BEE KEEPING

[GrumpyFarmer]

We got a healthier deluge of rain today (maybe trout fishing on our TWP Rd by end of the week) and looks like another 4+ inches and bad storms thru Saturday here.

Break in the weather now 73 and sunny, but 20+ mph wind.

Checked the girls just now and we have a flurry of activity. The girls have their pollen sacks filled. We have 3 more days and the initial spring Formic pro treatment is done. If weather lets up Sunday, we’ll check their supplies and maybe put the supers on.

 

[hoot owl]

I checked half of my hives today. I found 3 Queen cells in 2 hives out of 20. I put those 2 in nucs and added caped brood from some strong hives. I also had 2 hives that I am trying something new with. I placed a 3rd deep box on them several weeks ago. I removed the middle deep box and moved it to another yard so they can start new Queens and get me started on some more nucs in 10 - 12 days.

 

[hagrid]

I'm going to try my hand at harvesting delightful wasp honey.

 

[GrumpyFarmer]

I'm going to try my hand at harvesting delightful wasp honey.

I would expect WASP honey would be enlightening

To be completely honest, I’ve never heard of an apiary so committed to the enlightenment.

Sorry for the bad jokes. Have a great day.

We have buds out, flowers and trees blooming here. My girls are bringing in nectar now so we put the supers on Sunday.

 

[GrumpyFarmer]

Oddly enough I was planning to till my garden (which is next to my peach trees and just below my small apiary)…I was checking the soil (too wet so I did not till) and I looked up to see if any peaches had started, and I saw a swarm.

So we tried to catch it…..

20 minutes later that little nuc box sounds like it has a small engine in it. We will leave it where it sits today and move it after the sun goes down.

This is the first swarm we have ever tried to catch. Let’s hope they stay.

 

[Hugo Habicht]

I would give a swarm a full size brood box.

If you leave them locked in over night to settle in they should stay.

 

[Bee-Positive]

Great job Grumpy! Seems they all went in the Nuc, as indicated by your last pic, the Queen should be in there.

Are you sure they are not from one of your hives? LOL.

I agree with Hugo, bigger is better, they may feel a bit cramped in the Nuc. If you have any drawn comb frames to add it would be a plus. Maybe steal a couple from existing hives if those hives are strong enough to donate. Capped brood would also get it going quicker.

 

[GrumpyFarmer]

Thanks for the thoughts
and encouragement team!

I did put a frame of brood and nurse bees in with the swarm. So hopefully they stay and that frame of brood will jump start them and give the queen a place to start laying as the cells open up.

Are they our bees or not? Great question. The swarm was not more than 15ish yards from our hives. I did not look through to see if there was marked queen in there. Not sure but based on proximity I would think very strong possibility, however:

1. Both hives seemed same / similar number of bees / strength.

2. The hive we took a frame from seemed no different than a few weeks ago, and that would be the stronger hive by far.

3. This where it gets interesting, the weaker hive had queen cells in it a few weeks ago and our assumption is that they were replacing the queen as the hive was very weak coming out of winter. We did not expect them to swarm as they have gobs of room and lots of empty frames with foundation a queen could lay in. (We have not seen that queen this year but there was larvae and eggs the last time we were in the hive. Since we could not find her yet this year (and she was marked) we thought maybe they replaced her.

4. Shortly after spotting the swarm I saw another swarm of bees flying within 15 yards of the hives also (see pic below)

5. Going into winter our hives had marked queens. We had not yet found the queen in the weaker hive and wondered had they already replaced her, did she die, or will they replace (as I mentioned there were queen cells in the hive a few weeks back)
…so if the queen in the swarm is marked I think there is a stronger possibility it was from our hives, still no guarantee but it’s likely. If it’s marked and we don’t have a marked queen in either hive I’d say we could believe that.

We may never find out…still fun guessing and hypothesizing though.

 

[Bee-Positive]

Friday, May 30 2025, around 4 a.m. a commercial truck hauling an estimated 70,000 pounds of honeybee hives overturned near Lynden, Washington, on Friday, unleashing about 250 million honeybees into the air. The driver did not navigate a tight turn well enough, causing the trailer to roll into a ditch. Over two dozen bee keepers showed up to help ensure the rescue of millions of pollinating honey bees.

 

[GrumpyFarmer]

Thanks for the thoughts
and encouragement team!

I did put a frame of brood and nurse bees in with the swarm. So hopefully they stay and that frame of brood will jump start them and give the queen a place to start laying as the cells open up.

