Well, this morning I woke up with one honey bee colony and as I sit here and type this I suddenly have two.
Yesterday I went out to do a hive check and was greeted by an amazing site. Two weeks ago, the frames in top hive body were empty save for a small mushroom-shaped conglomeration of wax. There were many bees working diligently, however, so I knew I’d have to check them again. What I found yesterday I totally did not expect.
All of the frames in the top hive body were almost totally drawn out and at least three of them were filled with eggs and larvae. The mushroom-shaped wax had take over the whole frame. (See photo below.) I guess when I put the frames in there I did not space them correctly so the bees built outward. When I pulled the frame out, the wax ripped and some ripe larvae fell out. {Sniff}
Then I noticed that there were two supersedure cells on one frame. The supersedure cells are usually high up on the frame and are built when the bees are planning on rearing a new queen. The two cells were empty, which is normal. However, when I pulled out another frame to my surprise there was a peanut shaped cell that was closed…a new queen! I totally panicked and had Ryan drive me immediately to Ken Hays’ place in Bosque Farms to get some more supers and figure out what to do with this new queen cell. If she hatched, she might just naturally take over as the old queen dies. However, this is swarm season. If she hatches and the hive is too cramped and croweded, they will swarm.
Ken told me exactly what to do so today was a nerve-wracking two hours of working on my hives. Here’s what I did…
- I put three hive bodies out and took out all the frames.
- I took apart my whole hive, separating the brood frames from the honey frames and placing them in their own new hive bodies.
- Then I took the frame with the queen cell and put it in its own hive body along with one frame of honey and brood.
- Then I stacked the old hive — honey frames on the bottom and brood frames second — then added two honey supers with only eight empty frames.
- The new “nuc” hive I set aside and put emtpy frames in there.
- I put grease patties in the old hive so help with the mite population.
A friend of ours, Chris Koza, was here visiting and wanted to watch the whole endeavor. Thank goodness, because his questions and observations made me more centered as I worked. Otherwise I would have been a nervous wreck. However, when pulled out the last frames a huge chunk of wax and honey fell off sending the bees into a frenzy. That’s when Chris tapped out. The cloud of aggitated bees was too much for him to handle.
I kept diligently working however, and managed to put everything together. Then I immediately called Jerry Anderson and told him what I did. He reassured me that I had accomplished all the appropriate steps and now I just have to wait.
So what will happen next? In about a week to ten days I will peek into the old hive to see how the colony is filling the top honey supers. Jerry said they may be full of honey in a week or two!!! With the “nuc” hive I have to wait about three weeks to see any progress. Right now the bees in there are young nurse bees, who are only concerned with taking care of the brood. The queen will likely hatch in five to seven days and then go on her one mating flight, after which she will start to lay eggs. Jerry said I should be able to peek in after three weeks and see newly laid eggs — that is if the new young queen is doing her job.
The whole affair was absolutely amazing and yet I am so nervous to see what happens next. I was so nervous that I did not do the clean job that I usually do and I’m sitting here thinking of all the things I’d like to do over. But for now I just have to watch them and let nature take it’s course.\
