Yesterday I picked up our new BeeWeaver queen (american/buckfast hybrid naturally mated). She is pale yellow almost all over. She is marked with a green spot and has a clipped wing. We will call her Vanilla. She and her 6 or so companions spent the night in the laundry room, because I couldn't find a current queen in the 2 medium boxes. There were c larvae, so she's clearly still around, but with no luck finding her for 2.5 hours and it getting dark, I vowed to return.
Before I left I split 2 brood and 1 nectar frame plus a bunch of bees (shaking frames to dump them) into our first split. I'm using an 8 deep for the brood chamber in our second hive.
Today, another 3 hours in the Texas noon sun. But I found her. I tried the various methods for figuring out where the queen was/wasn't.
1) the listening method. Apparently a hive without a queen has a restless hum. Maybe Hive2.
2) the queen cage on the brood box. Both Hives amassed on to the queen cage. Hive2 in a swarm like way, and Hive1 a little more aggressive some were trying to sting thru the mesh.
3) the look and look again until you find her. Yup then I really know for sure.
The naturally replaced queen in Hive1 is unmarked and mostly black in color. We will call her Chocolate, she maybe the same queen who made such aggressive bees last fall, that has yet to be determined.
So Once I knew which hive Queen Chocolate was in. I put a ~4"x4" 1/8" hardwire mesh into one of the brood sections of Hive2 and gentle teased Queen Vanilla and her entourage into it. Placing it back in Hive2 with much rejoicing from the populace. Each hive got a 1:1 sugar solution since they're both low on supplies and need to build out some comb.
So Once I knew which hive Queen Chocolate was in. I put a ~4"x4" 1/8" hardwire mesh into one of the brood sections of Hive2 and gentle teased Queen Vanilla and her entourage into it. Placing it back in Hive2 with much rejoicing from the populace. Each hive got a 1:1 sugar solution since they're both low on supplies and need to build out some comb.
Hive1 (Queen Chocolate) named for the red spot marked on the original queen (installed from a R weaver american package)
- medium honey super = mostly empty
- excluder
- medium brood = good laying pattern, some honey and pollen, 1 new empty frame, with some wax cells built out
- medium brood = good laying pattern, some honey and pollen, 2 new empty frames, one with some wax cells built out, the other with no foundation, these are checker boarded in the middle of the brood.
- screen bottom board
This hive has some empty queen cells, they are over crowded, hence the split.
Hive2 (Queen Vanilla)
- medium - no frames
- excluder
- deep - 5 deeps with fresh foundation, 2 medium brood together over a pollen patty, and 1 medium with nectar a few frames over.
- excluder
- bottom board
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