Now that we have extracted the final super of honey from the hive for the year, it's time to consider setting up the hive for success in overwintering. We have had less of a mite problem this year, thanks in no small part to investing a few more dollars in a mite-resistant queen. This colony has consequently been VERY fastidious about hygiene, sealing off everything that could be a potential entrance for pests with propolis, and disposing of debris (and infested brood) diligently.
Last year, I think the mites reached a level where they compromised the strength of the hive and we lost to colony to a host of pests including wax moths and hive beetles.
There is evidence this year of wax moths trying to make their presence felt, and we've seen several hive beetles scurrying around, but--from what information we can find--so long as the colony isn't being overwhelmed by mites, they should be able to keep the beetles and moths at bay.
However, we want to make sure the hive cover is well sealed, reduce the front entrance opening and we'll probably want to put the hive bodies on a solid bottom board in place of the screened bottom board we have now. That will minimize the ability of pests to enter, and interrupt the reproduction of the hive beetles (whose larvae leave the hive to mature in the ground under the hive and then climb back inside).
The bees are still pretty active right now, but shortly after Halloween we'll make one last check, dust with powdered sugar to help disperse any stray mites and minimize entrances.
In the temperate climate here in Sacramento, the bees won't have to expend too much energy keeping warm, and will still be able to get out and forage on the nicer days, so I have high hopes that they will weather this winter better than last year's colony.
Showing posts with label queen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label queen. Show all posts
Monday, October 20, 2025
Winterizing
Thursday, July 31, 2025
Trying to get back in the routine
It has been a decade since we have had the capacity to keep bees in the City. However, in 2021 we took advantage of the housing sales slump to relocate to Sacramento. Having our own house with our own yard means we get to have our own hives again and so we have started beekeeping once more.
Last summer (with our nephew's help), we were able to extract a little over 12 gallons of honey. We like to extract the supers individually to get the character of the nectar as the season progresses.
The earlier extractions were very light in color and fragrantly sweet. The later season supers were substantially darker in color, but somewhat less viscous, less sweet and much more herbal in character. I've ordered a batch of jars and updated our labels so hopefully we will be ready to sell again in the very near future.
Over the intervening decade, it has become more challenging to maintain a healthy hive; the increase in types and tenacity of various parasitic pests in the hive means that the colony is now contending with hive beetles and wax moths while still battling mites. The mites are now spreading deformed wing virus which adds a new layer of challenge.
But at the same time, mite treatments are more varied with simple things to keep the mite population down such as managing drone brood and periodic dusting with sugar coupled with more aggressive miticide treatments when mite counts start to rise.
Keeping the mites at bay allows the bees to focus on keeping the other pests at bay and gives them a decent chance at survival.
This year we replaced our queen with a new variety that shows promise in mite resistance (Olivarez Golden West). So far, it seems to be working, I have seen very few mites on our bottom board and though there have been a few beetle sightings, there doesn't seem to be significant interference from them in the hive activity.
The earlier extractions were very light in color and fragrantly sweet. The later season supers were substantially darker in color, but somewhat less viscous, less sweet and much more herbal in character. I've ordered a batch of jars and updated our labels so hopefully we will be ready to sell again in the very near future.
For this year, we have one super nearing 80% capped. We added a second super recently and the colony population seems very robust. I anticipate at least 5 gallons of harvest by the autumn.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Finally
It has been another roughish year for the bees, though not so bad as last year. We only had one colony really do well this year, and it currently seems to be struggling -- there does not seem to be any sign of a queen after a late swarm. We were able to capture a different swarm and start a new colony, hopefully it will be able to get itself up and running before the weather turns too cold and wet.
The good news is that the one hive that has been doing well for most of the summer has produced about 30 lbs. of honey for us so we will be able to get a small shipment to Bi-Rite for the fall and hopefully for the holidays as well. We are just working on getting it into jars and labeled now, so look for it in less than a week.
Please visit our shop to purchase Noe Valley Honey and other hive products from the Pollen Princesses.
The good news is that the one hive that has been doing well for most of the summer has produced about 30 lbs. of honey for us so we will be able to get a small shipment to Bi-Rite for the fall and hopefully for the holidays as well. We are just working on getting it into jars and labeled now, so look for it in less than a week.
