It's May 21st, so where are we at ?

[rjoki]

I like this format for sharing info and hope that Portland Beekeepers continue to contribute. Should really be informative as we go along !!

Close-in SE Portland

My two hives are bursting with bees in their double deeps- although no swarm to my knowledge. When I go in to refill my frame feeders there is lots of activity. My new hive from a Colton nuc is far more aggressive than my nuc from last year. I was going to get another nuc, but Ruhls didn't get the delivery on May 17th, so that is on delay. The rain last week kept me concerned about keeping the 1/1 Syrup in the feeders and they are taking about a gallon a week per hive. Much of the stores still are not from capped honey, but from syrup which keeps me buying more sugar. I don't have any supers on my double deeps yet, and am thinking about waiting till I see blackberries in bloom. I'd like to see them begining to build a good honey layer across the top before I add the supers, as I don't use a queen excluder, and don't want to encourage her to lay brood any higher in the hive. I'm hoping for a chance to dig deep this weekend, but have also been trying to keep myself from too much disturbance as things from the top seems to be going well as long as I keep the feed program going.

What's up at YOUR house this week ??

[Guest]

I think it is great to exchange info about beekeeping in the urbs!! Although it's the new rage, not many people post here . . . yet.

I picked up a nice nuc from Ruhl last Tuesday. It originated from Foothills Farms. I installed it when I got home from work and they have been really active. Much healthier, it seems than the package bees I bought from Ruhl on April 7th.

The nuc came with plastic frames and I installed them in a single deep; I saw the queen as I installed the bees. The next day, they were far more active (and at a much earlier time) than my package bee hive that is now in two deeps.

Altogether, I have three hives. Carniolans in a top-bar hive on my front porch and two Italian hives in the back yard in langs. The Carniolans are going strong and have filled 2/3s of a 36" long Tanzanian top bar hive with comb. I haven't opened this hive and inspected it except through the window I cut into the hive when I built it. They drain a 20 oz jar of syrup in less than a day.

The queen in my package bee lang is now laying in the second deep and I am trying to get the bees to draw out all of the foundation (I have waxed plastic in all the langs). I replenish 1 gallon buckets of syrup each week. I have been intruding into this hive to move frames from the outside to the middle to encourage the bees to draw-out the foundation.

I have not placed a super on the package bee lang and will wait until they have drawn out all the frames in the deeps.

I have only opened the nuc lang once. It is in a single deep. It is bustling. No evidence of nosema or any other disease, unlike my package bees. My package bees initially pooped on the outside of their hive after I first hived them. This was probably just stress after being boxed-up for so long more than nosema.

Despite a cloudy weekend, I am hoping for a good season and good nectar flow in the upcoming months. Then, I will have to figure out how to harvest i.e. rent or buy an extractor.

[drew]

May 22, 2011 11:44:32 GMT -7 @Guest said:

No evidence of nosema or any other disease, unlike my package bees. My package bees initially pooped on the outside of their hive after I first hived them. This was probably just stress after being boxed-up for so long more than nosema.

That would NOT be a sign of nosema. Those bees had been holding it for how many days?

When bees are first released OR first fly day after being stuck inside for extended period of time. That would be normal to see bee poop on the OUTSIDE of hive. Get used to the bee poop, cause it is going to be on your house, car, swing set what ever is outside. ;D

[Guest]

I looked in one of my hives yesterday and found 4 swarm cells. I have 2 deeps and no supers. The bees have drawn out about 14 of the 20 frames so far. I saw eggs so the queen looks as if she is in the hive although I did not see her.

I have the entrance reducer removed and yesterday when the sun broke here in SE PDX the bees were going like crazy.

Does anybody have any opinion what, if anything, I should do to avoid a swarm? Should I remove the plastic under the bottom board screen (it seems a little cold yet for that)? It seems as if the bees have plenty of space with frames left to draw out. It seems to early to put a super on the hive.

Thanks.

[vdigiano]

I have a package that was installed first week in April. It seems as if everything is going well. I have two hive bodies and like the person that posted above, I have about 14-15 foundations that have been drawn out. Bees have been taking up a good amount of syrup.

Within the past week I have noticed two things -- 1) First signs of capped honey on the frames above the brood nest. 2) Queen Cups - about 4-5, most are seen on the bottom of the frames and one cup in the middle of a frame. These are not capped and from what I can tell no eggs have been laid in there. It seems that there is plenty of room in the box, so I am not sure this actually is a swarm warning. I understand hives will build these from time to time and later take them down. The only thing I can think of is that I have an entrance reducer on, so it may have gotten warm in there last week with the nice weather?

So that leads me to a few questions for experienced beekeepers - 1) scrape off these uncapped cups? 2) Remove entrance reducer? 3) When should I add the super? Do I wait for all of the frames to be drawn out?

Any expertise would be greatly appreciated.

[rjoki]

I know that this opinion is a couple of weeks late - but I fully opened my entrance months ago. I also have the removeable insert under the screen which also came out in March. At this point, your bees are probably in HIGH gear gathering necter, so my thought is to open it all up and make it as easy as possible for them. You might also consider giving them an upper entrance during the summer for ease of access and to help vent the hive. (Either bore a 3/4" hole near the top of your upper deep, or carve a notch in the edge of your inner cover - or both).

Adding a second deep before moving on to the supers is a good way to make sure that first of all your hive builds up the storage that it needs before you worry about adding the addional supers for your own honey desires.

A good piece of advice I got early on is:

"The first TWO Big boxes belong to the bees - you only get what extra they pack into the third, forth, or (if you're lucky) the fifth box. Let them build up their boxes for themselves, and once things are rolling, stay out of their boxes as much as you can" - Good advice from one of the true guru's of Portland Beekeepers !!

[rjoki]

Jun 15, 2011 10:06:12 GMT -7 rjoki said:

You might also consider giving them an upper entrance during the summer for ease of access and to help vent the hive. (Either bore a 3/4" hole near the top of your upper deep, or carve a notch in the edge of your inner cover - or both).

UPDATE: It's now July 22nd, and I noticed that my girls had decided to close up the upper entrances that they had been actively using for the last few months. They were working hard to close it with propalais (sp?), so I made it easy for them by plugging the hole myself. I suspect that as it's getting hotter, the upper entrance was changing the natural air flow pattern in a way that they didn't like - I still go along with the idea that in most cases they know the best way to go - not me !!