Walk away nuc made

The Vortex Apiary on March 28, 2015

Kathy Niven had advised me to go ahead and make a walk away.  She actually said that at this time of year one practically can't go wrong.  So today was the day to make a split from #2.
There are many ways to make a split, but I planned to use one of two, depending on spotting the queen or not.  If I saw her, I would put her in the nuc with 3 frames of brood, one frame of honey and pollen and one empty frame (that she could use for egg laying).  This is what I did with my first split a year ago.
If the queen is not spotted, one still uses 2 frames of capped and emerging brood but 2 with honey and pollen.  The fifth frame has to have eggs that the nurse bees can raise to be the new queen.  This is the walk away split.
I had not found the queen on two previous searches and resolved today to make the divide by whichever method was appropriate.  That is, it would depend on what I found first, eggs or queen.
In the top brood box I first saw two frames full of capped drone brood. I left them alone although I wished I had my scratcher with me.   The next frame had a few capped worker brood, larvae and a bunch of eggs.  And the wax was not dark.  This matters because I was going to use an O.T.S. (on the spot) queen rearing technique, namely notching.  This link explains notching really well.  I searched the frame carefully for the queen and then placed it in the nuc.  Now I needed two frames with emerging brood.  I found two frames with a good amount of capped brood and after carefully making certain that the queen was not on them, put them into the nuc.  I did not actually see any emerging brood, but I figure they are either there or will soon be.  I shook the nurse bees from the comb with drone into the nuc.  Now I needed 2 frames with honey and pollen to nourish the queen (and workers) to be.  I did not find any I like enough in the top box, so I went into the bottom.  There, towards either side of the box I found frames with nectar, capped honey and lots of pollen.  Into the nuc they went (after diligently looking for the queen).  I shook in another frame of nurse bees and closed the nuc.  Then hive #2 was put back together replacing the 5 donated frames with frames of drawn comb.
I will have to wait four weeks before checking the nuc for a laying queen.  Ultimately, this split will go to making hive #1.

Olea's hive is doing well.  The bees continue to make comb and the foragers are bringing in pollen.  This indicates that the queen is laying.  I moved the entrance feeder to the far side so I could better see the girls going in and out.  This led to some confusion when the returning foragers could not find their door, all of three inches away.
I made smoker fuel with the dried wisteria blossoms that are now covering the deck and mixing  in some pine needles. It worked great.
It has been 16 days since making the shook swarm from #3.   In another 12 days I will look to see if there is a laying queen.  I will be going to the queen rearing workshop at Davis in two weeks, so if there is a problem I may be able to re-queen.

Split not made

Picture not of my hive

Yesterday morning I went into the hives for various tasks.
First, in #3, I removed the Apivar strips, did a quick scan for queen cells (I saw none.  Remember, this is the hive I took the queen and young bees from in order to populate Olea's hive.)  I removed the entrance reducer and put on a honey super.
Then it was time for #2.  I needed to remove the Apivar strips, remove the entrance reducer and put on a honey super, but more-so, I wanted to make a split.  This was to go into a 5-frame nuc and eventually into hive #1.
I intended to make the split in the same way I made one before with Kathy Niven.  Into the nuc box I would put three frames of capped brood, one with the queen on it, one frame with honey and pollen and one empty frame.  Of course, I had to make sure that there was in the hive a frame with eggs and 1-3 day old larvae.  The bees would need to make their new queen from those.
I first looked into the bottom box.  There was a lot of capped and uncapped brood, but I could not find the queen.  I looked through the top box.  The frames there had lots of capped honey and some brood in the bottom 1/4 cells, but no queen.
I know she is in there and laying.  I did not see any queen cells either, just a few empty queen cups.
I will take a look again in a week and try to make the split then.  Since there were no queen cells, I do not expect them to swarm in the next week.

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.

Getting ready to make shook swarm

On February 3 I put Apivar strips into the hives, so I cannot put on supers until they are removed on March 17.
My intention is to populate Olea's hive with a "shook swarm" from one of the other two hives.  I read about the process and communicated with Les as to the fine points.  He recommended to check weekly for queen cells during swarm season and to make the split when I see them.  Swarms here have occurred in May. One way to predict swarming is by the drone build up.  Peak drone production is about 4 weeks before swarming.  I figured that when I saw drones I would follow Les's advice and start weekly checks for swarm cells.
Today I looked into both hives (2&3) to check for drones..  #3 looks strong with a fair amount of honey in the top box.  I did not look into the bottom box.
When I removed the top box of #2, I saw many drone pupae from broken cells, so I took a look at the frames.  One frame was nearly full of capped drone cells.  I saw no drones, however.  I did see an empty queen cup and what looked like two accidentally damaged closed queen cells.
What does this all signify?  I do not know, but it looks like #2 is getting ready to swarm.  But since there are no drones yet, if I make the shook swarm, the new queen will not be able to mate.  I think I should wait until I actually see some drones and then check both boxes of both hives for swarm cells.  If I see some, I will make the shook swarm for Olea's hive and maybe a split (into a nuc box) to repopulate #1.  If the girls swarm before I do that, then I hope I'm around and able to capture it.
I planted a lot of fava beans in early winter and they are in flower now.  I have seen an occasional bee on the plants but they must be finding better forage elsewhere.

