February 2011

2/27 INSPECTION OF TBH: Quickly inspected the TBH as the temperature forecast for the week ahead was cold. Reached 63F today. Saw a good amount of brood and over a comb's worth or drone brood. Jessica saw eggs and the queen. Didn't seem like as much nectar as before.

2/25 Jessica noticed that the first buds were opening on the pear tree.

2/24 Put drone comb back in AL hive. Don't think I'll do this again.

2/23 Weather was just warm enough (low 60s F) so decided to take the opportunity to do a quick inspection of the AL hive. Removed the sticky board from yesterday - 56 mites in 24 hours. Not bad for this hive. Inspection showed a lot of brood. Top deep box had almost 7 full frames of eggs, larvae, or capped brood. One frame showed a gradual development of eggs through to big larvae. Nice to see. This queen can lay. Bottom deep appeared mostly empty except for one frame that was completely full of drone brood. Mostly capped but also larvae present. About 1 dozen drones were emerging at that moment. The first two I looked at had mites attached. Decided to remove the frame and freeze it. Didn't like the idea but if it's infested then maybe the right thing to do. Medium box at top of the hive is still not being worked. Has one partially drawn comb and two full combs. All these combs have been converted previously from deep frames.

2/22 Placed sticky board under the AL hive (1pm)

2/21 First blooms appearing on the apricot tree in the back yard

2/15 Noticed the first leaves appearing on the trees on the walk up to the oak tree at Del Valle

2/14 The start of a cold and wet week in Livermore. Temperatures back down into the 50s F.

2/13 All almond trees are now fully in bloom down by the creek and in Lauren's yard

2/12 Inspected both the TBH and the AL hive......
TBH: The empty bar added last week was almost fully drawn out. The two empty bars added the week before that were 1/2 to 3/4 drawn out. Lots of NECTAR. Brood nest substantially bigger in size with a good amount of brood. Saw queen laying again.
AL hive: Queen now laying in the upper brood box as well as the lower box. Lots of nectar. Bees had also made progress drawing combing into the two empty frames added last week. Maybe 1/4 to 1/3 drawn out. A good amount of brood at least five frames worth.

2/9 Jessica noticed that Lauren's almond tree was just beginning to bloom

2/7 Made medium frames of empty comb from the deep frames that I had removed from the AL hive. Inserted them into the top medium of the hive along with the one already there. Placed one empty frame between the two frames of comb to give the bees a guide.

2/5 Temperatures were in the low 70s, so we inspected both the TBH and the AL Langstoth hives.
TBH: Witnessed the queen laying eggs! Saw lots of drones, a good amount of capped brood, and a worker bee emerging. The two empty bar inserted into the broodnest last time had been 1/4 to 1/3 drawn out. Inserted another empty bar into the brood today.
AL Langstroth: Saw several frames of brood and a good amount of old honey. The bees are building up well. Also saw the queen but she seemed to have one damaged wing. No new comb building. Inserted two empty frames (no comb) into the broodnest. CCECCECC where C=comb and E=empty. Worried later that I'd placed one of the best frames of brood against the hive body... might get chilled...but weather is supposed to be warm for the next few days. Fingers crossed. Moved the two frames (honey no brood) into the second deep.

2/3 Jessica notes that over the last two weeks, trees have begun to blossom. THE apricot in the backyard is still covered in tightly closed buds, but along the walking path, I saw an almond today, which was partially in bloom and two trees with delicate pink blossoms. One, which had just a few blossoms last week, was densely covered in delicate, pink blooms today. An almond, just around the corner was almost in full bloom. And the yellow puff ball tree on Livermore St. was fully blooming.