Please visit our shop to purchase Noe Valley Honey and other hive products from the Pollen Princesses.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Gearing Up
About a month ago, we made the rounds of our hives to see how everyone had fared through the winter. At each location, interestingly enough, we found one strong hive that was already building a strong population and one hive that was nearly dead (if not completely dead). I don't believe that either of the dead hives was caused by colony collapse -- the bees did not just disappear from either one, that I can tell. Each of them had a colony that was a bit on the small side at the end of the fall, and I just don't believe they had a critical mass of population to maintain themselves through the winter.
At any rate, rather than ordering new packages for these two hives, we decided to do a split from the healthy hives at each location. We chose 5 frames from each healthy hive that were heavy with developing brood and eggs, and swapped them out with five empty frames from the empty hives. The hope was that the while the brood on these frames was hatching to maintain the population, the bees would raise one of the eggs as a new queen.
Yesterday and today, I made the rounds again and checked both locations -- in each location the strong hives were ready for their first honey super (yeay!). In fact at the Dolores Park location, it appeared that the colony was preparing swarm cells. I am pretty confident that I was able to get them a new super in time, but they were quite ready for more space.
What I really was anxious to learn though was whether the two weak hives were able to produce a new queen and whether she was successful in mating. At Dolores Park, I examined just a few frames before I found copious amounts of eggs in the cells! Some of the cells on one frame side seemed to have some strange laying patterns, such as more than one egg in a cell, or eggs attached to the side, rather than the bottom of the cell, but they overall laying pattern was good on the rest of the frames I examined, so I imagine that the one frame was just from the queen's early attempts as she first started laying.
At the other location the weak hive seemed to have a decent sized population, all things considered. However as I started examining the frames I could not find any eggs at all; frame after frame and all I found were adult bees. I was just about to close up the hive and run home to order a queen to give the hive, when I saw this!
Voilà la Reine! She appears to be plump enough that I believe she has mated already, she must not have started laying quite yet though. We'll give this hive a little more time and check again, but I think they are going to be alright.
Please visit our shop to purchase Noe Valley Honey and other hive products from the Pollen Princesses.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Getting Ready for Winter
This past week has been about visiting all four of the hives that are still going and getting them set for the Winter. Not that Winter poses a big issue for the bees in the Bay Area, but still with much rain projected this year we want to make sure that the hives are set.
A few days back I visited the Dolores Park location to check the two hives there. One hive still had a lot of activity in both hive bodies, and brood and supplies in each. I took the super off the hive and set it aside for extraction -- about four full frames of honey there. The top hive body still has plenty of honey for the bees to use. They will have both hive bodies for the winter, but they seem to have a large population so it won't be an issue for them to heat.
The second hive had not been opened for a long time, though we took a super full of honey off it a couple of weeks ago. When I started pulling frames out of the upper hive body I realized that the entire upper body was all honey, no brood, no pollen.
The lower body contained a little brood and some eggs (meaning the queen is still present and healthy) and a lot of honey with some pollen. Clearly this hive has backed off on brood rearing in preparation for the Winter. I went ahead and took the hive body full of honey off and left just the one hive body for the bees. Less space for them to keep warm, but still plenty of supplies.
Rescuing honey!
On Saturday, we both went to our friend's to check the other two hives. These are both now very busy hives. Both hives had brood and supplies in both hive bodies, and the hive that had started out so slow actually had a super full of honey! The other stronger hive had a super full of capped honey, and one that just had a few frames of nectar not yet cured. We removed all the supers but left both hive bodies on each hive. We added entrance reducers to all the hives to aid in keeping down drafts and minimizing the need for them to dedicate guard bees when they need all the bodies they can get to keep warm.
We will extract all the honey in the supers and the one full hive body (another 80 lbs maybe?) The one super that has only nectar will be stored and returned to the bees in the Spring. They won't have to heat the space over the Winter, but they will have the supplies as a head start in the Spring.
A quick dusting of powdered sugar in all the remaining supers to keep the mites under control and we closed everyone back up. We'll come back to them in February or March, when the rains start to let up to check on how they fared.
Please visit our shop to purchase Noe Valley Honey and other hive products from the Pollen Princesses.
