Beekeeping

[FlasherZ]

That's a pretty typical brood nest frame. White-capped cells on the outside are honey, dark-colored cells to the inside of those are filled with pollen, and the yellowish-capped cells in the very inside are brood (along with larvae). I see plenty of larvae in the cells there in your picture, just geting ready to be capped. Look for the little white worms in the cells.

That is *beautiful* wax, by the way - gorgeous white cappings!

I've highlighted some in your picture where the larvae are very visible - most of those cells in the center have larvae in them at various ages (and will be capped within a day or two):

Your brood frames will get darker with time as the comb turns dark, then it's very, very easy to see larvae and eggs.

As for finding your queen, don't despair -- it takes a while to get the hang of it. The queen typically likes to seek the darker side of the frame. When I pull a frame out and tilt it up toward the light, I always look toward the edges of the frame because chances are that she'll be running that direction. This morning I checked on my first swarm installation, and found her right away. She kept running around the bottom of the frame as I flipped it back and forth.

 

[Al Sherman]

I thought you guys might enjoy this. My girls constantly get blamed for the work of wasps and yellow jackets. People always say: "I got stung by a bee." No matter who the perpetrator was.

 

[FlasherZ]

Yes, absolutely true.

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

that is some pretty comb. I need to get back into my hex hive and finish cleaning it up a tiny bit, still can't get to the bottom super which didn't have comb last year but seems to have been built over winter( it is a bit bridged to the middle super) + want to see if we have a laying queen or what is going on(probably should have actually inspected it some last year since we have had 4 swarms in < 1 year since we brought our nuc home but hey, we are populating the area with more bees) It seems like a bunch of our drones left and now the hive is sounding much more mellow also the small langstroth that I put the last swarm into is almost full of comb now too + happy sounding

but this is what I was going to post-
my wife came home a couple of days ago to one of our dogs growly barking at her like she had something to say. My wife looked at her and though Blue heelers aren't supposed to have the nose of a Shar Pei

Before:

she really didn't want a picture taken and wouldn't admit to what happened, but I think I know
the pictures just don't look as funny as she actually did, it was sad
After:

 

[bonnie]

Poor baby. One of my labs just can't seem to help investigating every bee he can find. He's been stung a few times & so far, hasn't seemed to correlate that OWWWW MOM sting with the cute little bee he was trying to make friends with. -sigh- He's also the lab that has tried to make friends with a skunk. And then come running in the house to tell me about it.

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

Poor baby. One of my labs just can't seem to help investigating every bee he can find. He's been stung a few times & so far, hasn't seemed to correlate that OWWWW MOM sting with the cute little bee he was trying to make friends with. -sigh- He's also the lab that has tried to make friends with a skunk. And then come running in the house to tell me about it.

I don't know how this is the first sting, I think they get lucky and snap at the drones more often since they are louder and seem to land on the ground more than the girls.
somehow we have never had a skunk problem (shouldn't be saying it, they are around....fingers crossed) we have lots of deer and 4 or 5 Bears and coons that like chickens. Once I caught my heeler playing with the chickens alone. she had snuck around the house and I think she was playing nicely? I saw her poke a chicken with her nose then I called her and she came running but the chickens were following her like they wanted to play. might not have ended well? sure it wouldn't have with both dogs trying to play

 

[FlasherZ]

My father in law had a litter of skunk kits take up residence in his garage, it was close enough to the hives that they could easily go slurp up some bees. We had to raise the hives just a bit further so more of the skunk's belly would be exposed to the bees when they decide to start eating at the front door of the hives.

 

[Denarius]

I picked up a Nuc today and transported it in my Model S. The hive was to large to fit in the frunk so it went in the back. The 40 minute drive had the lowest Wh/m I've ever seen. I had it strapped down and I taped the box and openings, but it was still stressful.

There were about 50-60 Nucs there and I ended up helping inspect several of them. It was nice to see first hand supercedure cells and other problems. There was also a Nuc with a queen that didn't mate well (laying all drones), so I earned the title of Queen Slayer. She was about 1/3 the size of any queen I've seen. We moved a frame of eggs over so they can raise a new queen.

 

[Al Sherman]

Poor baby. One of my labs just can't seem to help investigating every bee he can find. He's been stung a few times & so far, hasn't seemed to correlate that OWWWW MOM sting with the cute little bee he was trying to make friends with. -sigh- He's also the lab that has tried to make friends with a skunk. And then come running in the house to tell me about it.

