Queens alive and well

Last time, when I checked the hive, a week ago, the queens were out of their little plastic EzBz cages. I left them alone, I tried hard to see if they would show up on the frames, but I guess, I didn't look enough. But I am happy to announce that after many days of undisturbed hive, I couldn't stand it any more to see what those folks are doing inside there. I bit the bullet and suited up and opened the hive to see.
It was a good sight to see, bees are alive and well, and I finally met the queen running around there. I looked for eggs, but they are not there yet, the combs are not built big enough for the queen to lay the eggs, but I am sure when enventually the combs are built, she will lay the eggs and I am sure I will find capped brood. I guess I just need to be patient. I do have good patience, when I read over the blogs I read people are worried about if the queen is there, is she laying eggs and such, but I feel that nature has a way to take care of things of its own, and we don't need to interfere in it, just leave them alone. And that is what I am going to do for the next few weeks, so I might not have any updates. But I am still learning from bee blogs and movies uploaded on youtube about bees. Let me tell you, it is a great learning experience!

Queens out of the cage

Today opened up the hive to see what is happening. Was anxious all day long - is the queens still there? I didn't even get a good look at the queen after I got it, I was nervous and excited to install the package. And I am happy to say that, when I examined the queen cages today, both of them have gotten out. But the only problem is, I just couldn't spot them in any of the foundations. I guess, I didn't look enough, but I have a good feeling that they are probably there. I am a little concerned that the combs are not built as many as I thought the queen would need to lay eggs, but I hope the coming out of the queen might trigger the bees to build more hives. But I did see the classic pattern of comb building - there were some honey in almost all of the more built out ones, and surprisingly spots of dark orange pollen in a few. I have kept many sugar feeders at the entrance, so I am hoping that they would build out the comb pretty nicely. I guess, I don't need to touch the hive for the next 3 weeks or so other than watching to see if the sugar intake stands at good rate.

I noticed the bees have build wax combs around the queen cage, I wonder what they were thinking.
I also found a good independent comb built between the foundations, I guess it was because, there were only 8 foundations, instead of 9 when the queen cage was in between. I guess, I forgot to count and put in the right number. I am not sure what to do with the 'burr' comb, I didn't disturb it.

Also, i have installed foundations on the honey supers, I read that the will start to store honey there, I hope it doesn't distract them from building brood comb. I have put mostly Pierco white foundations, with a few wood frames with just starter strips. I hope I didn't do anything wrong by doing that.

I also realized that initially I put the honey super upside down, when the cover didn't close, I was wondering why, and then I realized that it was put in upside down (Hem, why do you want the world the know your stupidity? )
Anway, I thought it would be a lesson to folks who come after me to take a look at how to place the super before you start installing the foundations.

Bee Swarm Trap

 
In addition to having two hives at home, I have purchased a couple of Bee Swarm Traps to attract bees when they swarm. The bees swarm when they find their colony is too crowded. Then they decide to make queen cells, bigger than the regular hexagonal cells, and mostly hanging from the bottom of the hive. When the queen hatches, they leave with a part of the existing bees to start another colony. This is called swarming. The idea is to attract the swarm with the trap. Trap is made of paper pulp, dark in color, dark and quiet inside with just an entrance. Attractants like bee pheromone is installed inside the hive to attract scouting bees to pick the site. So far no luck, I had a call on bee swarm few days ago, but once I got there, all the bees left. Hopefully some of the feral hives I have been feeding might swarm and come my way. Since I cannot keep the bees, I am open to give it to someone who might be interested in beekeeping. They have to invest in some bee equipments, possibly around $400 or so. First thing to do is to get a Starters bee kit. I bought mine from Mann Lake Ltd. They seem to be the lowest priced, but the shipping can be expensive.

Day 3 of the bee installation

 
This is a picture of what my beehive and feeding looks like today. I have added entrance feeder (thank you, Mr. Oakley!) and gave the bees the sugar water (one part sugar & one part water). I have also left the cans which came with the bee package for them to savor just outside the entrance. Also added few more bottles which I used to feed the feral bees before. All my feral bees seem to have disappeared after my new bees came in! I guess they understood that there is some one else in the house - I feel sorry for them, but they have eaten over 75 pouds of sugar in the last month (I buy 50 lb bags of sugar, the biggest package you can find from Costco or Sam's Club - costs $25, $0.50 a lb!). I would love to see how their hive looks like it must be pretty big. Even late into evening, the bees have come out to feed from these extra kept sugar feeds.

In spite of my training duing bee pick up, I have decided not to close out the entrance of the hive after installation. Even though advised to just use the entrance feeder, I am using feeder outside of the box to see how they respond. I have a good feeling that they would thrive and build the comb faster when there is more food to eat.

I am not sure if the wings are clipped on the queen I have. While at work, when I was pining to see my bees, and to make sense of everything, I feared that if the bees didn't like my hives, they might leave en masse with the queen, and my $180 for the bees have just lost by their elopement! I sincerely hope it won't happen, and I am visualizing that the lady bees are building combs like crazy on my Pierco black plastic comb starter frame before the queen gets free from her cage!

Bees Arrived

 
I have been waiting since Nov of 2009 to have queen bees in my yard. And that wish was fulfilled on April 17th, Saturday. I picked up the bees from Bost Honey Farm in Georgetown and brought it home to install. I recorded and attended the instruction about how to install from Mr. jimmy Oakley who is a veteran in beekeeping over 25 years.
I was alone at home in installing the bees, so I couldn't get pictures of the installation process, but here it is - after I covered the hives, it is now ready for the rest of the bees to join the queen.
Each package you see costs $90. They contain one queen and 3 lbs of worker bees. Around 7000 of them. They multiply after they build the hive to around 40,000 of them on one hive! The stacked hive box, the upper one is used to store honey by the bees and for us to tap into to take the honey! I can't wait for that day...
But the journey, I am sure will be exciting, next wonderful scene would be the view of the honey comb all built up.
I will record my experience in the upcoming journal pages.

Catch a swarm - AUSTIN BEE RESCUE HOTLINE

To save bees from exterminators and common folks who think that they are a pest, we have set up a Austin Bee Rescue Hotline.
Please call 512-850-4313 when you spot bee clusters. We will come right over and rescue the bees!