buzzzzzzzzzz new adventure

[tbendl]

So I know you had 1 angry hive. What happens to the other 3 Queens?

 

[addy1]

We did a split, i.e. took the one hive and made two, that also helps calm them down. One queen was extra in case one died on its way, one was for us to start a nucleus ie a beginning hive. We consider it a learning experience. We may re-queen one of the other hives, they recommend that queen is replaced every year, controls swarming, helps keep the hive healthy. We have one hive that is not growing well in size, that will be the queen we replace.

So four queens, It is sad to need to euthanize the queen. But necessary in bee keeping life. Even though it is just a bug, it is a neat bug.

 

[addy1]

I will take shots of the queen cages, I find all this fascinating, just wish our weather would cooperate, it is cold and wet, we can not go into the hives to even place the queens. The hive we re-queened we need to get her in there or they will start growing their own.

 

[j.w]

Glad the Queens came all safe and sound. Now you can get the hives growing good in the nice warmer weather.

 

[tbendl]

I love reading about your hives and the progress and learning curves you are experiencing, thanks for keeping us in the loop.

 

[addy1]

lol just when you think you have it figured out, something else happens. They are complex little critters.

 

[tbendl]

I just sent this link to a friend here who is starting to keep bees. I'm wondering if I can bribe some honey out of her for sugar.

 

[addy1]

The home grown honey is so darn good, you will never buy grocery store honey again. And that stuff they are saying is not really honey if it comes from other countries.
Tell her/him to join beesource.com A nice friendly group of bee keepers. A lot of knowledge to gain just reading the post and doing searches. Also join a local association that too is very helpful

We did the re-queen.............cool today, so need to go back in tomorrow or Saturday and kill any queen cells the hive made waiting for the new queen to be put in. Ow the virgin queen born, if born before the new queen is released, will kill the new queen.

Of course the friendly (kidding) hive swarmed out at us. Husband got stung x3 I got stung x1
This is me in my over large bee suit, working on that hive, It is ventilated and being too big it keeps me cooler in the summer.

This is how they are shipped. There is a queen in each of those plastic queen cages, a few hundred bees are put in with them to feed the queens through the slits. Each cage (forgot to take a good shot of the cage itself, will tomorrow or the next day) has a candy plug the bees have to eat through to get her out. They do that in a few days, gives them a chance to learn her scent and accept her. ow they would kill her right away. There is a queen and a queen cage right below each small ball of bees.
The rest of the bees were in a cluster we gently put them in a bucket to keep them together to care for the two queens we still have left.

 

[tbendl]

So do the bees feeding a certain queen stay with that queen or do they switch around?

 

[addy1]

What happens, the queens put off a scent, pheromone, that is their scent. The hive learns that scent and it is the queen bee they accept. That scent is what keeps the hive together, drives its aggression or gentleness. When you replace a queen the hive needs to learn the new scent to accept her. If you just toss her in they will kill her even if queenless.

When they are shipped we had 4 queens in the box, it appeared that each queen had a small cluster of bees that stayed around their cage, the other bees were more for warmth mass. It is cold here, cold shipping so xx bees were needed to keep the queens warm. The small group did the feeding of the queens.

Now we pull them out of the box away from this small amount of bees taking care of them, put them in a hive with around 30000+/- bees that need to learn their scent. So she is in a cage until they chew her out. Usually by the time they chew her out, sugar plug, they have learned and accept her scent, it can fail and we have to start all over again.

There is only one queen in a hive at one time, if more, only the strongest survives.

I am queen in our hive! .......................lol

 

[tbendl]

I'm sure hubby doesn't mind not being the Queen. lol
Do you have to make this sugar plug or did they send you an extra to place in the hive?

 

[addy1]

The queen cages are little plastic boxes with a narrow neck the narrow neck is full of sugar, like a hard fondant, that is installed by the queen breeder. We don't need to plug the cage.

See the cage picture? The red block has the narrow neck in it to hold it upright, the fatter part is where the queen is. The narrow part is full of the sugar. The queen can not chew her way out, she can not feed her self.
The nurse bees, worker bees in the hive will chew her out.

 

[tbendl]

Oh I got it. I thought the nurse bees that were sent with the queens had already chewed through the sugar plug and you would have to re-plug it before installing it in the hive.
Some days it seems there just isn't enough coffee to get my synapses firing.

 

[addy1]

Nah it can be confusing.

 

[j.w]

So much too learn. Hope the queens and there bee helpers all come together in peace and harmony and all will be well in their bee worlds.
And hope you guys stop getting stung. They sure are clever at finding a spot to get at you.