A few days back I visited the Dolores Park location to check the two hives there. One hive still had a lot of activity in both hive bodies, and brood and supplies in each. I took the super off the hive and set it aside for extraction -- about four full frames of honey there. The top hive body still has plenty of honey for the bees to use. They will have both hive bodies for the winter, but they seem to have a large population so it won't be an issue for them to heat.
The second hive had not been opened for a long time, though we took a super full of honey off it a couple of weeks ago. When I started pulling frames out of the upper hive body I realized that the entire upper body was all honey, no brood, no pollen.
The lower body contained a little brood and some eggs (meaning the queen is still present and healthy) and a lot of honey with some pollen. Clearly this hive has backed off on brood rearing in preparation for the Winter. I went ahead and took the hive body full of honey off and left just the one hive body for the bees. Less space for them to keep warm, but still plenty of supplies.
Rescuing honey!
On Saturday, we both went to our friend's to check the other two hives. These are both now very busy hives. Both hives had brood and supplies in both hive bodies, and the hive that had started out so slow actually had a super full of honey! The other stronger hive had a super full of capped honey, and one that just had a few frames of nectar not yet cured. We removed all the supers but left both hive bodies on each hive. We added entrance reducers to all the hives to aid in keeping down drafts and minimizing the need for them to dedicate guard bees when they need all the bodies they can get to keep warm.
We will extract all the honey in the supers and the one full hive body (another 80 lbs maybe?) The one super that has only nectar will be stored and returned to the bees in the Spring. They won't have to heat the space over the Winter, but they will have the supplies as a head start in the Spring.
A quick dusting of powdered sugar in all the remaining supers to keep the mites under control and we closed everyone back up. We'll come back to them in February or March, when the rains start to let up to check on how they fared.
Please visit our shop to purchase Noe Valley Honey and other hive products from the Pollen Princesses.
Monday, July 20, 2009
The Queen was Where?
Strange goings on in one of the hives at the Dolores Park location.
We checked on four of the five hives in a little whirlwind yesterday. Most of them are super busy which is great news. The one slow one in the original location is still slow, but seems much healthier than before -- there is a lot of brood ready to hatch, and the queen is laying nicely. They probably just need a bit more time.
The first hive by Dolores Park though was very interesting. Last time I checked them a few weeks ago, they had filled the top hive body with brood and honey, so I put on a queen excluder and added a honey super. The super even has its own entrance which is supposed to encourage the bees to bring in more nectar since they don't have to travel through the excluder to get to the super.
When we opened the hive, there were no bees in the super -- they hadn't touched the frames, not even to build any wax. But Deno sharply spotted the queen wandering around on top of the excluder! When we examined the frames in the upper hive body, we found it filled to the brim, and we counted eight hatched queen cells, but no new queen cells.
Our best guess is that perhaps the hive swarmed and the new queen took her mating flight, but returned to the wrong hive entrance and went into the honey super entrance instead of the main entrance.
We made sure the queen was moved down into the top hive body, and reversed the hive bodies to put the relatively more open hive body on top. Replaced the queen excluder and are now hoping that the queen starts laying.
Please visit our shop to purchase Noe Valley Honey and other hive products from the Pollen Princesses.
We checked on four of the five hives in a little whirlwind yesterday. Most of them are super busy which is great news. The one slow one in the original location is still slow, but seems much healthier than before -- there is a lot of brood ready to hatch, and the queen is laying nicely. They probably just need a bit more time.
The first hive by Dolores Park though was very interesting. Last time I checked them a few weeks ago, they had filled the top hive body with brood and honey, so I put on a queen excluder and added a honey super. The super even has its own entrance which is supposed to encourage the bees to bring in more nectar since they don't have to travel through the excluder to get to the super.
When we opened the hive, there were no bees in the super -- they hadn't touched the frames, not even to build any wax. But Deno sharply spotted the queen wandering around on top of the excluder! When we examined the frames in the upper hive body, we found it filled to the brim, and we counted eight hatched queen cells, but no new queen cells.
Our best guess is that perhaps the hive swarmed and the new queen took her mating flight, but returned to the wrong hive entrance and went into the honey super entrance instead of the main entrance.
