Keeping bees

NHGardener wrote:camprn - how can you tell how old she is? 

No wonder they killed the queen (if that's what happened), they already have one.

Yep!  Thats what bee guy told me.  Since they already had one they let her die.   He told me a few other people had the same thing happen with finding an established queen/ dead queen in the cage. 

These guys in bee club are telling me to wait to see if the 2 yr old queen lays well.  The one guy said he'd take a 2 yr queen over a package queen any day.  I dont know, I think Im going to wait a few days and check on her.  See what she does.  Also, get opinions from the beekeepers at the bee yard on Wed.

R&R 1011 wrote:Thank you for that, Camp.  Ill call the bee guy back tomorrow.  I wondered how old she was.
 
BUT if she lays for awhile and then craps out, the bees will raise their own queen.  So do I really need to replace her?  Should I wait to see how she lays?

When they shook the package, the old queen accidently got included. But she's unlikely to be a good queen. Packages are put through an excluder to rid them of queens and drones. An old queen that goes through an excluder is already shriveled up and on her way out.

Raising a new queen takes time, and you don't have time to waste in getting your new colony established. Be sure to remove the old queen before introducing another, as they may kill another new one too.

I might add that you will get greater acceptance of a new queen, if you give the colony a frame of sealed brood, and place the queen cage adjacent to the hatching brood. That way she will have young bees to care for her, while they eat out the candy plug. Young bees will always accept a queen; it is the old bees that kill.

If you are just starting up with only one colony, you now see one of the many reasons I always recommend that one start with at least two hives.

Pollinator wrote:

R&R 1011 wrote:Thank you for that, Camp.  Ill call the bee guy back tomorrow.  I wondered how old she was.
 
BUT if she lays for awhile and then craps out, the bees will raise their own queen.  So do I really need to replace her?  Should I wait to see how she lays?

When they shook the package, the old queen accidently got included. But she's unlikely to be a good queen. Packages are put through an excluder to rid them of queens and drones. An old queen that goes through an excluder is already shriveled up and on her way out.

Raising a new queen takes time, and you don't have time to waste in getting your new colony established. Be sure to remove the old queen before introducing another, as they may kill another new one too.

I might add that you will get greater acceptance of a new queen, if you give the colony a frame of sealed brood, and place the queen cage adjacent to the hatching brood. That way she will have young bees to care for her, while they eat out the candy plug. Young bees will always accept a queen; it is the old bees that kill.

If you are just starting up with only one colony, you now see one of the many reasons I always recommend that one start with at least two hives.

So, do you think I should wait to see if she lays well and keep her for a bit, then replace her?  That seems to be the consensus from the beekeepers board.  Though another guy has a good point that he wouldnt replace a twice overwintered queen.

I feel like this is one of those questions that will get 10 different answers.

We are starting with 2 hives, my friends hive is right next to mine.

I was able to buy 2 proven 2014 Italian queen on Monday. I put one cage in the hive that wasn't queenright and made up a nuc with the other. Fingers crossed they both take.

camprn wrote:I was able to buy 2 proven 2014 Italian queen on Monday. I put one cage in the hive that wasn't queenright and made up a nuc with the other. Fingers crossed they both take.

Good luck!  I tried to check my hive yesterday, but they werent in a good mood.  Will check on my queen over the weekend.  My bees were building burr comb all over the feeder.  

I got stung again at bee club.  The instructor told me to stick my fingers in the syrup and pull out the dead bees.  Well, a girl landed on my syrup covered finger and stung me!  Thanks a lot instructor. 

Thanks.

I use Mason jars for feeding.

camprn wrote:Thanks.

I use Mason jars for feeding.

Just saw them today.  At bee club, they had the same feeder I have and had the same issue with the burr comb so they took it out and put in 2 jar feeders.  Definitely thinking about switching to the jars.

Picked up my Russian package on Monday and installed Monday morning. Since we're in a few days of rain now, I figured I'd see if the queen was released early, so I checked on Tuesday afternoon. The queen cage was completely balled by bees. Beesource seems to think this is not a good omen and they will kill the queen. If they do, then count me in as ANOTHER package with a dead queen! The warning I got was that while there might be a queen in the package already, she might be a virgin queen. HOPE NOT. Grr.

I'll check when the weather clears, looks like that may not happen until Saturday. By then she'll either be alive for good or dead for good. I don't want to spend another $30 on a re-queen (if I were able to find one), I'd probably just throw a frame with eggs in there and hope for the best.

I've had it with packages!

NHGardener wrote:Picked up my Russian package on Monday and installed Monday morning. Since we're in a few days of rain now, I figured I'd see if the queen was released early, so I checked on Tuesday afternoon. The queen cage was completely balled by bees. Beesource seems to think this is not a good omen and they will kill the queen. If they do, then count me in as ANOTHER package with a dead queen! The warning I got was that while there might be a queen in the package already, she might be a virgin queen. HOPE NOT. Grr.

I'll check when the weather clears, looks like that may not happen until Saturday. By then she'll either be alive for good or dead for good. I don't want to spend another $30 on a re-queen (if I were able to find one), I'd probably just throw a frame with eggs in there and hope for the best.

I've had it with packages!

Maybe they are just getting to know her or are attending her?  I kept my smuggled old queen.  She's laying well, brood pattern looked good.  However, the bees built 3 large pieces of burr in the feeder section and the queen was up there laying in it.  I was so sad to lose a weeks worth of work.  Just replaced their feeder today.

