Beehaving

I did not get back to the bees yesterday evening. It was too cold and I did not fancy being stung again. It hot and muggy today so I nipped out for a long lunch and went up to the bees. I got ready and went through the hives again. I put the wet [as in covered in the remains of the extracted honey] framed brood box back on the middle hive. The queen is laying so I hope the bees will clean up the frames and the queen can make use of the extra space. I put an extra super to give the bees plenty to do whilst I on holidays.

The right hand side hive is chockablock with brood and honey. I had a super with drawn comb in stock. I have taken a chance and put that super on the hive under the excluder. I hope the bees will adopt the comb and Queen makes use of it. It is not usual to use supers for the brood chamber but needs must. I put a spare super in the middle of the super stack in the hope the bees will draw it. The hive is heavy with honey so more space can only mean more honey.

The left hand side hive has a new queen. There is a vacant Queen cell and lots of Drones but no sign of eggs so the Queen might still be in the virgin state. The bees seem to be clearing some cells of honey in the middle of the brood chamber and there are bees bring pollen in all of which are good signs. I put another super on this hive as I hope the bees will draw comb and it will give the bees somewhere to move the honey too from the brood chamber.

I have only one super spare and a brood box so I might have to extract a super or two when I get back from holidays, if the suppers are full. The two hives on right hand stillage are getting heavy. The stillage wobbles under their combined weight which must be more than eighty pounds. I figure the bees have settled down from the swarming season and have plenty of room if they wish to use it whilst I am away.

I was reflecting on the problem of swarming and have come to a conclusion. The strains of bees must have an Italian blood line. Italian bees are known for their vigorous habit. I think that a single brood chambered National hive is too small a frame area for the Queen. In the spring build up she quickly fills the available frames of the brood chamber and with no where else to lay it triggers the swarming mechanism. Since the queen reproduction cycle is shorter than the worker cycle by the time she is ready to lay the brood chamber is not sufficiently free of brood to let get on and that triggers the swarming mechanism again. I think if I put the queen on double brood box in the spring then the extra room will prevent the second cast. I have been reading up on swarm control so I have a plan for next year. Bees make honey so for lots of honey you need lots of bees and losing 50% of your bees to swarms is not helpful. The only good thing is that I am populating the countryside with strong clean bees.