We made sure the queen was moved down into the top hive body, and reversed the hive bodies to put the relatively more open hive body on top. Replaced the queen excluder and are now hoping that the queen starts laying.
Please visit our shop to purchase Noe Valley Honey and other hive products from the Pollen Princesses.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Waiting
It has been kind of a slow start for the bees this year. I'm not sure why. We have had to replace one queen already (need to check her this Thursday to make sure she's out). Other hives are developing but slowly. We have put supers on three of the five hives now, though, and will add one to a fourth soon.
Meanwhile all the hives appear to remain healthy if not extremely populous yet. Most importantly, the mite issue with hive #1 seems to be under control. Powdered sugar is the cure -- completely safe and organic, yet effective!
Please visit our shop to purchase Noe Valley Honey and other hive products from the Pollen Princesses.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Bees and Flowers Circadian Rythms
Here is an article in the New York Times about how bees and flowers coordinate their schedules to maximize the pollination/nectar trade.
We just went Friday to see our new hives and make sure that all is well with them. The two packages are each doing great. The Noe Valley one has eggs and the Dolores Park location hive has larvae already.
The swarm with the new queen on our friends roof is off to a very slow start -- the queen had not been released when we checked on her on Wednesday so we let her out of the cage. There were not many bees left in the hive, so we are hoping that the queen can start laying quickly.
The first hive that we had at the Dolores location is very busy. We put an empty deep full of frames on top of it to give them more room, but we might want to take a frame of brood out of it and move it to the rooftop hive.
Finally the initial hive in the first location seems quite sluggish. The colony is small and while I saw very young brood indicating that the queen was present within the past few days, I didn't see any eggs (though that might just be that I didn't look in the right cells), and the quantity of brood is very small. There is one sealed supersedure cell in the hive so it is possible the queen really was laying too slowly and was kicked out. If so well hope that the new queen hatches and is mated soon so she can start laying eggs and build up the population. Otherwise we can move a frame from the strong Dolores hive to this hive as well and see if that gives them more options for either allowing the newly hatched queen more time to start laying fertile eggs or raising another new queen if necessary.
I am concerned a little that the slow start on all the hives is going to translate into a late harvest which means that while we still have a few small jars remaining, it could be September or October before we have inventory again.
Please visit our shop to purchase Noe Valley Honey and other hive products from the Pollen Princesses.
We just went Friday to see our new hives and make sure that all is well with them. The two packages are each doing great. The Noe Valley one has eggs and the Dolores Park location hive has larvae already.
The swarm with the new queen on our friends roof is off to a very slow start -- the queen had not been released when we checked on her on Wednesday so we let her out of the cage. There were not many bees left in the hive, so we are hoping that the queen can start laying quickly.
The first hive that we had at the Dolores location is very busy. We put an empty deep full of frames on top of it to give them more room, but we might want to take a frame of brood out of it and move it to the rooftop hive.
Finally the initial hive in the first location seems quite sluggish. The colony is small and while I saw very young brood indicating that the queen was present within the past few days, I didn't see any eggs (though that might just be that I didn't look in the right cells), and the quantity of brood is very small. There is one sealed supersedure cell in the hive so it is possible the queen really was laying too slowly and was kicked out. If so well hope that the new queen hatches and is mated soon so she can start laying eggs and build up the population. Otherwise we can move a frame from the strong Dolores hive to this hive as well and see if that gives them more options for either allowing the newly hatched queen more time to start laying fertile eggs or raising another new queen if necessary.
I am concerned a little that the slow start on all the hives is going to translate into a late harvest which means that while we still have a few small jars remaining, it could be September or October before we have inventory again.
Please visit our shop to purchase Noe Valley Honey and other hive products from the Pollen Princesses.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Three more hives, Three Swarms, Two Packages and a Spare Queen.
It has been a busy weekend. We have installed three new hives bringing our total in the City up to five!
It took a little doing - especially since not everything worked out the way we had planned exactly.
We were going to put one more nuc on the roof off Dolores park, and use packages for the other hive in the original location and the new hive on our friend Brad's roof. The same woman who had sold us the first two nucs this year had another hive she wanted to split.
