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  • From: Phil DeGuzman <phil.deguzman AT gmail.com>
  • To: "ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org" <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Newbee confusion
  • Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2012 09:22:53 -0400

All,
 
Big thanks to Cedric on the OCBA list for stopping by on Tuesday to help inspect the hives (and give me a bit of schooling on what to look for). As it turned out, we are nearly neighbors so our bees probably interact daily. AS for my hives, they are both in good shape (I just didn't know how to ID burr comb, drone cells, worker cells, etc.). I took the classes and saw lots of pictures online, but I never really had a chance to see a living hive before starting my own. I feel much better about how to inspect my hives. I just added second supers so hopefully we may be able to take some honey later this year (fingers crossed- SWBO is antsy to see some produce from this beekeeping venture).
 
If you don't know Cedric, I recommend you get to know him :) He is a genuinely kind, gentle soul with a wealth of knowledge and experience with working hives. He has such a calming presence while working the hive that I felt like I wanted to forage and make honey for him :)
 
Thank you Cedric!

Phil
 
On Sun, Jun 24, 2012 at 10:41 PM, Phil DeGuzman <phil.deguzman AT gmail.com> wrote:
OK, so I went to bee school in January, built equipment in and read book February and March, then came April 18 an install time. 2 hives w 3-lb package. I have been feeding 1:1 syrup about 1/2 gallon every other day up until last week.

With all the preparation I thought I was ready to go, but as it turns out, I am quite nelly about inspecting my hives. I don't want to disrupt their work and for another I am not really sure what to inspect for. So I haven't done much inspecting...until today.

I opened up one hive and it had a fair amount of what appears to be stored syrup in the super...some capped, some not. I guess I can stop feeding them for a while? When I cracked off the super and pryed up a couple frames from the hive body, I noticed some of what appeared to be capped brood, but a lot of the syrup too. So I am not sure if I over fed them and they filled the cells with syrup leaving not much space for egg laying. Thoughts?

In hive #2, same heavily laden syrup but there were these columns of wax that seemed to be connecting from the super down to the hive body. Swarm cells perhaps? When I investigated the frames in the hive bottom, I didn't see any sign of brood. Just lots of syrup. Admittedly I am not a keen eye when it comes to identifying workers, queen, drones ... Remember, I am still a bit nelly about working in the hives. So should I be concerned about a swarm? Should I requeen...is that even possible now? I have read that maybe I can swap some frames with capped brood from hive #1 and the bees in #2 might raise a queen on their own ( but I am not sure I could identify capped worker cells versus capped drone). Or should I leave the bees to their own devices?

Happy to read any thoughts or suggestions. And if there is anyone with some experience who is interested in some consulting, I live off of Old Greensboro Highway and would love to have someone show me the ropes. Books and pictures in Bee school wasmone thing, but a big buzzing hive is another thing altogether!

Thanks!
Phil


  • Re: [ocba] Newbee confusion, Phil DeGuzman, 07/05/2012

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