R&R - yikes. How many supers do you have on that hive? I wonder if they're looking for more space for the queen to lay.

Yeah, I'm not sure which way to go with this queen. One person told me to get the cage out of there before they kill her. But it's 56F and drizzly, that would severely disturb the new package hive which I just disturbed yesterday by checking on her after one day anyway.

I may just try the "do nothing and see what happens" approach. So tough to make these decisions...

R&R, the burr comb is a result of a violation of bee space. You need to have all spaces within the hive at 3/8" or less. Anything more and they will plug it up with comb making a big mess. Smaller spaces will be propolized. 
http://www.extension.org/pages/44117/what-is-bee-space-and-why-is-this-important-to-beekeeping#.U49iSPmwJcQ

NHGardener wrote:Picked up my Russian package on Monday and installed Monday morning. Since we're in a few days of rain now, I figured I'd see if the queen was released early, so I checked on Tuesday afternoon. The queen cage was completely balled by bees. Beesource seems to think this is not a good omen and they will kill the queen. If they do, then count me in as ANOTHER package with a dead queen! The warning I got was that while there might be a queen in the package already, she might be a virgin queen. HOPE NOT. Grr.

I'll check when the weather clears, looks like that may not happen until Saturday. By then she'll either be alive for good or dead for good. I don't want to spend another $30 on a re-queen (if I were able to find one), I'd probably just throw a frame with eggs in there and hope for the best.

I've had it with packages!

I'll take your queen.  

You want my dead queen? LOL.

Yeah, if I had 2 queens I wouldn't mind. I may end up with zero queens.

NHGardener wrote:You want my dead queen? LOL.

Yeah, if I had 2 queens I wouldn't mind. I may end up with zero queens.

I had to buy two queens two weeks ago. pfft
I want to get to a place where I can raise my own.

camprn - I want to do a walkaway split real real soon. That's raising your own.

I have a Russian queen coming end of June, but not in time for this package. I'm about to go out there for the second day in a row and disturb them, even in this foul weather, to pull that queen cage if I have to. I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing.

They are on the first deep, at the time of the pic only 5 frames of drawn comb.  Camp, the empty space is a result of the feeder.  I have this feeder which sits in a medium super.  http://www.blueskybeesupply.com/ultimate-hive-feeder/

I had the inner cover sitting below the feeder which I was told was wrong and the feeder should sit on top of the frames.  So I did that and they went crazy with building burr up there.  I was told to remove the feeder for 5 days (they werent really eating from it) and then put it back.  Which I did today, but I put the inner cover back below the feeder b/c that seemed to keep the queen out of there.

R&R - You probably already know this, but they say in bee club: put a 2nd super on when 7 frames are drawn.

Well, I went out to the bees. The queen is still alive and well in her cage and they are not making much progress eating thru the candy. I could not find another queen on the frames, so I just closed it back up till Saturday when the weather will be nice, and then they'll have made a decision one way or the other.

If they die of anything, it will be from beekeeper overhandling and pestering.

NHGardener wrote:R&R - You probably already know this, but they say in bee club: put a 2nd super on when 7 frames are drawn.

Well, I went out to the bees. The queen is still alive and well in her cage and they are not making much progress eating thru the candy. I could not find another queen on the frames, so I just closed it back up till Saturday when the weather will be nice, and then they'll have made a decision one way or the other.

If they die of anything, it will be from beekeeper overhandling and pestering.

Yep, I almost put the 2nd box on today when I put the feeder in, but they were at 6 frames.  Im going to wait to add it until we do our inspection in a couple of days.  

It took atleast 4 days for my friend's queen to be released.  They say if they arent out by the 5th-7th day, to release her.  I bet she'll be fine.  Haha, it is so hard for me not to bother my girls.  I just try to keep myself busy with the gardening.   How many hives do you have NHG?

I have one that overwintered, this new package, and I hope to do some splits this summer to get a couple more going.

Yeah, I want to look in there ALL THE TIME. Like opening the oven door constantly to see how the cake is doing...

OMG!
 http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/06/david-allred-california-bee-theft

camprn - a while back I saw a similar article to this from Kern Co, California:

http://www.bakersfieldcalifornian.com/business/x1210657744/Stolen-bees-recovered-from-local-chop-shop

I forget where it was referenced.

It seems they're having a lot of issues with bee theft in California.

Gads, there's a lot to know about keeping bees   

camprn - Last night I went on youtube to see how other people are doing robbing screens, and there was your video!

I got Brushy Mtn. robbing screens for all my hives and put them on last evening. I had made 2 of them in an emergency, but they weren't as solid so thought I should go with professional.

How are your bees doing? I think the state meeting is sponsored by our group this Octoberish.

NHGardener wrote:camprn - Last night I went on youtube to see how other people are doing robbing screens, and there was your video!

I got Brushy Mtn. robbing screens for all my hives and put them on last evening. I had made 2 of them in an emergency, but they weren't as solid so thought I should go with professional.

How are your bees doing? I think the state meeting is sponsored by our group this Octoberish.

2 weeks ago one of my nucs was not queen right... I'm just going to let it run it's course.  I have to do an inspection this weekend but everything seems ok with the rest. I see an uptick in frenetic activity, but as of yet, no robbing. Are you having robbing issues already?



LOL, that was not a great video.... I think that was the first time I ever tried using the video feature on my brandy-new first time smaht phone.... Any way I hope it was helpful.

I will be going to the state fall meeting, as far as I know.