So yesterday we opened all 4 hives

Been feeding the 3 new hives for last week or so, boy are they drinking up the syrup. Up to a gallon in 36 hrs.

Was worried the feeder was leaking , so checked the other hives and all are the same .... busy bees. I added some Honey Bee Healthy to the syrup, and this certainly had them excited.

All 4 hives have great laying patterns , we have almost 20 frames with half capped honey, already removed 12 frames from the big hive (Marc) . I always seem to get stung when opening this hive, and each time on the hands for some reason, I wasn't even on the hive when I had two bees hit me on my left hand. The queen is now laying in 3 boxes of this hive. We saw good brood in box 3 (Deep plus two Supers)
Very little in way of Mites or Beatles , we opened some drone cells and did not find a single mite in 5 cells. Saw only one beatle in the 4 boxes we took off. Nothing in the trap.

The Swarm hive is growing well and have worked 9 of the frames , so we moved frames around so they work the remaining side to draw it out. Have a super waiting if needed.

The two new Waynes Bee nucs , are also working well with great laying patterns , good stores already too. These are relatively calm bees too.

Once again I learned from Wally as he moved frames around to make the bees work all the frames. He approved of my wiring :-) after giving me a lecture about it previously.

I have discovered a new sw , that works wonderfully to keep track and record my hives.

Called Hive Tracks it is an online sw created by a team from NC, very intuitive and works on my iPad too. It has direct links to Weather Channel online, so even if you are updating a previous date , it can pull the weather from that date and time, NICE !!!
So in my case I created my hives and was able to use the original date and still pull in the weather from that time and date.

The swarm settles

Already first day the New swarm bees were bringing in pollen , usually
a good sign that they are rearing brood. Lots of entrance activity so
far too.

Wally suggested I leave it alone for a week and then move the frames
into my box. If strong they will go into a 10 frame langstroth , if
not into a nuc. So yesterday I built my own plywood capture box in
case i need it. It actually will take 6 or 7 frames at a squeeze. I
used external dimensions but used 5/8 plywood to build it ( scrap I
had lying around) and that is why it takes a few extra frames. Solid
bottom so easy to carry too. Still need to make an inner cover and
outer cover, and have cut the plywood to do so but ran out of time
last night.

I have chosen not to feed this hive yet, we will see after a week.
Wally put a frame of pollen and honey into the nuc , as well as a
frame of capped drone brood, so they have " things to do". Lol. The
reason not to feed is because the much stronger hive might rob it, and
also the flow is on with Tulip poplar in full bloom so no storage of
food.

Pretty cool that I now have two hives and yet the original bees I
ordered are still not here. Hoping for next weekend.

The first hive is booming. Supered up again this last Sunday as the
super from the week before was almost full. Weighed plenty.

Starting to plan to improve the hive location - decided I will build a
bench behind the hives and make a nice long rest for the hives , with
place for some 8 hives in total. The idea for the bench behind is
because everywhere I go beeks are putting things on the ground. Might
be nicer to have a work area close to the hive. in theory I might even
be able to build a storage cupboard. Will see about going too far :-)

--

Regards
Rick

http://zenzele-brewery.blogspot.com/

http://ballingerbees.blogspot.com/

Got called by my farmer neighbor, he had seen a swarm flying and they just landed in a tree in his yard. Used his Bobcat to get up to it, but my positioning of the nuc box was not ideal and Wally shook the branch and missed the box .....

Evidence of the apprentices mistake , the master suffers !


Easier than a ladder





Up there...


Perfect example of Nasonoving - fanning pheromone out to attract the rest of the swarm


Many more pics here:
Ballinger Swarm