Thursday, March 12, 2015

Brush swarm made into Olea's hive!

Sorry- no pictures.
I decided that today was the day to make the brush (or shook) swarm.  Essentially, a split.  Hive #3 looked stronger than #2 and even though I suspect that #2 will swarm soon (based on what I saw on last inspection), I decided to use #3.
The top box is quite heavy with lots of capped honey.  Half of the frames are foundationless so the comb is irregularly shaped.  I did see a fair number of drones.
I took off the top box and began to inspect the bottom, being careful not to knock down the Apivar strips.  (The strips have 5 more days to go so I will soon have to disturb #3 again.)  I spotted the queen on the 3rd or 4th frame.  I placed the frame into an empty nuc box I had brought out for just that purpose.  This was so I would know where she was after I had looked at the other frames.
I did not see any queen cells although there were queen cups.  I did not see any eggs.  There were young larvae and nectar filled cells which Kathy Niven says indicates eggs.  Since I was going to take the queen away I certainly hope that there are young enough larvae for the workers to raise to queen-hood.
I shook and brushed the bees from a half-dozen frames into Olea's hive.  I used mainly frames with capped brood so I was getting a good population of young bees.  I really could appreciate my good bee suit.  There were clouds of bees flying everywhere and the enraged soldiers were pinging me incessantly.
Then I took the frame with the queen from the nuc box... and could not spot her.  After searching anxiously for a couple of minutes I found her.  She was staying on the side away from me by running from one side to the other through a hole in the comb.  I tried to get her onto a leaf so I could lift her into the box, but she would not cooperate.  Finally I lowered the frame into the box and, as gently as I could, shook her and the bees into the hive.
I reassembled #3 and the put twelve top bars in Olea's and then the back board.  I put the top bar hive back onto its stand.   I put the entrance feeder, with 1:1 syrup, on the top bar, treating it like a package.
Now, we have to wait and see.
Next I will make a split from #2 in order to repopulate #1.  Unless it swarms first.

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