July 2020
July 2020
July 5th - My brad nailer arrived today from Amazon and I could not wait to try it out on frame assembly for my medium supers.
Today I started assembling frames for medium supers. The unassembled parts and 4 medium boxes were given to me by some friends that were stepping away from beekeeping for now.
I purchased a brad nailer from Amazon for $35 and was able to assemble the frames fairly quickly. I took their advice to add a dab of wood glue before assembly.
The next step will be to add the wax foundation that has a wire supporting the foundation.
July 1 - Hive 1: is looking good. We noticed a supercedure cell on frame five 4 or 5. They did not appear to be building any new comb but they were storing honey on the outside frames nine and 10. There was a good bit of brood as well. Considering adding medium box to expand brood development.
Hive 2: looking good. They are building out existing comb with new comb. They are working on the inside of frame one and five. Saw brood and honey and larva. Hoping to add one more frame if we have any additional on site. Added one frame from hive nine.
Hive 3: not much action on frames four and five. 2& 3 have honey, capped brood and larvae. Frame 1 on inside has beginnings of honey stores. No need to expand at this time.
Hive 4: looking good. Capped brood larva and honey. Will look for an additional frame in other hives. Spotted queen on frame 4. Added one frame from hive nine.
Hive 5: Looking good. Making comb, capped brood and storing honey. Good distribution - about 60% of frames being used.
Hive 6: About 70 to 75% capped brood, Honey, larva on frames. Consider adding super on next visit.
Hive 7: Definitely a dying hive. Queen was not there and some wax moths had taken over one of the frames. Added a frame from 9. Hoped they might still create a new queen.
Hive 8: capped brood, honey, and larva. Were able to locate the queen. Working on frame for to the inside of the frame seven.
Hive 9: Also a dying hive. Could not locate a queen and there were very few bees. Roaches had also taken up residence. Took a frame from nine and placed it in the hive seven to see if combined they could create a queen cell. Dismantled hive.
June 19&20, 2020 - We had concerns based on the last inspecton that some of the colonies were not thriving as much as we thought they should. We expected to see more egg/larve in some of the "extra" drawn frames or at least some development of new comb in the center frames. So we decided to reduce some of the hives to 5 frame hive bodies with a hanger board and add a top with an off-set feeder to accomodate frames on one side of the brood chamber.
You will notice that there is an odd pattern numbering the hive boxes. We started with hives on the far right and grew to the left with new colonies. Since we keep records of the inspections we decided that it would be easier to stay with the numbering system in place as we grew.