New queen cells after my first split

[Sean Kelly]

Hey all!

I just inspected my hive for the first time since the split last week.  I was actually quite suprised!  Must have had a major honey flow overnight!!!  Both hives are CHOCKED FULL of honey.  Even the new frames on the medium sups on top have been completely drawn out in under a week!!!  I'm totally hooked on beeswax foundation from now on!  That was REALLY fast!  The honey is still uncapped and is very dark in color.
The other suprise was where I found the new queen cells!  I thought for sure that she was in the left hive because of the aggressiveness of the right hive.  But I found no queen cells in the right hive and 3 in the left!  At least I hope they're queen cells.  I didn't see very much brood in either hive and had to look really hard for some eggs.  I moved a frame of eggs/larve over to the queenless hive to give some help.
I'm hoping these are queen cells and they look just like the pics in my books.  Thought I'd share them with you guys and get your thoughts:


By w7spk, shot with DSC-P72 at 2007-07-01


By w7spk, shot with DSC-P72 at 2007-07-01

Sean Kelly

[Michael Bush]

Just be careful checking on those queen cells.  My luck is I destroy them accidentally when pulling the frames out...

They are VERY fragile when they are first built.

[Sean Kelly]

Just be careful checking on those queen cells.  My luck is I destroy them accidentally when pulling the frames out...

They are VERY fragile when they are first built.

Yeah, I kinda thought so.  After I discovered them I was pretty gentle, took the pics and put them back.  I wont open the hive again for another week or so.  How long will it be before the new queen will emerge?  I'm sorta glad I decided to go this route instead of buying a new queen.  Seeing this process first hand is really fasinating!

Come friday I'll be ordering two more deep hive bodies + frames & foundation, one for each hive.  Our honey flow from the blackberries is so strong right now that they've filled up just about every available space and there's hardly any room for new brood.  If things keep going so perfectly here, I just might be able to get some honey after all, even with this split.   :-D

I've been a beekeeper for almost 3 months now and it's been a real trip!  Everyone thinks I'm crazy but can't stop asking questions, the neighbor kids think I'm the coolest guy around, and I'm having such a blast!  I seriously wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for all you guys here on Beemaster.  Thank you everybody, you guys are so AWESOME!!!

Sean Kelly

[asprince]

I will second every word of that last paragraph! Great forum. Lots of knowledge. Kind people.

[Cindi]

Sean Kelly.  You are doing an awesome job.  Good that you are getting more boxes.  Sounds like they really need to have more room, a queen that does not have room to lay will delay the growth of the colony.  So, good.  Give them room, they will move the honey so the queen will have room to lay.  Have a wonderful day, good going, great life.  Cindi

[Sean Kelly]

Yeah Cindi, I can't afford those new boxes until this Friday.  It'll take a week for them to show up and then assemble.  So by the 16th I should have the new boxes.  Hopefully the nectar flow will still be strong enough for them to draw out the new foundation.  I'm totally going with wired beeswax foundation from now on though.  I can't believe how much faster they accepted it and drew it out.  Not to mention how perfect and uniform the foundation looks!  That plastic foundation (even though coated with wax) seemed to throw the bees off and they made tons of funky weird burr and bridge comb.

Blackberries are almost done here now.  Noticed the pedals are starting to fall off.  Clover is starting though and hopefully that'll be enough for them to make more stores.  Cindi, we're in the same area kinda...  after blackberry, what comes next for our bees?

Sean Kelly

[Michael Bush]

>Come friday I'll be ordering two more deep hive bodies + frames & foundation

Now would be a good time to kick that habit.  "Friends don't let friends lift deeps." --Jim Fischer

http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslazy.htm#lighterboxes

[Cindi]

Sean Kelly.  To tell you the truth, I am not sure what are the flows.  I am thinking that blackberry is the last of the main flows.  But then, there are so many minor flows that I am aware of, they go on and on.

I think one of the next important flows are the pumpkins in our area.  I cannot give you any direct answer to this Sean.  At my farm, I have a flow that continues on until frost kill, but then that is because of the myriad of annuals, perennials and wildflowers that I have growing that feed the bees, it goes on for a long time.

I think that I remember somewhere on the forum that there was a site that one can go to to find out about the flows, but I honestly cannot even recall the exact time of the post, nor do I think that I could find it.  I will sometime over the next few days see if I can figure this out a little more better for you. It would be good to know.

I would be curious about what kind of country side you live in.  Are you in the city, country, specify.

When we had a queen breeder come to speak at our bee club meeting, he indicated that he kept bees in the outskirts of the City of Vancouver, in New Westminster, and he gets way more honey from all the gardens in the city than the people in the country. He was very adamant about this and really believed it.  I must believe it too.  Anyways, I will try to work on this for you too, you do your work too and maybe we can figure things out together.  Have a wonderful day, great life, love this life we're livin'. Cindi

[Sean Kelly]

Mr. Bush,

I don't mind lifting deeps.  I'm a tanker trucker and liftin/pullin 200 lb hoses ain't nothing new here.  :-)

Cindi,

I live out in the country on the Cascade range near Mt. Rainier.

We have a big dairy farm just a mile down the road that grows corn for a big halloween corn maze and they have a HUGE pumpkin patch.  Totally forgot about the pumpkins, that'll be cool!!!  When do the pumpkins start to bloom?
I remember reading the same post about the nectar flow locals, but I dont think they listed western Washington.
I watched a show on RFD TV where they had a beekeeper in Manhattan NYC.  He kept hives on top of some of the sky scrapers and did pretty well, but not like anything you'd get from the country.

