but he gets plenty of stings. I’m not a macho man. I get enough stings even with protection, I don’t need any more. One day I forgot to zip up my veil, one got me on the neck. In that case I couldn’t get the sting out quick because other bees were also trying to get in. It’s not good when you get all the venom. Anyway take care, bye
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Hi, neither my husband nor I have a suit but we do wear veils and gloves (either welding gloves or kitchen gloves) once I’m more confident I’d like to work without gloves as I find them awkward, hot and can’t find any to fit my hand size well. We do wear long sleeved tops that button up at the neck (his old work shirts), jeans and covered in shoes.
Veils are very simple to make -
75 cm - 1 metre of dark netting (so you can see through it)
Elastic to go around the top
Pop over a wide brimmed hat.
Tuck into top.
Ask for one for Christmas/birthday from a person who sews (I can give more detailed instructions if needed) they’ll be thrilled with such an easy useful present to make.
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@sciencemaster I tuck the hood inside the suit and zip it closed - that way it is washed but protected inside the suit - I did manage to have a tear in my first suit and sewing it up was messy - better to replace the netting. that is why I now tuck it inside the suit
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I suspect that washing as indicated by Valli on a gentle or hand wash settIng would work well.
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@Jasbee I put eucalyptus in the final rinse as well. Helps to remove stickiness if any and takes away any pheromone smells as well
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I wash mine frequently in the summer as I visit the association training apiary twice monthly and I have only the one suit. It’s made by BB Wear and is polycotton. Like Valli I tuck the veil inside the suit and zip it up. 40˚ synthetic wash in non-bio non perfumed wash. After five years it’s still going strong.
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PS
Much as I would love to the sight of a boiling 14x12 of black welsh bees somehow stops me 
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