Friday morning we went to her house to pick up the nuc. When we arrived she was in her back yard already and we were ushered through her house by her cleaner. We entered the back yard to find her trying to entice a swarm into one of several nucs and swarm traps that she had about.
We watched the swarm with her for a bit as it settled on her neighbors' fence. She explained to us that the best way to catch a swarm if you can act as it is happening is to use lemongrass oil to entice them into a box, which is what she was attempting to do.
We left the swarm to find its way to the nuc, and went to look at the hive to be split. After examining the frames we quickly realized that the hive was queenless. There was no brood and no eggs to be found. We put that hive back together since we would not be able to use it for the split and our friend looked around her yard for another. The one we chose must have been just ready to swarm because the moment Deno opened it the bees went for it!
Now bees always fly about when you open their hive, naturally. However, this was a HUGE number of bees and they were making the high whiny sort of hum that is characteristic of a swarm. They were even starting to settle on some allium near the hive.
We began to put the hive back together because we could not make a split from it either. The queen would have left with the swarm.
Strangely, once the hive was closed again, the swarm quickly returned to it and went back in. The best we were able to surmise is that the hive was indeed getting ready to swarm, but was not really quite set to take off. However, when we opened the hive and some of the bees took flight, the others interpreted that as a signal to swarm and followed. Once the hive was closed and they realized that it was a false alarm they all returned to the hive.
Anyway, we did not get a split and so were unable to install the new hive in the Dolores location. We decided to fall back on one of the packages arriving Saturday instead and just let Brad know that his hive might have to wait until we could find another way to get a colony.
Saturday arrived and Deno grabbed a car so we could go pick up our two packages that were arriving. We had arranged with our friend who provides the original location to install the new hive that afternoon, but on a tight schedule. As luck would have it, the packages were late in being delivered so we had to wait for nearly an hour for them. Deno had to go drop off equipment at the Dolores location and return the car before we had a chance to pick up the packages.
Happily, another woman waiting with us for some packages of her own offered to take us home with our bees. We called our friend to let him know that we would have to delay until Sunday afternoon and let the owners of the Dolores location know that we would be by a little later than planned to put in the hive there.
Luck struck again and we read on the SF beekeepers list that there was a) an extra queen available, and b) a queenless swarm that someone had caught. Deno made some quick calls and sent some e-mails and we were soon in possession of both! These would make a fine third colony. We called our friend Brad and let him know that he would get the hive on his roof that weekend after all! Yeay!
We then focused on getting the first package installed on the roof by Dolores Park. Following is a short video of the package -- inside the mass of bees is a small cage with the queen and a can of sugar water with a drip feeder attached so the bees can eat while they are waiting to be put in their new home. The queen's cage entrance is plugged with a sugar paste candy that is very like dried icing. The new hive is set up and the bees are dumped in (rather unceremoniously). The queen, in her cage, is then suspended between two frames and the hive is closed up. The bees will eat the sugar paste because bees like sugar. It will take them a couple days to eat through enough of it that the queen can escape her cage and join the hive. In this time the rest of the bees will have become accustomed to her scent and hopefully accept her as their new queen. At the end of the video you see the new hive set up with some of the bees going in and out of the entrance (which is reduced to help the ward off intruders until their numbers are strong enough to be able to guard the full hive entrance). The jars in the top hive body are there to provide sugar water for the bees to eat so they can get a jump star on producing wax and making the comb so they don't have to rely solely on foraging for nectar and supplies while they get started.
On Sunday afternoon, the other package was installed in its new hive in our original location, and the swarm and the extra queen were installed on our friend's roof in the same manner, except in that case the bees did not have a can of sugar water to sustain them since they had been caught so they were a little more cranky when we installed them in their hive. Consequently they buzzed around quite a bit before they started to settle into the hive. However, Brad let us know the following day that they had all made it into their new home and were already peacefully exploring the neighbors fruit tree which is in full bloom.
Here we are on that roof while the bees try to find their sisters in their new hive.
Next week we'll have to make round to check on each of the new hives to see that the queens have all been released and are laying properly.
Please visit our shop to purchase Noe Valley Honey and other hive products from the Pollen Princesses.
It took a little doing - especially since not everything worked out the way we had planned exactly.
