Did my 2nd inspection this afternoon, only got my bee’s roughly 4weeks ago. Are these brood frames looking ok? Still have not been able to spot Queen. Still learning the ropes. Was concered I may have robber bees too, as some of the bees looked like they had their ‘butts up’ at hive entrance, it could have been them cooling down too, as very humid here today. I reduced the hive enterance just incase and see what they are like tomorrow. I wasnt sure if some were a bit nasty towards others or not, even in the hive when i did inspection.
Thank you, Kate
Hive enterance after inspection and before I reduced enterance
It doesn’t sound like robbing to me. Bees at the entrance fanning with their tails up are either emitting Nasanov pheromone to help her sisters locate home or if tail down she’s air conditioning the hive. You’ll sometimes notice pheromone fanners during orientation flights. Less experienced beekeepers mistake such flights as robbing events. When you see a real robbing event, you’ll know the difference. Compared to the gentle although busy orientation flights, robbing is frenetic. There are bees searching every part of the hive to find a way in and deadly fighting between home bees and robbers. It’s very stressful and can lead to the demise of the weaker colony.
Those frames look good. Plenty of developing larvae. I couldn’t see eggs, but a better focussed photo might reveal them. It’s always fun to see the queen, but not necessary. As long as you see eggs, you know she’s been their within the last three days and as long as you haven’t opened the hive in that time (other than this inspection) they’re very likely queen right. Most queen losses for beginners is from accidentally rolling her when lifting or lowering a frame.
Thanks for your reply, appreciate your thoughts
I think you may be right about getting confused with orientation flight, think this is what I was seeing, which is good sign!?
I’m glad the frame looks good, yes my photo skills weren’t there yesterday, still awkward with holding frame while trying to take photos.
Hopefully next week I can see eggs.
When a middle brood frame has 80%-90% capped brood should I swap it with one of the outer frames that hasn’t got much brood? Or just leave all frames without rotating?
Orientation flights are a good sign. It’s the transition from house bee to forager. They’re flying for the first time and are setting their “GPS” to Home. Even a new queen does it before she sets off on her mating flights.
While it’s ok to rotate super frames, it’s best to leave the brood to the bees. We disturb them quite enough with inspections, without also completely rearranging the furniture. They know what they’re doing and why. Most of the time we’re guessing, or just bulldozing our way through their fine China. Often less is more.
