Caught a Swarm...... Kinda

So today I went out to remove one of my swarm traps out of my backyard and to my surprise I found a small swarm of bees clustered on two frames.  At one point I didn't even know that there was anything in it.  I didn't even put any protection on of any sort.   So this was a little odd.  I wouldn't even call it a full swarm.  Anyway, I took them to my bee yard and looked for a queen.  No queen and no eggs in sight.  So I dropped in a couple of frames of brood, pollen and honey.  This will make the existing bees stay and also help with the bee population in the hive.  So my next step is to order me a queen or let them raise their own queen.  I takes almost 3 weeks for them to make the queen and have her laying egg.  This will take time that I don't wanna wast so, I ordered my queen from a bee farm called Mott Bee Farm.  They are fairly local and offer a VSH (Varroa-sensitive hygiene) Queens.  I really want these bees in my yard, so I can start to cross mate all my queens.  This will improve the fight against Varroa Mites and also reduce the potential of robbing.  


 So I have expand to 4 hives!  I plan on making more nucs and start breeding my own queens. 


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Macon

Checking hives

Checked my hives today and was a very good inspection. All except for the mishap of dropping so comb on the top bar hive.  I found egg in all hives and plenty for honey storage and some pollen coming in.
I dont have any pics of the hives this week but I did take a pic of where they are getting most of their nectar source.  Dad planted some crimson clover last fall and is amazing!  All you can hear is Buzzing in the air.

First Inspection 2012

Today went very well. The girls were on their best behavior.  I inspected all three hives and out of all of them only one of the hives didn't have their queen released.  So I released the one queen myself.  The two hives that had been released, I also found eggs!

The first hive is my Top Bar Hive. This was the hive that didn't have the queen released.  They were eating the candy to release her so I helped them out.  They were building comb on 2 bars and it looked great!!

The second hive I inspected had released their queen and found eggs in many cells!  This is a great sign for just being in the hive for 3 days!

The third hive I found that it was the same as the second but better.  These girls were storing lots of honey!  I also have a second super so they can start drawing comb out.

I will not inspect them for another week or so.  I got a few pics to share with you.  Dad took most of them and also operated the smoker.  This is just what the doctor order!  When I grow up, I want to be a beekeeper.

Feeding!

Well went by the bees today of feed!  It was a rainy cool day so this was perfect for house cleaning and sucking up some go oh sugar water. I gave them about a gallon of sugar water.  I will go into the hive tomorrow to check to see if the queens have been released.  If they haven't released her, I will.

New hive pics

Here is a pic of the new hives!