Guilfordbeekeepers.org

I agree with Locust&Honey it's swarm season.
Yesterday I noticed this cluster of bees in a pine tree behind my hives (4-4-11)
It came from one of my hives, one that was split 3 weeks ago!




http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc33 ... 4-4-11.jpg

I'm so sorry,
I wasn't considering the ramifications of posting an intended absence on an open forum!

If anyone attends the Spring meeting post AFTER your trip and share your experience.

ski, you know the old saying....

"Where there are two beekeepers, there are three opinions
on the right way to do things"

Anyone planning to attend the Spring meeting??

Marie Laveau, really....LOL

"Nucs seem to build up a bit faster then a hive." In my experience with nucs they only seem to build up a bit faster because the nuc super is 1/2 the size of the hive super. I thought I would share with everyone how I formed my opinion about the split. I confess I had help, I went to Georg...

I could be wrong, but I don't believe they plan to supersede since the queen has a decent brood pattern. My guess is early swarm. I would consider a split, making a nuc may not relieve the congestion enough to prevent a swarm. A nuc created this early would have to be hived in 6-8 weeks anyway so yo...

Thank you Wally,
Your opinion means a lot to me!

Michelle, I noticed a pair of gloves on your list, but I did not see a veil listed. The honey supers are much heavier than your brood supers. The weight of a totally full 10 frame medium super (honey, frames, box and all) is usually about 60 pounds. An 8 frame medium super (honey, frames, box and al...

Michelle, When bees swarm they raise a new queen before swarming, then take the old queen and about half the colony with them to search for a new home. If he returned from a trip to find an empty hive, the bees absconded. The primary reasons for absconding are overheating, lack of food, and frequent...

Thanks ski, I was suprised to find frames like that this time of year. There are eggs in most of the cells on the outer edges too! They have a few more frames like that. They have a 2nd super above them with only a few bees in it, so they have space for now. I will have to split them as soon as I se...

All ten hives.

http://s524.photobucket.com/albums/cc33 ... %202-2011/

I inspected my 4 remaining hives this week. Hive #10 is bursting with bees and brood. http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc330/Starlight4258/Bee%20clusters%202-2011/Hive10med.jpg http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc330/Starlight4258/Bee%20clusters%202-2011/Hive10deep.jpg http://i524.photobucket.com...

Thanks Kurt,
I may do a combine, still undecided.

Ski,
Nice looking queen!
Good brood pattern especially this time of year!

I discovered a short video on YouTube,
titled: Mite Away Quick Strip Application
Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb6pjlAv ... rofilepage

Thank you Wally,
I will wait a couple weeks and see how they look.
I Plan to check the other hives by the weekend,
I'll post and let you know how they're doing.

Thanks Wally,
You have another option?
I don't have a queen for requeening.
I didn't overwinter a nuc this year and of course
this is the year I need a early queen.

This mild weather is great for a late winter inspection. I went in 6 of my 10 hives this week , I found some decent clusters and viewed brood in 5 of the 6 hives I inspected. In hive #8 I have a good cluster but the only brood is drone brood in worker cells. That is a bad sign, I believe it is queen...

Great looking winter clusters!!

Now researchers from the Government’s National Bee Unit and Aberdeen University have worked out how to ‘silence’ natural functions in the mites’ genes to make them self destruct. Dr. Alan Bowman from the University of Aberdeen said: “Introducing harmless genetic material encourages the mites’ own im...