Hive Inspection Post Queen Release

Today we inspected both Hives.  We had a special guest, Katherine Finn, join us for these inspections.  She did a great job working the smoker and helping us look for our Queen.   Hive 1 one had multiple Queen cells mid-frame.  One had a large larvae in it.  There is no sign of our Queen.  This hive appears to be Queenless once again.

Hive 2 in thriving and we will add a Super next weekend.

Watch the video to see what we saw and how we came to our conclusions:

Hive Inspections Today

Queen Cage Release

Today we opened the hive to see if our New Queen has been released from her cage.

Video of the Cage Extraction

The queen has been released from her cage.  We will go back into the hive on 06/27 to be certain she is laying.

Hive #2 NUC Install

Then there were two:

Today we went to RWeaver Farms, in Navasota, TX to pick up our second NUC.  The hive was ready and the bees and queen were installed.

To view the full install video visit Hive 2 Install

In the meantime we did a Hive Inspection of Hive 1.  You may remember we did not see the Queen when installing or inspecting the hive and production has appeared to be slow.  With our last hive inspection we did see some capped brood and Larvae.  We also installed a frame of Capped Brood and Larvae from my mentors hive to encourage the queen to get productive.

Today we did NOT note "any" progression in hive #1 - not much new capped brood or larvae.  We also found Queen cells being developed mid-frame.  All of which are signs that our Queen may have died or is not doing well.  5 weeks into our install it was time to take action.  We determined a new Queen is needed.  We picked up a new Queen this morning and installed her this afternoon.  She comes in a tiny box with several nurse bees.  There is "candy" in the box which when introduced to the hive will prompt them to eat her out of the box into the hive. We took a small pin and poked a hole in this candy plug. This will draw the bees to the box and allow them to eat through the plug. This whole process of eating takes about two days. By the time the bees eat through the plug, the queen will have been accepted into the hive. We will do another inspection in one week.   When we make our 1-week inspection, the queen should be out of her cage, and she should have eggs laid in 1 or 2 of the combs. Some queens can take a little longer to begin laying