We have 4 dogs and lots of skunks. We use SkunkOff and it works. They also make a shampoo for "milder" cases or to follow up with an actual bath. We keep a case of it in the closet. :smile:

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

I just finished Todd's book! (Dance of the Innocents) My kind of story. I must say, I liked it a lot and think many people here might like it too. Pretty well put together movie(uh, book) It reads like a screenplay, very visual story w/ scene cuts, and it is a pretty quick read. Conspiracy, bees, & the 'wood cutter' and I was almost getting teary eyed at the end. (not sad ;>
excellent! thanks Todd


bee sting #2 for my poor girl just happened. right on the tip of the nose. gave her benadryl right when it happened, maybe the swelling wont be so bad?
hmm, guess not? the top of her head is all bumpy. I think she got 2 stings on the nose but I found 1 stinger on the tip top of her nose

 

[Al Sherman]

 

[Chipper]

Gosh that sure looks sweet!

 

[Denarius]

I took a video of my inspection last week.

Bee Hive Inspection 5 17 2014 - YouTube

I went out of town for a couple of weeks and before I left I pulled the feeder, when I did so I forgot to replace the frames it displaced. When I returned for the inspection there was a bit of comb out of place. I removed the comb and attached it to other frames.

Due to all the work the video is close to 22 minutes long. You will also notice that the few frames with foundation in the hive are virtually untouched (I put them in to act as a ladder and keep the bees building the right direction when I added the second box). The bees really prefer to build their own.

 

[GasDoc]

Been installed 4 weeks now.

I did an inspection this week and saw plenty of capped brood in a solid pattern. They've built out 5-6 of the 10 frames, wish they'd build out more but I think the population is at a nadir at this point and they are low on beepower.

I sat near the hive and took some photos this morning. Pollen coming in as early as 10am.

 

[Denarius]

Been installed 4 weeks now.

I did an inspection this week and saw plenty of capped brood in a solid pattern. They've built out 5-6 of the 10 frames, wish they'd build out more but I think the population is at a nadir at this point and they are low on beepower.

I sat near the hive and took some photos this morning. Pollen coming in as early as 10am.

View attachment 50141

What camera/lens did you use to take that photo?

 

[GasDoc]

What camera/lens did you use to take that photo?

I used a Canon EOS 30D with a 70-200 F2.8 L series lens.

I took the photo sitting about 8 feet away from the hive. Manual focus, no tripod.

 

[woof]

Millions of bees swarm Del. highway after wreck

The truck was hauling 460 hives of honey bees from Florida to Maine when it overturned onto its side.

...the response to the bee release was not impromptu because state police had a "what-if" plan ready to activate.
The "bee swarm removal procedure" included a list of experts to contact.

 

[FlasherZ]

Been installed 4 weeks now.

I did an inspection this week and saw plenty of capped brood in a solid pattern. They've built out 5-6 of the 10 frames, wish they'd build out more but I think the population is at a nadir at this point and they are low on beepower.

It can take them a while to build up. After installing a package (which is already stressed), it takes 5 days for queen release + 3 days for eggs to start hatching + 9 days for larvae stage + 11 days for pupae stage before the first bees from the queen emerge (4 weeks total). Meanwhile, the existing workers are dying off as they're working as hard as they can to get the colony sure-footed, since they live only just over a month. Flight activities can start at day 3, and foraging can start in a very weak hive around day 7 or so (typically it's ~day 20 in a strong hive). So I believe you should expect to see the new progeny of your queen start to forage in 2 weeks-ish.

My package install (now 2 weeks) has two frames with a good brood pattern; my swarm installs (3 weeks-ish) have been rather strong -- 4 FULL frames (front and back, top to bottom - very little pollen and food at the margins) of capped brood that are hatching like crazy.

Also, around these parts last year we had a real problem with colonies not wanting to raise drone bees. I can confirm that's not a problem this year - lots of beautiful big fat fuzzy bees to mate with those virgin queens.

 

[Denarius]

I used a Canon EOS 30D with a 70-200 F2.8 L series lens.

I took the photo sitting about 8 feet away from the hive. Manual focus, no tripod.

Thanks. I've been debating between a macro or a 70-200 for my next lens, but haven't been able to decide.

 

[dsm363]

Thanks. I've been debating between a macro or a 70-200 for my next lens, but haven't been able to decide.

70-200 much more useful I think if you don't already have a zoom in that range. The version II Canon 2.8L lens is amazing.