We were going to put one more nuc on the roof off Dolores park, and use packages for the other hive in the original location and the new hive on our friend Brad's roof. The same woman who had sold us the first two nucs this year had another hive she wanted to split.
Friday morning we went to her house to pick up the nuc. When we arrived she was in her back yard already and we were ushered through her house by her cleaner. We entered the back yard to find her trying to entice a swarm into one of several nucs and swarm traps that she had about.
We watched the swarm with her for a bit as it settled on her neighbors' fence. She explained to us that the best way to catch a swarm if you can act as it is happening is to use lemongrass oil to entice them into a box, which is what she was attempting to do.
We left the swarm to find its way to the nuc, and went to look at the hive to be split. After examining the frames we quickly realized that the hive was queenless. There was no brood and no eggs to be found. We put that hive back together since we would not be able to use it for the split and our friend looked around her yard for another. The one we chose must have been just ready to swarm because the moment Deno opened it the bees went for it!
Now bees always fly about when you open their hive, naturally. However, this was a HUGE number of bees and they were making the high whiny sort of hum that is characteristic of a swarm. They were even starting to settle on some allium near the hive.
We began to put the hive back together because we could not make a split from it either. The queen would have left with the swarm.
Strangely, once the hive was closed again, the swarm quickly returned to it and went back in. The best we were able to surmise is that the hive was indeed getting ready to swarm, but was not really quite set to take off. However, when we opened the hive and some of the bees took flight, the others interpreted that as a signal to swarm and followed. Once the hive was closed and they realized that it was a false alarm they all returned to the hive.
Anyway, we did not get a split and so were unable to install the new hive in the Dolores location. We decided to fall back on one of the packages arriving Saturday instead and just let Brad know that his hive might have to wait until we could find another way to get a colony.
Saturday arrived and Deno grabbed a car so we could go pick up our two packages that were arriving. We had arranged with our friend who provides the original location to install the new hive that afternoon, but on a tight schedule. As luck would have it, the packages were late in being delivered so we had to wait for nearly an hour for them. Deno had to go drop off equipment at the Dolores location and return the car before we had a chance to pick up the packages.
Happily, another woman waiting with us for some packages of her own offered to take us home with our bees. We called our friend to let him know that we would have to delay until Sunday afternoon and let the owners of the Dolores location know that we would be by a little later than planned to put in the hive there.
Luck struck again and we read on the SF beekeepers list that there was a) an extra queen available, and b) a queenless swarm that someone had caught. Deno made some quick calls and sent some e-mails and we were soon in possession of both! These would make a fine third colony. We called our friend Brad and let him know that he would get the hive on his roof that weekend after all! Yeay!
We then focused on getting the first package installed on the roof by Dolores Park. Following is a short video of the package -- inside the mass of bees is a small cage with the queen and a can of sugar water with a drip feeder attached so the bees can eat while they are waiting to be put in their new home. The queen's cage entrance is plugged with a sugar paste candy that is very like dried icing. The new hive is set up and the bees are dumped in (rather unceremoniously). The queen, in her cage, is then suspended between two frames and the hive is closed up. The bees will eat the sugar paste because bees like sugar. It will take them a couple days to eat through enough of it that the queen can escape her cage and join the hive. In this time the rest of the bees will have become accustomed to her scent and hopefully accept her as their new queen. At the end of the video you see the new hive set up with some of the bees going in and out of the entrance (which is reduced to help the ward off intruders until their numbers are strong enough to be able to guard the full hive entrance). The jars in the top hive body are there to provide sugar water for the bees to eat so they can get a jump star on producing wax and making the comb so they don't have to rely solely on foraging for nectar and supplies while they get started.
On Sunday afternoon, the other package was installed in its new hive in our original location, and the swarm and the extra queen were installed on our friend's roof in the same manner, except in that case the bees did not have a can of sugar water to sustain them since they had been caught so they were a little more cranky when we installed them in their hive. Consequently they buzzed around quite a bit before they started to settle into the hive. However, Brad let us know the following day that they had all made it into their new home and were already peacefully exploring the neighbors fruit tree which is in full bloom.
Here we are on that roof while the bees try to find their sisters in their new hive.
