A week ago last Sunday, I collected a swarm. I gave them some sugar syrup to keep them happy and to encourage comb-building. If I don't use a feeder board that restricts their entry into the feeder box, I fill the remaining space with frames. Not only had they been industriously building comb on the adjacent frames, but they filled the space around the jar with comb. In the photo (not that you can tell) the jar is being held by the surrounding comb. The comb was full of eggs and larvae. I salvaged some of the comb by holding it onto empty frames with rubber bands. Some comb was too wavy, so I abandoned it. It was full of drone larvae, so it wasn't as great a loss as if it had been full of workers.
While preparing to remove and reattach all this comb, I heard queen piping. I saw a clot of bees and separated it, finding a small black queen in the center. After dislodging most of the bees that were clinging to her, I put her in a queen cage. Then I saw another clot, and found a large golden queen at the center. I caged her, too, and then proceeded to check the rest of the hive. I suspect that the small black one is the bought queen (Lolita) that I thought had died. Having thought this, I had combined the swarm on top of Lolita's hive. Big and Golden must be the swarm queen.
Anyway, I decided to keep both queens for now, to see how they'll do when they're not bitch-fighting. I made a double-decker hive, separating the two queens with a double screen. Next week I'll decide whether Lolita is any good (I doubt it). I've got to stop naming these girls until they've proved themselves.
I set up another double-decker hive today. This time, the queen has been making swarm cells, and I don't want her to leave. So I tracked her down and set her up in the penthouse, and will see what happens below with what are now several queen cells. I've been having some queen melodramas this spring, so want to see if I can get some decent queens. Not only was Lolita a disappointment, but a second queen I bought at the same time (6 weeks ago) wasn't much good, and then died. Considering I have just about as good luck with homemade queens, I figure I'll try and save some money.
I've not reported on the bees for a while, mostly because so much of it becomes too routine to tell. But I hope this satisfies those who hunger for news of the bees.
Hi there Laura, it's Cherylyn here: you may remember me from SRS as one of the two German women running the Tross Olympian Games.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to let you know that I may end up bending your ear for a tig at some point regarding bee matters. We are attempting to find out what the hive-keeping permits are for our area (urban, central valley of CA) so that we can have bees for our large backyard garden. It's pretty clear that you know what you are talking about and my husband and I are complete novices.
This is a long-term project - but know that your posts on the topic are appreciated!
Certainly do! You can email me at SelchieDubh@gmail.com.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that many municipalities don't require permits for bees, but do lump honeybees in the livestock category. Thus, there are ordinances about what can be kept within a certain distance of occupied structures. Your own city may have its ordinances online.
Many beekeepers ignore the rules, and just hope no one complains. Fortunately I'm outside city limits. After 2+ years, I'm not sure any of my neighbors have noticed - even when I was inspecting hives when the neighbor girls were playing in their tree fort.