I’m clueless. Yep, no idea. But inspected the hive just now and this is how it looks. I think there were about 2 frames with no activity. Zero Hive Beetles!! I’ve trapping them in the bottom tray.
Well done, Paul. Good pictures showing plenty of bees. Don’t worry about the two frames not worked yet. They’ll get there if there’s a nectar flow on.
The full cover of bees hides what’s happening. I can see drone and some worker capped cells and pollen, but little else. You need to shake the bees off a couple of frames so you can see. Look for eggs and pearl white larvae to confirm your queen is still working well and there’s no obvious disease. Occasional empty cells are ok, but there should be solid frames of brood.
If there’s no young brood, shake off and check the other frames. No eggs and larvae generally means no queen during forage season. If there’s also no emergency queen cells, you’ll need to get a new queen pronto.
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Thanks Mike, most helpful indeed! I did notice some larvae cells so that’s a good sign.
It did occur to me to shake the bees off the frame but I assumed they’d go ballistic so I opted not to.
I’ll check again say, in 3 weeks? This time I’ll know what to be looking for.
Thanks again
Paul.
Haha, yes Paul. You might upset them a little. It takes practice to give the frame the right flick down in between the other frames so the bees drop off below the top bars. That way they’ll settle immediately. It’s best to inspect with bees off to see what’s really happening.
Mike
Yea I’ll give it a go next time. Tonight when I had a look from the outside I did notice the aroma of honey… so I guess that at least indicates a little about the state of production.
Hi @SuperPuppet, i hope you are going well,
From the frames im seeing and also looking at the written information, I am not seeing much in the way of honey stores. Bees require around 8kgs of honey to draw 1 kg of wax. so this is the reason why the first season typically is one without a great deal of a honey harvest. Supplimenting the hive with sugar water helps this.
Note - Im hoping to see some honey stores with the photos you supply later down the line.
Reading the frames im also seeing a great deal of capped brood, your hive is going to explode in numbers which translates to a compounding capacity of the hives working yield. (Worker bee coverage on frames - which appears incredibly positive already).
Typically the advice given at this stage - (80% drawn and worked frames). Is to provide the additional resource that is effective"Bee working space". Eventually the queen becomes restricted which limits her laying capacity. In addition the workers become confined and as a united consensus trigger the swarming instinct, which once started is difficult to work around conventionally. Checker boarding is only a preventative measure.
With this in mind, adding another box is crucial for the hives long term progression. Mainly because drawn frames are one of a Beekeepers most valuable resources in managing a hive. Considering how finite they are. Your first seasons goal is drawing as many as you can get. The more you have for the second season means less honey consumption with drawing frames in the followng season.
If you can add your super and alternate your flow frames with conventional ones (foundation frames if possible - they draw these alot quicker) doing this will help to entice them up. Placing 1 or two frames of honey up top will get numbers up top. Which will hopefully enable the bees to establish footprint pathways on the foriegn plastic frames. Squishing bur comb into the fliw frames can hep the bees to reorganise it into drawing initial flow frame cells.
For now thats all from me, i wish you and your bees all the best with the season ahead.
Regards,
Scol
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Lots of great tips there. Thanks!!!