Next week we'll have to make round to check on each of the new hives to see that the queens have all been released and are laying properly.
Please visit our shop to purchase Noe Valley Honey and other hive products from the Pollen Princesses.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Installing a Nuc
Well, we took another more in depth look at the colony this past Friday and sure enough all the brood from the eggs we had seen were drones. That means it was a worker laying infertile eggs and not a queen.
Please visit our shop to purchase Noe Valley Honey and other hive products from the Pollen Princesses.
As luck would have it, another local beekeeper had some 5 frame nucleii (nucs, basically a small split from a larger colony in a small box) for sale. She called us right away and said she could bring the bees by Saturday morning which she did.
We met her where our beehive is kept and she helped us select 5 frames that were empty or had some some honey and pollen to remove. We kept two frames: one with mostly honey and one full of both honey and pollen. The existing bees were on the remaining three frames except for a few stragglers.
We pushed the three frames of existing bees over to one side of the hive body and then put the two frames of honey and pollen next to them toward the center. We spritzed lightly with a mint tea sugar solution we had made up for the purpose. Then we put in the five frames full of bees and brood from the nuc. We checked for eggs and even saw the queen as we were doing this so we know they are a healthy colony. As we put each new frame into the hive we spritzed with the mint and sugar.
When we were finished we had two unrelated colonies in one box, but they were sparated by a couple of frames, they were going to take a little time to clean themselves off, and hopefully the mint scent would overwhelm their natural scent so by the time they realize they are not all related they won't care.
The weather then promptly turned rainy which will a) keep the bees indoors and hopefully make the new field bees less likely to try to fly back to their old home, and b) keep us indoors so we can let them sort of settle into their new home before we get anxious to check in on them again.
Honestly though, after the past year I think we want to take a less invasive approach to helping the bees manage the hive -- of course we want to minimize swarming, but if we can do that by simply keeping extra super space above them at all times rather than continually going in a messing with each frame I think everyone will be happier.
Photos? I forgot to take any but perhaps Deno has some. I'll try and post them soon if he does.
Please visit our shop to purchase Noe Valley Honey and other hive products from the Pollen Princesses.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Requeened
It appeared two weeks ago, upon examining the hives that the current queen, Heather had either absconded or simply been smashed when we tried to reverse the hive bodies.
Unfortunately, although there were plenty of eggs at the time the bees did not see fit to raise a new monarch and when we opened the hive there was no brood whatsoever.
We originally were going to trade for a frame of eggs and brood from another local beekeeper in Glen Park, but then heard about a couple who had unnecessarily ordered a new queen for their hive in the avenues. I contacted them and took Muni out to their house last Friday to pick her up. We installed the queen in her cage the next morning and dubbed her Agnes - as in Gooch from Auntie Mame. "I liiiived! I need to know what I should do now!"
Whilst I am away this weekend, Deno will go and check on the hive to make sure the queen has been released and is laying eggs and do a third dusting of powdered sugar to keep the mites in check before the fall.
He'll also be able to take the empty honey super we put on top of the hive for cleaning and pack it away.
I imagine we'll get one final batch of the really tasty honey (maybe a gallon or so) before the season is over so stay posted.
Please visit our shop to purchase Noe Valley Honey and other hive products from the Pollen Princesses.
Unfortunately, although there were plenty of eggs at the time the bees did not see fit to raise a new monarch and when we opened the hive there was no brood whatsoever.
We originally were going to trade for a frame of eggs and brood from another local beekeeper in Glen Park, but then heard about a couple who had unnecessarily ordered a new queen for their hive in the avenues. I contacted them and took Muni out to their house last Friday to pick her up. We installed the queen in her cage the next morning and dubbed her Agnes - as in Gooch from Auntie Mame. "I liiiived! I need to know what I should do now!"
Whilst I am away this weekend, Deno will go and check on the hive to make sure the queen has been released and is laying eggs and do a third dusting of powdered sugar to keep the mites in check before the fall.
He'll also be able to take the empty honey super we put on top of the hive for cleaning and pack it away.
I imagine we'll get one final batch of the really tasty honey (maybe a gallon or so) before the season is over so stay posted.
Please visit our shop to purchase Noe Valley Honey and other hive products from the Pollen Princesses.
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