Hive Inspection – Lake Becky – 20200320

BriBlog

beekeeping, hive inspection, walk away split

Overview

First inspection of the spring. Our one remaining hive going into winter 2019/2020 has overwintered well. It is building up well, with new and old stores available. A 5-deep nuc was split from this hive today.

Photos

None.

Hive 1 – Woodpile

Observations

  • About 15 frames total.
  • Comb moldy on two frames furthest from the entrance.
    • Removed end frame.
    • Removed molded comb far side of second frame. Near side was being worked with new capped honey so left it alone.
  • Good population – brood frames full of bees/honey frames roughly half full except for the two moldy frames.
  • Nectar and pollen coming in at a good rate.
  • About 10 brood frames – capped worker, capped drone, uncapped brood young and old, eggs seen on one frame.
  • Walking drones seen.
  • Queen not found.
  • Burr comb on practically every frame.
  • About 5 queen cups seen. No open or capped queen cells.
  • No sign of small hive beetle or wax moth.
  • No mite counts performed.

Frames

About 15 – roughly half brood and half honey.

Actions

  • Removed frame furthest from the entrance – comb on both sides was moldy.
  • Removed moldy comb from far side of second to last frame. Left it in the hive because it was being worked and had new capped honey on the near side.
  • Removed burr comb.
  • Removed two brood frames (one with new eggs) for split. Judging from the bees reaction, I expect the queen went with these two frames, but didn’t see her.
  • Removed two honey frames – one with uncapped honey, and one with wet capped honey.

Hive 2 – Boathouse Roof

Observations

New split from hive 1.

Frames

  • 2 brood from hive 1 – one with new eggs.
  • 2 stores from hive 1 – one normal, one wet capped.
  • 1 empty (robbed out) drawn white comb from freezer.

Actions

  • 5-deep frame split installed today.

Hive 3 – Boathouse Door

Observations

This hive is empty – it has been cleaned and placed onto a level block pad awaiting bees.

Frames

None.

Actions

None.

Plan of Action

  • Inspect hives 1 and 2 in 10 days to determine which one has the old laying queen.
  • Inspect the other hive in one month to ensure they have brood – if not recombine.
  • Set up swarm traps in hopes of repopulating hive 3.
  • Replace oil in SHB/wax moth traps with diatomaceous earth.

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