Yes all 3 hives have their respective Queens
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Hello All,
Posting an update after 2 weeks of last reported status
May be I should post this update under “Hive Inspection” topic… But I could not find an option like “post” in that topic. Hence updating here…
Hive-3 I call it “Weak Hive”
Hive-2 – “Not inspected”
Hive-1 – “troubling Hive”
That’s how I tried to call my hives
The “weak hive” seems to have developed some brood … while most of it’s frames seem to be dark and unoccupied. There are 4 frames that are active. In the pictures above with “hive-3” in the name, the brood seems to be scant … although the queen is active. Almost “Nil” pollen
“Hive-2” – The bees were too aggressive (or defensive) that I could not attempt to pull out the frames… I fed them sugar solution and closed it. But the hive seems to make a lot of noise and about 6 frames seem to be full of bees.
Remaining are those of the “troubling Hive” – “Hive-1”
- There are frames “good enough” --(light passes thru) but bees do not seem to use it
- There are some “mounds” at the base of the hive, over which the bees seem to be working on “something”
- There is pollen being stored but found on just one frame.
I was curious about those “mound” like combs at the base of the box where the bees are hovering around. Is this normal, or do I need to take an action?
Hi Usha, those mounds of comb on the floor are normal. I generally scrape them off, so as to keep the floor clean.
The bees will only occupy the number of frames that the size of the colony requires. During a honey/pollen flow, a colony will rapidly grow, so therefore they’ll quickly use those unattended darker combs. You just want to make sure that the comb is more than 90% worker comb.
With that angry hive, take it about 10-15 meters away, then with plenty of smoke, slowly start to inspect. The angry bees will leave you & go back to the original entrance location. Keep all your movements slow with no bumping. Once finished, put the hive back to it’s original position.
Thank you Jeff.
I was wondering why they have to build a comb at the base when they could royally occupy the frames.
About hive-3, I find it strange to understand why the bees are not collecting pollen as in the case of 1 & 2. Should I feed them with “pollen/pollen substitute”??
Yet another observation – may be a couple of observations more …
- From all the 3 hives, the workers seem to get back to hives as early as 7:00 AM… which makes me think that they are “off” to work – quite early … ??-- I mean with pollen … after that there is almost no flocking… All the workers return again at 6:00 PM or so like a “swarm”.
- In all the 3 hives, at the entrance – I do not notice any guarding bees at any time of the day.
As suggested … I will scrape off the mounds at the bottom in my next inspection
I ordered for “CF” sheets to recyle some of the frames in “hive-3”, so that the “Queen” is perhaps happy about “fresh” comb.
Have a nice week-end.
Best,
Q 1. Yes, feed with pollen substitute if you think the colony needs it.
Q 2. I have also observed bees returning very early, in relation to sunrise. I have seen bees working flowers (dragonfruit) while it was still only half light.
Take notice of what I’m saying about those dark combs. The queen wont lay eggs in them until the colony is ready for her to. The colony will clean & polish those cells in readiness for her. It’s easier for the colony to do that than to build new comb. The comb in that photo you posted 12 days ago doesn’t need replacing. The bees are storing fresh honey in it.
The number of eggs a queen will lay is completely proportional to the number of nurse bees that can look after them. This is why I suggest to try to acquire more frames of brood, so as to increase the nurse bee numbers going forward.
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I agree with you Jeff… The clump – behavior I mentioned was also over fresh honey in those cells,
Also, the “hive-3” – although the combs are dark, I notice honey filled cells.
About acquiring more brood frames …I don’t see that as a possibility unless I go out to those who are into honey selling … Even if I find someone who could give me a brood frame … how do I get it home?
Instead, taking out a brood frame from the “aggressive” “Hive-2” , and merging with the weaker hive seems to be a quick action, but slow progress.
I will have the “hive-2” picture posted in my next update, so as to check if that hive is ready for a “super”.
Thanks and Regards
BTW, any suggestions about “absence” of guarding bees at all the 3 hives?
Thanks again
Hi Usha, you said earlier that you are in winter. I would suggest that guard bees are inside the entrance. I don’t think we talked about entrance size, which should be reduced for winter.
If you can get another beekeeper to sell you frames of brood, bring them home in an insulated box, making sure that nothing can damage the brood. Ask for frames that are full of worker brood in all stages. Bear in mind that a frame full of brood can hold up to 6,000 bees, which is a decent boost to a weaker colony.
Hello Jeff,
The winters here are perhaps “summer” for someone in sub-zero climates. I have not altered the entrance size of these hives. The temperature is typically about 20-24C during night times.
These are the standard Langstroth hives… or perhaps have been customised for “Mellifera” species in India.
I will explore your suggestion of someone giving me a brood frame. I assume that yosuggestion is not take any brood frame out of the remaining hives?.
Thanks again
Seeing as you have a mild winter, you might find a commercial beekeeper willing to sell you some brood frames, especially if you find someone local that sells nucleus hives.
