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Ok, I am thinking that this is normal. I just walked out and looked at the hive, and the activity is starting to pick up with the clearing sky and warming temps. However, I did notice a good bit, perhaps two dozen, larvae and pupa that were on the ground in front of each hive. Also I noticed several dead bees. Is this a result of the cold weather that we had when the temps dropped into the mid to upper 20's?

Also, one is a split that is hopefully raising a queen. The queen cell should have capped over the weekend. Will the cold weather have had an effect on that, and should I be worried? Will they have clustered around the queen cell in order to have protected them?

I am no expert but I did read that a good hive will remove things such as that. Not too sure on the quantity you seen. Hopefully all will bee well. My bees really seem to be EVERYWHERE. I don't want to mow my yard but it must be done. What are the liitle purple flowers on the ground???

I really do not know. I have not seen them on the flowers, but they are all in the bradford pear trees. I have also heard that they like chic weed, and I have not seen them on that either, so I really do not know.

Sounds like everything is operating normally. Without a doubt, we probably had some brood chill the other night.
The queen cell should be protected by the workers.
I had made a split 2 weeks back and was concerned for my queen as well, but she is out and walking around. She has not mated and is not laying any eggs yet.
The bees will get out of the way of the mower! Just go for it. If your lawn is anything like mine, the onions must be getting tall by now!

Yes the grass is tall. I have been holding out for the bees. But I will introduce them to the mower. I am deciding wether or not to deck myself out in the veil and gloves when I get near the hives. I know everyone says it will be ok but it's a menatl thing with this rookie. I will let you know how it turned out. Wish I was home right now watching the bees work instead of being at work.

Ok, I used to be No=-Bee's, but now I have bees so I changed the log in. I made an inspection yesterday, and to my surprise, the more active hive is the one with the queen cells. The one that is not as active, is the one with the queen. Go figure. I supose that the whole ordeal of getting half of her home taken away, and the fact that the top box made that split, which I would assume contained mostly house bees, is the reason for the lack of activity. I did find new eggs, and very young larvae, and pupae. So I simply added some room with a second box, closed them up and came home. The one raising the queen cells, had two capped queen cells, and one that was being constructed. The one being constructed, I would hope they tear down, for I am sure the larvae was too old.

I now know what the behavior of a queenless hive is like. They were flying up and attacking the hive tool. They were a bit testy to say the least. She should hatch on Sunday, give or take a day. So I am excited to see how they do.

Ron, tell more about your hive. I thought you started from a package. Why do you have queen cells????

Well, lets just say that my hive is a product of the most un-orthodox way for a beginner to get into beekeeping. Wally was giving me some pointers and allowing me to come over and play in the bees at his house, and all the while trying his best to get me to go ahead and get bees. I, being determined to do it with a package, new equipment, and all wanted to wait until this spring.

Well, Wally talked me into getting bees on August 22. It was a cut-out from an old abandond house. We did the cut-out, Wally coaching me the entire way. The colony was quite large, and ended up being put into two deep boxes. The brood was cut down to fit frames and was tied in with rubber bands, ending up with about five frames. The rest was a combination of drawn comb that I purchased from Wally, and frames with foundation. I purchased two used boxes, lid, bottom, and entrance feeder.

The bees were brought home and I began feeding them. 100 lbs of sugar later, they were ready for winter. In the mid February I added a 1/4 section of pollen patty, and about 1 gal of 1:1 syrup. The queen began laying like mad. On the thirteenth of this month I split the hive into two colonies. both seem to be doing well, and the one with no queen is now raising a queen. The queen should hatch out on Sunday if everything went according to plan.

So, I now have two hives, and need to manipulate a few frames to remove the old brittle comb from the house. All in All, I think this was a true learning experience in beekeeping. I really think that this was in Wally's plan all along. He put me in a position where I have to work the bees and thus become a beekeeper, and not an owner.

WOW!!!! That's what I'm talking about. Now that's beekeeping. I do feel like an owner. I wish that I had that kind of experience. You can't get that in class. Wally is a great teacher of the beekeeping trade. I look forward to possibly getting to do some manipulating of hives with him soon.