Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Kevin Schwebel on July 21, 2012 at 1:21pm

Well, my bees are in a residential area at the moment and are doing pretty well. I just took a look and have substantially more workers coming and going. Sounds like yours are just temporarily short-handed.  I've heard/read that 1:2 syrup (sugar to water) stimulates comb building and brood laying (will have to double-check that).  While I'm no expert, it did seem to work for me last season when things were dry and I needed to build numbers. I think, perhaps, that heavy syrup or honey might prompt them to store food rather than build wax, but again, I can't say with certainty.  Maybe one of the more experienced keepers here has a better idea.

Permalink Reply by Rob Shepler on July 22, 2012 at 6:43am

James!

I am up in the Sacs and we are dry as a bone. Send us some of your desert rain!
It sounds like that hive is still building if you have 4-5 bees a minute, sounds like you should give it some time to let the population build a bit. Some of Paul’s bigger hives have 4-5 bees a second. Hopefully the girls are on a good flow and have pollen coming in for brood.

I was an urban beekeeper 30 years ago in Phoenix, and we had a flow all most all year round. We could count on a steady build and constant brood.

I would check the brood comb to see that they have nectar and pollen coming in, if not, do feed them. Honey is best, syrup is second best in my opinion.

You can expect the population to drop a bit in a new nuc as they are brooding replacement workers. It always scares me.

If they have empty brood comb that the queen has not laid up yet, they probably won’t build more comb until they are out of room.

Are you seeing lots of eggs or uncapped larvae?

Permalink Reply by Paul McCarty on July 24, 2012 at 9:16pm

Bees only build comb to the point at which all bees have someplace to stand. When all of them have standing room - comb building stops. ...just a little note to remember.

Permalink Reply by Ralph Ketter on August 17, 2012 at 2:05pm

Jan Dommers (La Luz) discovered her bees are in bad shape.  She found about 200 dead bees in her Top Bar hive she just started this year.  She estimates she only has 200 bees left, which she immediately started feeding.  She called Ken Hays who said her bees are highly stressed due to lack nectar flow.  He recommended she borrow about 3 bars of brood with bees to save them.  She is not sure if the queen is there.  I intend to help her look for the queen but because of vehicle problems have not got there yet.  Ken recommended some brood with eggs or very young larva in case they need a queen.

 

I just went through my hive and it appears I have some sealed brood but I could not find eggs or larva.  I started feeding mine again about a week ago.  I would be willing to give her one bar but they could not raise a queen from it.  If anyone can help or knows someone who can let me know and I'll pass the message along to her.

 

Ralph

Permalink Reply by Rob Shepler on August 17, 2012 at 5:19pm

Ralph,

Like most of us trying to build our colonies I don’t really have bees to lend, but what I do have is irrigated pasture and a nectar flow. If you are willing to donate a frame of brood I would like to offer to host her hive up here in Mayhill and see if we can get it back on it’s feet, I think I could come up with a queen for her if she needs it.

Check and see if she would be willing to bring it up, I would love to go through the hive with her anytime she would like to come up and check it. A good nectar flow would probably help it a lot.

Permalink Reply by Paul McCarty on August 17, 2012 at 10:00pm

If I can get my bees to quit tearing down queen cells, I might be able to get her a virgin queen. The only extra bees I could get her are quite ill behaved, not sure she would want them All my others are occupied at other tasks, like tearing down queens cells or removing eggs from the breed of queen they don't like so they don't have to raise the eggs from her. The rascals.

Rob Shepler said:

Ralph,

Like most of us trying to build our colonies I don’t really have bees to lend, but what I do have is irrigated pasture and a nectar flow. If you are willing to donate a frame of brood I would like to offer to host her hive up here in Mayhill and see if we can get it back on it’s feet, I think I could come up with a queen for her if she needs it.

Check and see if she would be willing to bring it up, I would love to go through the hive with her anytime she would like to come up and check it. A good nectar flow would probably help it a lot.

Permalink Reply by Paul McCarty on August 17, 2012 at 10:05pm

It's dry, dry, dry down there. Only one of my hives has needed no feed. It has about 10 brood frames and three surplus honey frames. The others all have no surplus - a few have no nectar at all, and very little brood rearing, if at all. My hives up here in the mountains are in decent shape, if I can keep them from eating their surplus. I have been feeding them too, off and on. When it's like this, remember not to put appetite stimulating essential oils and stuff like that in the feed. It can induce robbing. Just plain sugar water with a little red apple cider vinegar to prevent dysentery.

Permalink Reply by Kevin Schwebel on August 17, 2012 at 10:25pm

I've got some grafts that are coming along nicely, I think. If things keep progressing well, I might have a couple of extra queen cells available if one is needed.  Someone would have to pick it up here in Cruces on Tuesday, but I'd gladly donate any extra I have to someone in need.

Permalink Reply by Paul McCarty on August 17, 2012 at 10:35pm

Man, my bees keep cleaning out my grafts and growing their own cells. I seem to have better luck doing the Hopkins method instead of grafting. I have a few cells due to hatch on the 21st. I will be partitioning them off and putting cages on them Saturday. I had a few already sectioned off, but the bees tunneled under the push in cage and destroyed the cells. Guess they thought the cage was a deformity or something.

Hey Rob! Plant some clover so we can all put our hives on your field!

Permalink Reply by Ralph Ketter on August 18, 2012 at 1:02pm

I just got back from helping Jan go through her hive.  The queen is in residence.  She has lost bees but she had underestimated how many were left.  I think there may be 2000.  They are busy storing the syrup she is feeding them.  Thanks to all of you for your responses.  I know Jan is relieved knowing the queen is there.  I think she is not going to take any farther action at this time other than continuing to feed.

Thanks again,

Ralph

Ralph Ketter said:

Jan Dommers (La Luz) discovered her bees are in bad shape.  She found about 200 dead bees in her Top Bar hive she just started this year.  She estimates she only has 200 bees left, which she immediately started feeding.  She called Ken Hays who said her bees are highly stressed due to lack nectar flow.  He recommended she borrow about 3 bars of brood with bees to save them.  She is not sure if the queen is there.  I intend to help her look for the queen but because of vehicle problems have not got there yet.  Ken recommended some brood with eggs or very young larva in case they need a queen.

 

I just went through my hive and it appears I have some sealed brood but I could not find eggs or larva.  I started feeding mine again about a week ago.  I would be willing to give her one bar but they could not raise a queen from it.  If anyone can help or knows someone who can let me know and I'll pass the message along to her.

 

Ralph

Permalink Reply by Paul McCarty on August 18, 2012 at 4:29pm

Great news! Keep feeding and they will pull through. We are going to have to start 2:1 soon anyway for Winter since it seems all of our hives are very light this year.

I am shocked with all the feral removals I have done this season, that very, very few of them had any honey. Normally I am swimming in it from removals.