Guilfordbeekeepers.org

Things have turned out well on my attempt at requeening so far. I know the bees aren't into it that far, but look to be on schedule.

http://sufficient-for-our-need.blogspot ... label/bees

Guys, Just to be clear. I'm taking full responsibility for the dead queen. It might be good to get a clear policy for the future about packages and extra queens, but I'm not asking the club to do anything other than give me advice. And a thought. If my effort to requeen by installing frames from a s...

I went in with my buddy Doug and looked through three of his strongest hives for a frame with new eggs. All of his queens had chimneyed with brood in the brood boxes as well as in the supers. We found the queen and, avoiding the frame she was on, picked a brood frame and a medium with very young lar...

Just to be clear, the installation was into a hive that had 10 frames of completely drawn comb.
For now, I am planning on following Guard Bees' last suggestion and swapping out a frame with newly laid eggs and letting the bees sort it out.

That's a great thought! Let me see what's brewing in the hives I have access to.

I picked up my package from the club on Sunday and installed it. At the time of pick up and installation, the queen was alive. She never made it out of the cage. I now need a new queen. I've called around. Local suppliers won't have queens until about May 1. There is a California supplier who has a ...

A friend forwarded an article from the Winston-Salem Journal about a project to track bee influence on pollination. You can read the article here: http://www2.journalnow.com/lifestyles/2011/feb/11/wshome01-project-tracks-bees-influence-ar-772545/ . You can learn more and join the Great Sunflower Pro...

Great advice. When will it be warm enough?

I have permission to take two feral colonies in Rockingham County. Both have evidently been in existence for decades. I only want one of the colonies for myself. I've never done this kind of extraction before, so I will need help or guidance. Someone with skill want to join in? I would like to do th...

They could well be drones. Doug is right, the hive was loaded with drone cells before we requeened. I just never thought I would see drones being so active in a hive. It was hard to tell what the relationship with the workers and drones was. I caught one and set it aside. Doug, you can look at it an...

I recently requeened a hive. Yesterday when I looked, I saw they were being invaded by a different species of bee -- larger. I presume they are robbing honey. I've documented my work with this hive on three blog entries. Especially notice the photo on the entry titled "Blue Hive Under Attack.&q...

Wally and Kurt, Thanks. I don't want to pester either hive just yet. I did just sit and observe both hives and listened to the level of buzz. Both seem at peace. The foragers in the nuc hive are bringing in pollen. There is a fair amount of activity in the front of the swarm hive, but comparatively ...

I got a nuc last week. It evidently had swarm cells ready to go because I had a swarm yesterday. http://sufficient-for-our-need.blogspot.com/search/label/bees We looked in the hive where we installed the nuc and saw no queen or evidence of a queen (no larvae or eggs), although the colony seems happy...

Best answer I could have ever expected. I will look tomorrow and report back.

I appreciate y'all's help on this. Good point about new brood because I didn't look. I will look closely when I go in. So, because we couldn't find the existing queen when we split and if there is no new brood, I presume I should just let it be and let them requeen themselves. The frame we made the ...

Checked the split and the queen cell is capped. I also rechecked the old hive -- needed to replace plastic foundations I borrowed with some frames that have wax foundations. While I was in, I looked at all the brood frames. Plenty of capped brood and plenty of bees. They have half filled a super sin...

It was very helpful. I was just wondering if someone had a Word document or something. But I think I have figured it out. Plus I got some outside help. I am very satisfied now.

Helpful. Anyone else? Actual written language would be nice.

Does anyone have a sample pollination contract they are willing to share?

I'm planning a trip to Brushy Mountain sometime within the next few days -- probably Friday May 15 or Monday May 18. I will be picking up an unassembled hive, some supers, some foundation, some tools, and a few other things. I drive a Volvo station wagon, so there should be some room to pick up othe...