Because of your mild winter, your queens will keep laying. The nurse bees that emerge out of those frames will really help to get the ball rolling. Every bee that emerges out of a donated frame of brood starts their life as nurse bees, that are able to produce royal jelly to feed young brood. Without nurse bees a colony can’t grow. I can’t sing the praises of nurse bees enough.
I get your point Jeff.
The trainer from whom I received 5-day training to handle bees, is about 50 KMs away from where I stay. I purchased the hives from him and during my last visit there I enquired if I could take a brood frame from him, perhaps he did not want me to handle brood frames , or did not have any idea about insulated box into which the frame can fit in. Hence, he advised me to move all the hives to a farm with floral sources, so that everything will be set.
The Mango trees around will be in bloom soon … I’m contemplating to shift them again to my own farm which is 43Kms away but not in the same direction as my trainer’s set up.
What is a nucleus hive? How many frames does it have?
I found that sealed brood tolerates cooler temps quite well, compared to open brood, which needs to be kept at around 35degC. Even it can tolerate an hour out of a hive out of the wind. Therefore if you have to travel for a while with the frames out of a hive, choose sealed brood.
A nucleus hive, or colony is a colony consisting of 4 or more frames of bees, brood and food, with mostly a mated queen.
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A very valuable input Jeff,
Thank you
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You’re welcome Usha 
In relation to sealed brood: I left a frame of brood with too much chalk brood outside under cover during the summer one year, where the nights get down to 20degC. I noticed even after 5 days, unaffected brood was still emerging. I was amazed.
I was slack in not cutting the comb out of the frame for all those days, however it was a valuable lesson that you probably wouldn’t read in books.
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Hello Jeff.
While I continued to struggle with the hives and declining population, I have some interesting notes.
I continued to inspect hives and noted that the population was not growing, the small portions of brood vanished in last 2 weeks – I was not able to contact any bee keeper for either a “sealed” brood or a nucleus hive
The bees stopped showing outside the entrance of the hives and hence no pollen collection.
I tried supplying pollen substitute with the help of popular youtube videos … using Soy flour +
While the bees polished off the original pollen that I fed, they hardly touched the substitute
I contacted a beekeeper through a store that sold fresh honey. He was convinced enough to drop by for a quick inspection of my hives.
I somehow could answer most of my questions after his inspection.
- The guarding bees were not hovering because of “Bee eater” birds perching on the branches around
- The pollen collecting bees were not going out because of the winter – though the night temps dropped only to 14-15C
- One of the hives that was aggressive was only becuase they were starving –
- All the 3 hives have somewhat older queens – I somehow could not understand how he told me that the queens are almost 3yrs old
- The sugar syrup feed once in a week in 1:1 ratio was not sufficient, he recommends a 70% concentration of sugar
- And… most intresting aspect was the pollen substitute – he recommended a roasted “chick pea” flour and no additives to it.
- Adding a small amount of turmeric powder to the sugar syrup feed, to keep any kind of infections away
- All around my house are the Indian “Acacia” species --all huge trees which will bloom again by March… which are a decent source of “pollen” and also nectar
- The clumping as you suggested is for the honey they stored in the comb
- The Mango tree in my backyard and all other mango trees around are in full bloom – however, my reading says that Mango trees are not a source of pollen neither they are favorite nectar sources for “Mellifera”
Did the bees like “roasted chick pea” flour? – yes-- bees in all the 3 hives polished off by next day.
This man is not highly qualified but claims a 20yrs of bee keeping experience and worked in all commercial bee keeping farms.
I was dumb not to notice that, from the huge “acacia” trees around my house that the bees were getting their pollen.
He advised me to remove the inner cover and place a jute spread on the frames - to keep the bees warm in Winter and cool in summer.
I asked him to supply me with a sealed brood— which he thinks might not be needed if the hives pick up with this kind of feeding.
I had a little releif this week.
Hi Usha, happy new year. It’s great that you found an experienced beekeeper to inspect your hives. Hopefully he will be able to guide you & help you with resources should you need some.
After 20 years, the man should be reasonably qualified, especially after working on commercial beekeeping farms.
Hello Jeff,
Happy New Year to you too. It is nice to see your response – on a New year day.
“Qualified” I meant was about a formal education or a training.
Hopefully … I will sail thru and not give up “Bee Keeping”
Best,
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“Sail thru” is a good term. I guess in sailing it’s hard to do a long sailing trip without encountering rough weather. I’m thinking that it’s the rough patches that turns an average sailor into a good sailor. Alternatively makes an average sailor give up & go home.
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Hello Jeff…
Hope you are doing well
Hit another rough weather patch. … “Ants in my weak hive”… working on going around this trouble by removing the feeder and feeding “pollen”… not any substitute.
The worker strength seems to have improved in remaining 2 hives… although the eggs are yet to show up.
Best,
Hi Usha, yes going well.
We’ve had some decent rain, which I need for my vege garden, plus helps my dragonfruit plants to produce buds, which turns into fruit if they don’t die. We only have a short period while the days are long for this to happen. Otherwise I can use lights like they do in Vietnam to extend the daylight hours.
Something like in this photo.
You must have some emerging brood in the hives for the worker population to be improving.
Good luck in the coming spring.
Cheers