June 2015

June 9, 2015
Hive 1 - We were up cleaning the cabin, and I hadn't checked the beehives since I dropped them off on May 23rd.  I opened up Hive 1.  There was not anything happening in the 2nd box I had added.  When I got down to the 1st box, there were only bees on the top of 2-3 frames.  When I took out the 1st frame to start checking, they were mad and swarmed me and were hitting my head gear.  Then I felt a sting on my leg.  I was wearing levis and thought I was completely ready with my boots and all my gear.  I was nervous now.  I didn't know if I was going to have another bad reaction and have to use my epi pen.  I decided that I should shut it back up and go inside so I could watch myself to see what happened.

It was frustrating that I got stung on my first hive I opened up.

June 18, 2015
Hive 3 - I decided that I had better leave my hive that was mean till a little later.  As I took off the top feeder, I noticed there were maybe 10 bees feeding.  Not too many.  They had not started on the 3rd box yet.  The second box was 70% full of bees.  The first couple of frames I looked at had brood, and they all looked really healthy.  I had been thinking and wondering about the Hive 1 while I had been at home since the 9th.  I wondered if they were so mean because they did not have a queen.  I knew if there were some good frames in the others that I should probably share.  I knew I could not put a medium in a large whole, so I got into the bottom box.  I found a frame with eggs and young brood that was quite full.  I checked for the queen, and then opened up Hive 1 and put it in.  The bees from Hive 1 were mad that I opened it up.  I used the smoker and then added the frame of brood.  Hive 3 seemed to be really happy.  They seemed to settle down a lot once I did that.

Hive 2 - It is my healthiest and biggest hive.  They had just started to go into the 3rd box and start building on it.  There were a few in the feeder but not too many.  Box 2 was full.  Then I got into box 1 to see if I could find another frame for Hive 1.  I found one and added it, finished checking Hive 2 a little more.  I couldn't see any signs of foulbrood in any of the hives.

Hive 1 - when I finally started pulling out the original frames to check them, they still were not happy, but it was definitely better than when I opened it on the 9th and earlier today.  They had settled down a little with the smoke and the 2 new frames.  After looking, I was confused because I was seeing brood.  I finally found a frame that had eggs in it.  The closer I looked, I could finally see that there were 2-3 eggs in some of the frames.  A sign of laying workers.  Hopefully with the new eggs and brood, they will make a new queen and stop laying.  It will be interesting to check on the hive when I come back up to Timber Lakes.

The hives were busy this afternoon.  Lots of bees doing their number 8 flights.  I couldn't see any bees on the flowers around our cabin.  I was so confused.  I took a drive as I headed out and found lots of bees on the flowers by the roadside.  They were busy.  It was good to see, and I took lots of pictures.

Mini Hives May & June 2015

May 15?, 2015 - Mini Hives 1 & 2 - Albert gave me 2 frames of brood for each hive, and I bought 2 queens.  It rained for many days after I brought them home, and was very cold.
(Both hives have 2 frames new brood)

May 21, 2015 -
Hive 1 (with the window) was completely dead.  Dead bees in the bottom, and black larvae.  It was cold right after I got my bees, so I was worried the brood and bees had frozen.
Hive 2 had some black larvae, but was doing ok although I could not see the queen or eggs and larvae.
I put all the drawn comb from both hives into Hive 2 and took Hive 1 up to Albert to get more brood so I could try again.  He said to bring Hive 2 with the black larvae in it so he could look at it.  I had something the next day so I came home, picked up the bees, and took them back to Salt Lake.  I got there after they closed so I left both beehives under the bushes and sent Albert a text the next day on Friday.
(Left both bee boxes at Albert's - the empty Hive 1 with only starter frames, and Hive 2 which had 4 drawn frames and bees still alive, but some amount of black larvae on all 4 frames.)

May 27, 2015 -
Hive 2 - I finally made it up to see Albert because of a busy Memorial Weekend.  He looked at Hive 2, and he looked at it and said I had a beautiful black Carnolian Queen, and brood.  I didn't know what to think.  He didn't see anything wrong, and the hive was thriving.  I took it home.
Hive 1 - Albert put new brood in Hive 1, and I left it there so it could make itself a Queen.
(Hive 2 had queen, so I brought it home, Hive 1 left in SL with new brood, all new frames)

June 4, 2015 -
Hive 2 had not had a lot of bees coming and going, so I finally decided to check it out again.  It had black larvae in it again.  There were no dead bees in it, and all the bees were gone except 5-6 robbing the sugar water and 2 nurse bees on the frames.  I couldn't do anything since we had a snowcone event that night and were headed out of town for the weekend the next morning.  I saw ants on the ground all around it.  I researched Sunday and it said if ants tried to take over, sometimes the bees would leave.  I assumed that had happened.
(Hive 2 empty, black larvae.  Hive 1 still in SL)

June 10, 2015
Hive 2 - took to SL to get more brood.  Albert put new brood in it, and then I asked him why the larvae kept turning black.  Was it ants?  I needed to know so I could do whatever I needed to do to stop killing bees.  He looked, and got nervous and said it was foulbrood.  He didn't know if it was American or European.  He put the 4 frames in a bag and sealed it off so it could be checked by Joey Caputo, and gave me medicine mixed with powdered sugar.  Duramycin - he told me to give them 1 teaspoon now, and check with Joey about future medicine depending on the test results.
Hive 1 - still looks good.  Leaving it there a little longer.
(Hive 2 new brood, new frames, medicine, home in Highland.  Hive 1 still in SL)

Timberlakes Hives - I need to check the hives at Timberlakes now also.

June 16, 2015
Hive 2 - I opened it up and checked and no foulbrood yet!!  The hive was very strong and healthy.  I didn't see any queen cups, but I didn't see any in the other hive either that made their own.  So excited this one is doing so well!!  Hive 1 is still in SL.

June 29, 2015
Hive 2 - Checked today and we have brood in the frames!!  I also have a lot of Tiger's Blood honey.  That will be quite fun!  Luckily, they look really healthy so I am glad the medicine worked.  All the frames were full so I added another box.  I called to check on the test results before I went to SL to pick up my other mini hive.  Joey does not have results back, but does not think it is American Foulbrood (the worst option).  Hive 1 was picked up from Salt Lake.  It was not quite as full as Hive 2, but I put new boxes on it, and gave them blue raspberry syrup.
(Hive 2 brood in frames, so I have a queen, added box!!  Hive 1 brought home from SL & added box)