by BeeRad
Thanks Dennis, Mara, Lori, Elianajoy, and ESPECIALLY Perry for coming out this past weekend to do our first inspection of all 6 hives! The good news: we spotted 2 queens (see pictures below), had zero mite counts on several hives, trained Dennis on inspections!, replaced both 1/2G sugar waters, logged data directly to our inspection form on Google drive, and installed a queen in the split (hive 5).
Unfortunately, there was bad news – hive 4 did not have a queen. It looks like I accidentally killed the queen when I inspected the hive back on May 6, when I added the Upper Deep. Luckily, Perry brought extra queens, and we added a new queen to hive 4 also, and now all 6 hives are Queen Right! There is a balance between inspecting hives to know how they are doing, and leaving them alone so we don’t cause damage. I am bummed to have lost the queen, but I guess it is part of the learning process. We’ll strive to be more careful going forward.
Here’s a summary of the status of all hives:
Hive 1 |
Looks great! Needs nothing in next month. Should see comb starting in upper soon, then larva/brood w/i 2 weeks |
2 |
Looks good. Next, add upper Deep so have frames to draw comb and change reducer to middle 6/9. Continue to feed after? |
3 |
Looks great! Needs nothing in next month. Self hatched queen looks to be doing well. |
4 |
Installed new Queen. Leave alone for 4 wks |
5 |
Installed new Queen. Next, might need brood frame from Hive 1 and new frames (Upper Deep) to draw comb 6/9 |
6 |
Very strong. Next, add upper Deep so have frames to draw comb and change reducer to middle 6/9. |
Next inspection is June 9. We’ll need to scrape a bunch of wax off old frames ahead of time. Thanks again to everyone that helped out.
![](http://rosedalegarden.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_20180526_103131411-1024x768.jpg)
As you check out the hives, you’ll be noticing more and more buzzing bees! Their populations are literally growing by several thousand bees each week each hive!
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