My new screened bottom board came today and I'm gunna paint it tonight (just the sides so it matches the hive).  Assembeled my hive stand and gunna paint it too.  Cant wait!
Also FINALLY got a real bee suit from Betterbee.  I'm a big guy and most suits run kinda small.  But Betterbee came through!  My suit is actually too big!  My wife said she can fix it though so that's cool.

Thanks again everyone!

Sean Kelly

[Cindi]

Sean, I have a big pumpkin patch too.  They are beginning to open blossoms now and will continue for some time.  I think that basically the commercial dudes take the bees to the pumpkins in August, give or take.

Cool, you got your new bottomboards and stand.  Yeah!!!

I will be doing research to see what is going on in nature.  I will account at my place what is blooming and when.  I will do this when I am back in B.C. (tomorrow).  Have a wonderful day, great life. Cindi

[Sean Kelly]

Yeah, the new bottom boards are pretty sweet.  Put it on today along with the hive stand.  Poor bees didnt know what to think of it and just flew around in a big cloud for the first few hours before landing and going in.

Checked the queenless hive and found they were MUCH calmer than before.  Plus one of the queencells was empty.  Not sure if it's a queenright hive now or not.  No eggs anywhere (figured so much since it's only been a week).  There are still about 4 or so queen cells left.  Does that mean they will swarm or will the workers get rid of them?  This hive is sorta weak and the last thing it needs is to swarm.  If it does, I'm not sure if it'll last the winter.

Here's the latest pic:


By w7spk at 2007-07-04

Sean Kelly

[Cindi]

Sean, I don't know that much.  But if you have an empty queen cell, she has emerged and will be laying soon.  It would seem to me that she would have gone out and killed the other queens in their cells in the colony, unless she emerged and didn't make it, for one reason or another.

Wait for more experienced responses from our forum.  Nice pictures of your new hive for sure, good picture taking.  Have a wonderful day, great life.  Cindi (who is in the picture?  is that you?  If it is, it is nice to put a face to another forum friend  :))

[Sean Kelly]

Yeah, that's me.  lol  I look like a dork.  I just woke up and forgot to put on a hat, still wearing my glasses (usually wear contacts), the way I'm sitting makes my knee look like I have elephantitus, and I got this really cheesy grin goin.  haha.  I took it myself with the self timer with the cam sitting on a fence post. 

Sean Kelly

[Cindi]

Sean it is a good picture and no, you do not look like a dork.  Pictures never do any person any justice, I can't stand to see pictures of myself.  All human are beautiful (well, now and then there is some that are just plain ugly -- inside and outside, the bad people).   If you have a good soul, then that is brought forward to the exterior.  Have a wonderful day, great life. Cindi

[kensfarm]

and I got this really cheesy grin goin.  haha. 

I always have a cheesy grin when I'm sitting by my hives too!  :)   Maybe it's a honey grin!  :)

[Sean Kelly]

Well I checked out my the queenless hive yesterday and the frames with the queen cells no longer have queen cells.  I couldnt find one anywhere in the hive.  So I guess I can assume she's emerged and destroyed the others, right?  I looked long and hard and didn't see any eggs on any of the frames.  Hopefully she mates and starts laying soon.  That hives population is starting to fall.

The other hive is doing great and definately need another deep ASAP.  Last friday I ordered two more deeps, frames, foundation, support pins, sticky boards, and a coloring book (for my daughter) from Brushy Mountain.  Of course I bought beeswax foundation again (i've become a fan of it).  Like the sayin, "Once you go wax you'll never go bax"  lol.

This split has been really educational but I think next time I do one I'm gunna order a queen first.

Sean Kelly

[Kathyp]

we have a pretty short bee season.  i have come to the conclusion that you either have to do your splits really early to let them raise their own queen, or order queens for your splits.  otherwise, you end up with a queenless hive for 30 days when you only have a 4 month window to get a hive up and going. i think brian does splits late, but he lives in the tropical zone of the PNW  :-).

[Sean Kelly]

Hey Kathyp!

Where I live here in Buckley, WA the climate is very similar to where you live in Boring, OR.  The summers are a little warmer down there, but other than that it's pretty much the same.

I'm sure my bees will be fine.  I've been adding a frame of capped brood here and there from my other hive to the queenless to help out, being extra careful not to carry the queen over.  When I move brood over like that is it OK to keep the bees on it or should I use my brush to take them off before transfering it over to the new hive?  So far they haven't seemed to mind.

I'm afraid to take any honey from my girls since the split.  I wanna make sure they'll make it through the winter.  How do I know when they made too much and I can take some?

Sean Kelly

[Kathyp]

you can leave the bees if you want, but if the hive you are adding to has plenty you don't need to.  i  give the frame a shake over the old hive (after making sure the queen isn't on there) and add it to the new.  just don't shake it so hard that you shake out your brood  :-).   the bees that are left on the frame will do fine in the new hive.

if they have the equivalent of two deeps of honey for the winter, they should be fine.  you can check during the winter when we have a little warm up and make sure.  there are a number of ways to feed during the winter if you need to.  i found that poring some sugar on the top of the inner cover and dampening it with a spray bottle worked well.

if they are not filled up by the end of next month or after you have taken off your honey, you may need to do fall feeding to top them off.