I just did my first inspection today after transferring the Nuc 8 days ago. It was a little bit harder with my 3 yr old next to me but he loved every minute of it.
I didnt spot the queen which is marked but then again i was trying to watch a couple of things at once and didnt want it open for too long. I did see young larvae and also eggs so she will be around there somewhere.
They were very busy building out the frames i put in there. one frame was all messed up. the foundation on the frame is on the hottest side of the box and i obviously didnt put the wire into it enough and it slipped out so was a bit of a mess on that side but thats all good. something to learn from . maybe i should melt some wax into there also to hold it.
Out of 10 frames there was only 1-2 frames which were just getting started with comb building. brood pattern looked pretty good. plenty of honey also. and i only found 1 hive beetle in the corner which i squashed. so all in all pretty successful. i wish i saw the queen though. maybe next week
Those frames, compared to the ones I have installed about a month ago are awesome. Mine are nowhere as close as those in brood numbers and honey stores.
How did your son go in the new suit? He looks like he really enjoyed it!
They were going really well and the frames they had drawn out were taking really good shape and storing lots of nectar so it was a good site. pretty happy with how fast they are moving. just wanted to see the queen so i could get a good photo of her to show the family.
He had a ball with it. he got really excited once a few bees crawled on him. thats what he wanted to happen the whole time lol.
It all looks good John, and good that you are involving the young chap in bee keeping. You certainly have a laying queen so maybe next time you do an inspection she will be found. Always look on the shady side of the frame first, queens are not into sun-baking. Obviously some nectar about seeing the nectar in the cells.
Cheers
@JV180SX it all looks like a fabulous start! Your son has just experienced a taste of what makes us truly rich - a useful skill and the wonder of nature
Thankyou all, i was pretty happy with how its all looking. already looking forward to doing my next inspection. once i do that i will hopefully have a few more photos to show the progression and hopefully a photo of the queen this time. i will do it without my son this time so i can have a better look and not watching him in the corner od my eye the whole time lol.
So ive now done my 2nd inspection this morning. didnt get many photos as my wife wasnt suited up and didnt want to get up too close.
What a difference 9 days have made. I had to replace 1 edge frame as the sun melted the foundation and it sort of fell out. the replacement frame i put in was only half foundation and they have almost drawn it out completely.
2 other frames i put it have been drawn out and full of capped brood. 1 more frame i put it is fully drawn and is half full of capped honey.
i did notice this time of a swarm cell but wasnt capped and i couldnt see anything in there. there was a litt bit of drone brood too on one frame. I dare say maybe in the next week we might be at the right numbers to add the super? hopefully. there was bees everywhere when i took the lid off but dont want to rush.
This time i did spot the queen again but by this time my wife had gone inside so i didnt get a photo of her.
Here is a couple of photos. the light coloured frames are the new ones i put in and dark are original.
Hey John, considering this is only the start of Summer and you are already having wax melting issue in you hive you might have to consider ways of giving shade and good ventilation to the hives before the Summer heat gets really vicious. Here is SE Queensland the heat of Summer can be a major problem for a hive exposed to too much sun.
Cheers
I have added shade cloth to the area to help. its definitely made a difference. i think the biggest issue was my method of putting in the foundation. i just slotted it between the wires and then just used my pliers to push the wire into the foundation in a few spots so wasnt the most secure way of doing it. i now have a tool to do the full length of wire and melt wax into the top
We had temps of 37 with the heat wave but i think the biggest issue was the way i put it in. it was more of a dislodge and not a melt really. like it just slipped down out of the top bar a little bit. the new frame i put in on the “hot” side had no issues at all. but i used the tool to pyt the wire into that one
The way I in-bed the wire into my foundation is to slide the foundation into the top bar then lay it on a piece of Masonite with the foundation on the bottom side. I have an old car battery no longer good for starting a car but still good enough to use to pass a current through the wire for about one second and the weight of the frame will bond the full length of the wire into the foundation. My set up including a solar charger set me back about $45, the battery I got from a car wrecker and has been in fairly constant use for as long as I can remember. Really easy to make and a handy piece of my bee keeping gear. No need to melt wax into the top bar if you melt the foundation to the wire with an electrical current.
Shade cloth is a good fix to provide much needed shade for a hive. An instant fix and cost effective, well done John.
Cheers
The shade cloth i have on hooks so when it comes inspection time i just unhook and can walk all around the hive. By about 11am the hive is mostly shaded from the cloth so they dont get too hot in there.
Thats a really good idea. im pretty sure i have most the equipment at home to make one. definitely the push with pliers wasnt the greatest of ideas but we live and learn.
Im really looking forward to the next inspection. i will have my 2nd box ready and metal excluder incase its all good to go on.
I should have written down where abouts i sae the queen cell getting built so i can make sure its still just an empty cell when i do the next inspection. i was very surprized to see some of the frames i put in to be fully capped. lots of old frames had eggs and grubs of all ages and lots and lots of pollen. so looking very good. i really want to get my 2nd hive up and running. maybe just after Christmas i will get another Nuc
So i just did my next inspection today. the bees werent too happy with me. im guessing because of the wind about but at first i didnt feel it so didnt think to much of it until they flew right at me. O well good to see different behaviours of the bees.
So last time i went in there there was a queen swarm cell, lots of honey, still 2 frames to be drawn out and some pretty good brood around with a small patch of drone brood.
i went in today and every frame was packed with bees. every single frame was drawn and had brood all over it or eggs or larvae. there was only 1 edge frame that was full honey the rest was all laid in.
Unfortunately didnt get any other photos cause they werent too happy today so wanted to make it quick.
As it was packed with bees and almost every frame laid in i thought it would be ok to put the super on. I was actually surprized to see that they had moved all the honey to the very edge frame to start laying in all those inner frames the honey was in. it was only 9 days ago i did the last inspection. its amazing how much harder it is to get frames in and out when they are packed to the brim with bees without squashing any.
It was good to finally get a picture of her. it was taken from a fair distance as my wife wasnt suited up and they werent too happy to be in the wind so she didn’t want to be too close.
The swarm cell was just sitting there with nothing happening. took me a bit to find it again as i was trying to move bees out of the way and had a good look into the cell and couldnt see anything so its just a play cell so o left it for them at this stage.
I guess bees have a need for a play cell. They will be found in most hives regardless of the strain of bee. I used to pull them down but found in a day or two another was made. Sometimes a play cell will get used but I have also found when they want a queen cell the play cell gets ignored and they make a new one. I can’t figure that out.
Cheers
. maybe i should melt some wax into there also to hold it.