Are they our bees or not? Great question. The swarm was not more than 15ish yards from our hives. I did not look through to see if there was marked queen in there. Not sure but based on proximity I would think very strong possibility, however:

1. Both hives seemed same / similar number of bees / strength.

2. The hive we took a frame from seemed no different than a few weeks ago, and that would be the stronger hive by far.

3. This where it gets interesting, the weaker hive had queen cells in it a few weeks ago and our assumption is that they were replacing the queen as the hive was very weak coming out of winter. We did not expect them to swarm as they have gobs of room and lots of empty frames with foundation a queen could lay in. (We have not seen that queen this year but there was larvae and eggs the last time we were in the hive. Since we could not find her yet this year (and she was marked) we thought maybe they replaced her.

4. Shortly after spotting the swarm I saw another swarm of bees flying within 15 yards of the hives also (see pic below)

5. Going into winter our hives had marked queens. We had not yet found the queen in the weaker hive and wondered had they already replaced her, did she die, or will they replace (as I mentioned there were queen cells in the hive a few weeks back)
…so if the queen in the swarm is marked I think there is a stronger possibility it was from our hives, still no guarantee but it’s likely. If it’s marked and we don’t have a marked queen in either hive I’d say we could believe that.

We may never find out…still fun guessing and hypothesizing though.
View attachment 155268

Good day.

This morning we found lots of eggs, lots of comb, lots of nectar and some capped honey from the swarm we caught Memorial Day weekend. We also found the queen from the swarm we caught. It’s not the right color for this year, but that was the paint marker I had in my pocket.

Within a few days we’ll need to either put a second 5 frame box in or stick them in larger hive. We are just now putting the finishing touches on the new hive bodies…

 

[skeets]

A Lodge Brother keeps bees and last time we were out to lunch he was telling me he had to tell people he couldnt take any more swarms because he was full up. Which was good for him because between the winter and critters he lost all but 3 hives.

 

[Russell King]

What’s up with the top box being open? I have never seen a box with that before. What is the purpose of that?

 

[skeets]

I was thinking the same thing,, maybe to just look pretty?

 

[GrumpyFarmer]

We thought it would BEE more like a home if the girls had a 3 season room / pavilion…sort of like a she-shed to make it feel more homey.

It’s an observation window (it lets you see activity/ progress in the super….normally there are plugs that cover it…there is thin plexiglass on the inside of the opening. (Here is a different one that is completed…you can see that the window is covered)

Not sure any of that makes sense?

 

[lynnmor]

I thought maybe the experts on here might give me a bit of advice. I have a large locust tree that is failing and will need to come down this year or next. A large hole at the bottom has a large number of bees going in and out undoubtedly producing honey. I would like to save the bees, the honey and the firewood but those tasks are above my skill set. Should I contact an expert and who would that be?

 

[Hugo Habicht]

We thought it would BEE more like a home if the girls had a 3 season room / pavilion…sort of like a she-shed to make it feel more homey.

It’s an observation window (it lets you see activity/ progress in the super….normally there are plugs that cover it…there is thin plexiglass on the inside of the opening. (Here is a different one that is completed…you can see that the window is covered)

Not sure any of that makes sense?
View attachment 156103

The artwork on your hives is phantastic !

 

[GrumpyFarmer]

The artwork on your hives is phantastic !

The artwork on your hives is phantastic !

Thank you for the kind words…I wish it were all me, but my wife is the exterior designer for the apiary. Were it up to me, the the top of the hive would look like snoopy’s dog house and I would add a red baron of snoopy up top….however the exterior designer has frowned upon the thought of a WWI themed apiary.

I did get the opportunity to fund the entire project. Beyond unlimited funding source, About all I am allowed to do is lift heavy objects, use tools, and apply solid base coat color with some supervision. Everything that makes it look nice was completed by the spousal unit.

If ever there was a Olympic sport for most expensive jar of honey I feel pretty confident that not only would I be a medalist, but I would probably garner some net negative endorsements for sure.

 

[Hugo Habicht]

I did get the opportunity to fund the entire project. Beyond unlimited funding source, About all I am allowed to do is lift heavy objects, use tools, and apply solid base coat color with some supervision. Everything that makes it look nice was completed by the spousal unit.

Very well done, indeed, and very creative the motives and I have the feeling a lot of time went into that too. And I can see the vast amount of different paint colours. Looks like a huge budget

I love the idea of the inspection window. You can get an idea what is going on inside without having to disturb the bees. Here in Ireland the weather is rarely warm enough for a hive inspection and the bees do not like it when you take the roof off on a cold day.

 

[Bee-Positive]

I like the finger slots / hand grips. Did you router those yourself?

 

[GrumpyFarmer]

No…the pieces came like that. I would mention with the gloves on there’s not much there to grab…I’ve thought about putting some metalware handles on, but have not done that as it would not sit right if I want to set off in a vertical position. Those grooves are better than nothing I guess, but I generally hold the corners as I feel I get a better grip that way.

if I were going To router grips in, I would do it vertically at the corners so I could hold the core an and get fingers in on one side and thumb on the other.

I think the smart people are using 5 frame boxes, but I am not that smart just yet.