Mold

I looked into #2 and 3 today.  It has been warm and dry and I have seen the bees bringing in lots of pollen.  Some of the pollen is yellow/orange and the rest is off-white.  I planned to see if there was a need for a super, and, without really expecting to find any, check for swarm cells.  I saw no swarm cells in either box.  It really is too early in the year.
#3's top box was heavy with honey.  The bees were clustered on the central frames in each box.  Even though there were not a lot of bees, I added a super.  I will check in 7-10 days.  If the girls are not using the super, I will remove it.  One does not want too much extra space in the hive.
#2's population was a bit smaller.  While checking for swarm cells, I saw mold on the bottom of some comb.  I then did a more thorough inspection.  There was mold on three frames.  I took those frames out and replaced them with frames with drawn comb.  I did see the queen.  There was only a small patch of brood.  I looked online regarding moldy wax, and apparently it is not a problem.
I remembered to order the Apivar strips today.

Close-up of mold.  It is actually greener.

The mold is only on the bottom 2/3

Winter report

Even though I have not gone into the hives since fall, there still has been some beekeeping activity.
I want to repopulate Olea's hive and #1 hive.  I investigated various bee suppliers and ultimately decided to make splits instead.  I was unsure about making a split for the top-bar hive, so I thought of contacting Les Crowder,  a well-known top-bar beekeeper.  I had met him at the bee conference in Oregon.  I wrote an email, but before sending it, I looked in his book. There, on page 41, was the answer to my question.  So, instead, I emailed Les a couple of questions about details, to which he responded.  So come spring, I will make a shook swarm into Olea's hive.  Les advises checking the hive weekly for swarm cells once swarm season is here, which can be as early as March.  When the swarm cells are present, the bees are preparing to swarm and that is the time to make the split.  Logical.

I do not want to open the hive if it is below 60 degrees.  I had an old thermometer laying on the ground but I did not think it was accurate.  I got this garden thermometer at Home Depot ( a store I am not alone in not liking) and hung it on the fence behind the hives.  I made a little eave over it to protect it from the rain.  Now I can see from the house if it is warm enough to go into the hives.


In order to keep ants from getting into the hives, the legs of the hive stands are in cans with oil or water.  I had a problem with the cans rusting so I had the idea of using porcelain soup bowls instead.  They did not rust, but they were too slick and would slide on the brick supports when I worked the hives.  It would not have been a good thing if the stand tipped over!  Replacing the cans is difficult because I need to lift the legs about 10 inches up.  I was talking to another backyard beekeeper who said it was easy to replace the cans.  He uses cat food cans.  Duh!  Tuna fish cans are too small in diameter and I had been saving tomato cans.  So I cut those cans down, turned over the sharp edge with pliers and today replace four soup bowls.  I need a few more cans to finish this chore.

Cut down cans

New cans on #3 stand

I was thinking about the spring build up that the colonies do each spring and, since it was a warm day, wondered what it was that stimulated the bees to do the build up; temperature, hours of daylight, availability of food, something else?  I looked in my books, searched online and was unable to find anything about it.  I emailed Professor Seeley (whom I also met at the conference) with that question but he has yet to reply.

Fall inspection report

Last week, when Jay and Cathy were visiting, Jay and I took a look into #3.  Unfortunately, no pictures were taken.  We were surprised to see nectar in the super (previously a sticky).  I wonder what flowers are providing where the nectar; it could be the cascading rosemary in our yard.  The foragers are also going south over the fence.  There were a couple of frames with capped honey in the top deep box and lots of brood and larvae in the bottom box.  We did not spot the queen.  We did not see any drones; presumably they have been ejected for the coming winter.
Today I went into #2.  There was no nectar in the super, so when I put the hive back together I put the bee escape board in and will remove the super tomorrow.  There were several frames with capped honey in the top deep as well as pollen and a small patch of capped brood.  There were still quite a few drones about.  I saw the queen in the bottom box where there also was a moderate amount of brood, no drone cells.
Both colonies look like they are doing well.  I plan to make at least one split in the spring.  If I can figure out how to populate the top bar hive with a split, I will do that.  Otherwise I may buy a package of Carniolans for the Olea hive.
No pictures from these inspections, but here is a picture of two honeys visiting the vortex hive last summer