March 2011

31/3 Helped Jessica inspect the TBH. First few bars of honey were a mess and needed to be extracted. Weather was warm and the wax was weak, which made the process hard. Later on saw two new queens. One black and one blonde. Also counted 12 plus swarm cells and heard queens singing. Didn't see the old queen. Lots and lots of bees. After the inspection, masses of bees were bearding outside of both entrances. The bearding got bigger to such an extent that if they were on a branch you'd say that it was a swarm. Decided to take advantage and put the bees in a new hive along with a few combs of brood i.e. tried to split the hive. The process was a disaster and I poured the bees back on the top of the TBH. Won't try the procedure again.

Bearding bees returned to the entrance and they were still there the next morning. Bees bearded consistently over the few days.

29/3 Split AL hive into 2 Langstroth and one nuc.

28/3 First sunny day. Checked AL hive at 2pm and saw lots of bees in the air and a small swarm in a hive. Scrambled to get gear from home to collect it. 45 mins later when I got back the swarm had gone. Not sure if it went back into the hive or flew off.

Inspected the hive. Saw 12 plus swarm cells, but couldn't find the old queen. Saw eggs. Definitely. There were even swarm cells in the second medium super.

26/3 Been raining hard on and off for a few day now and fairly cold. Should be brightening up in a few days and should allow an inspection early next week.

18/3 Heavy rain today and will continue off and on for a few days

17/3 Pear tree almost in full bloom with only a the buds on some of the lower branches unopened

15/3 Added another medium super to the AL hive and removed another full frame of drone brood. Hive now consists of 2 deeps and 3 mediums.

13/3 INSPECTION AL HIVE: Masses of bees. Lower medium has several frames of honey/nectar. Saw several queen cups of lower edges of deep comb - generally on the corners. No peanut swarm cells. Wondered whether queen cups will be extended further or whether the bees are just messing with me. The top (2nd) super has comb building going - need to add another medium super to give bees more room.

12/3 INSPECTION TBH: Hive doing well. Lots of brood and first two or so bars are going probably be full combs of honey. Struggling to give the bees more room as no complete combs of honey to remove. Saw several queen cups which seems the norm for this hive. Also broke open a queen cell which was partially glued to the side of the hive.. it contained a white substance which we thought might be royal jelly. Didn't see a larvae or egg, but may have fallen out when the cell split.

11/3 Apricot tree in almost in full bloom... most of the buds are open.

8/3 Added a second medium to the AL hive. I'd decided always to give the bees lots of room. The hive now has 2 deeps and two mediums. When I opened the top of the hive I was please to see a good quantity of bees and comb building progressing in what was the top (and only) medium. There are at least 2 1/2 combs that I added using cut down deep comb and the bees have started more. The new medium adds a completely empty box on top.

3/3 INSPECTION AL HIVE: Low 60s F, so quickly inspected the AL hive. Saw all stages of brood and also the queen. She still had one wing shorter than the other. Brood also in the bottom deep this week. Less capped brood than the last inspection but I think there was probably just as much brood in total. The dead frame of drone brood had all been cleaned out. Looked carefully for swarm cells but didn't see any. Saw one small queen cup... like the ones in the TBH. Not sure what to make of it.