LOADS of bees

[harleechik70]

I went completely into my hive today and WOW, I have LOADS of bees and they have plenty of honey. I was able to witness larvae, a few newborns working their way out of the cells, capped honey, capped brood, and pollen. There isn't much free space left however, probably 10%. Eek. I put a honey super on today, but do I need to also hurry and get some empty frames and stick in the nearly full existing supers? Do I just take out a few frames that are honey and pollen, leaving the brood of course?

This is all a bit of problem however. I live in a townhouse, want to continue to have just one hive, but I don't want them to swarm of course. Anyone want some bees? Seriously. I know it's still a little early, as there is still some cool weather to come, but I'm just proud that they are still alive as I lost my hive last year.

I've only been doing this for two years now so I'm still such a newbie (newbee-lol). I noticed 10-15 completely white full grown dead bees, milky in appearance. They weren't moths-definitely bees. What happened to them?

[Wally]

You can make a split just for practice, and to be able to say you've done it. As soon as both are laying and have emerging brood, put one on here and craig's list. You don't object to putting 150.00 in you pocket, do you?

Remember, those are Wayne's bees. They are just a step better than the average.

[Jacobs]

If you were breaking apart brood comb that was being built between frames, you were exposing the white drone larvae. In my strong hives, some are larvae, some are almost completely formed drones and some drones I exposed in pulling apart frames were alive and just before emerging. Pulling apart drone brood that is placed between frames is common and normal. I try and examine the drone brood that is exposed. Varroa favor drone brood, and if there are no varroa in the brood, I am happy. If I am seeing varroa mites in the drone brood fairly often, then I need to either do a sticky board or a sugar shake to determine my mite load and develop a treatment plan. (Based on Wally's experience with Wayne's Bees, your search for varroa may be less successful than my searches in my bees.)

Isn't it nice to have the problem of too many bees in the boxes?

[harleechik70]

Well...this will be in complete contrast to my post earlier today.

I was over in Greensboro this afternoon for just a few hours and got a text that the police and a beekeeper were at my house. I dashed home as fast as I could, only to find that the 'beekeeper' was actually a veterinarian the police had called, as my honeybees attacked my dog. All my neighbors watched the heartbreaking ordeal but weren't able to save him. The vet arrived suited up, got the bees off and rushed away with him, but he died on the way to his office. I am completely heartbroken and not sure how in the world this could have happened. This is my third season with bees and my dog is in that backyard every single day.

I'm trying not to be hasty, but I really don't think I plan to continue with the bees. I am in a townhouse and maybe it's just too dangerous with them here. What if a child had been the victim, rather than my dog???

Needless to say...I think this 'thriving' hive will be for sale in the next few days...

[Wally]

So sorry to hear of your loss. When a bee stings, it leaves a pheromone in the sting area directing the other bees to the "enemy". If an animal cannot escape from the area, they will continue to attack, each one leaving more of the pheromone. It is always dangerous leaving an animal in a closed area near bees, where they cannot escape.

You could think about putting the bees at a friends house with more room.

[Zulu]

So sorry to hear this.

I would be happy to provide a place for you on the hops farm. You would continue to have access to your hives. Let me know

[harleechik70]

Thank you for the offer, Zulu. I've thought about it though and I think I'm ready to let them go. There are so many children that play right outside my fence, I garden right around their hive, hang out my laundry there, have even weed-eated right around them for years. Now I just feel freaked out, and I hate that, because I have never once been afraid of them. I really don't want to have them offsite, just not the same for me.

I'm going to post them for sale, along with all of my extra equipment, etc. It's huge, healthy, and full of (sugar syrup)honey, larvae, pollen... It will swarm soon if it's not split or given more room.