We did a mini-inspection this evening of the honey supers after our first small honey harvest last month.

The Mother Hive had only one frame harvested. It has fair amount of uncapped honey in the center frames, with a smaller amount towards the outside. There were a couple of patches of capped honey across the super. Lots of bees with head in and butts sticking out!

The Persister Hive had three frames harvested. Because it has no foundation in the super, we had cut out comb to harvest, leaving some comb in the frames. On this inspection, the bees had cleaned up the areas that were cut out, but hadn't redrawn much comb yet. There were a couple of patches of capped honey and a number of frames with some uncapped honey, but not a lot of honey storage in that super right now.

The water was refreshed, and we wrapped it up!

A lot has happened here at the Casa Raven Apiary. These notes cover from Hurricane Irma (made landfall here on September 10 2018) through the inspection today (January 15, 2018). rubibees and I were involved in all of these inspections.

Hurricane Irma: In preparation we lowered the hives to a single cinder block, put spiral steel screws into the ground and strapped the hives down tight. In the last inspection, the Mother Hive had about 50%-60% capped honey in the super on a bit more than half of the 19 frames. The Persister Hive had just recently gotten a super, so there wasn't any comb, pollen, or honey in the super. Both hives had active brood chambers with good populations and most frames on in the bottom 10 frame deeps had capped brood. The Persister Hive had one frame with a small area of dark shiny stuff in the upper left that was a bit of a concern, but we didn't have much inspection time with the storm coming, so we figured we'd look at it during the next inspection to see if it was stringy and sticky, a possible indication of disease, or just some honey stored in dark brown comb.

The hives stayed stable during the storm and weren't damaged or affected that we could tell by storm debris. In the aftermath, most forage had been blown off of local plants, so we did a couple of days of feeding. After that we stopped feeding, but continued to see regular activity at the entrances and foraging flights, so all looked well. Both hives had some queen cells built. To the best of my memory, the Mother Hive had two queen cells and the Persister Hive had three.

January 1, 2018: we did a brief inspection. The Mother Hive's honey super was full of drawn comb, but all of the stored honey was gone, capped or otherwise. Getting down into the brood chamber, the Mother Hive had no sign of capped brood or larvae. There was a small population of bees in the brood chamber, and they appeared to be clustered around some stores of mostly honey and a tiny bit of pollen. The Persister Hive had not drawn any comb in the super at all. It had some capped brood and larvae, but less than before, and a somewhat larger population than the Mother Hive. Both had open queen cells. We were surprised at the impacts to the colonies, but were about to start a road trip for a few days, so we set out some sugar water to help support them. We didn't see queens in either hive that day, but wanted to do another inspection soon where we could take the time to really look for queens and at the condition of the brood chambers better. Both hives had some small hive beetles running around. Not too many, but more than previously with a number in the Mother Hive's empty comb in the honey super. We brushed off the bees and knocked the frame edges on the ground to get the beetles off, then put them back.

January 15, 2018: we did a follow up inspection. The Mother Hive had fewer small hive beetles, but some and still nothing stored in the super. The bee population in the brood chamber looked slightly larger, but it was hard to tell. The brood chamber didn't show any capped brood, but had some honey and pollen storage that the bees were feeding on and some possible larvae, but not much. We got some photos of a possible queen which we'll share with some local beekeeper friends to see if they agree that the Mother Hive may still have a queen. (Note: there was a swarm across the yard from the main apiary location during the summer, and I thought that the Mother Hive might've swarmed then. If so, it might not have raised a viable queen then, or one that has been only marginally viable.) The Persister Hive looked a bit stronger than on January 1st. No drawn comb in the super, and a few groups of small hive beetles in the brood chamber nooks and crannies, but not too many. The brood chamber had a larger population than the Mother Hive, and larger than on January 1st. There was capped brood, larvae, pollen, and honey stored in the brood chamber area with at least 5 frames showing capped brood. We spotted a dark, large queen, and got a couple of photos of her. The Persister Hive entrance has more activity than the Mother Hive at this point, and looks generally stronger and healthier. We raised each hive by one cinder block again and pulled the Persister Hive away from a tree a bit to try and have enough room to mow between it and the tree.

Overall, it looks like at least one of the colonies made it through the hurricane and the cold snaps we've had. If needed, we can get another colony in the Mother Hive this spring, so I'm optimistic!

Mother Hive, empty honey super


Mother Hive brood chamber frame 1


Mother Hive brood chamber frame 2



Possible Mother Hive Queen, head down


Possible Mother Hive Queen, head up and under workers


Persister Hive Queen pics



Persister Hive brood chamber frame 1


Persister Hive brood chamber frame 2 (bees brushed off)

The inspection went well. The foundationless frames are 3/4 to 4/5 drawn with combs, and we found the queen on new comb, catching a nice photo. No signs of disease, mites or other problems. There was a bit of cross-combing, but not much. A bit of comb on the edge of one frame was cut away.

The Bee Queen of Casa Raven

rubibees and I moved the 5 frames from the nuc to the main hive today and inspected the colony during the transfer. We got the smoker going, I suited up, and she got in a veil, long-sleeved clothes, and some leather gloves. This was our first time doing anything significant on our own, as we'd really just observed the bees before this!

I opened up the nuc and started getting frames out. The hive was quiet and calm for that, but got louder when we used a little smoke on it. I'll keep an eye on whether the smoke is really very useful, as if the bees are just more riled up, the benefits of using it to move them out of the way a bit might not be worth it. I can already move slowly and gently.

We each took a look at the frames during the transfer, but kept them mostly vertical as they are foundationless and some of the new comb wasn't too well attached yet. There was a bit of cross-combing to cut, and I cut a bit of the developing comb off of the edge of one frame to try and discourage that.

Moving the frames over


Checking a frame with some cross-combing


rubibees puts a frame in the new hive

The bees are calm and active. I was late to my usual Sunday morning Ultimate Frisbee game because I was watching the nuc. Scouting and foraging were going just fine, and I showed the nuc to a couple of friends that came over. rubibees got home that night and got to see the hive, too!

Hive - 10-frame deep with screened bottom board, gabled roof, 10-frame medium super, queen excluder, inner cover, and frames (10 deeps with black foundation and 10 mediums with yellow foundation.
Nuc (nucleus hive) - 5-frame deep with solid bottom board, top and frames.
Extra nuc body and top
Bee suit - extra large for greenwapiti
Large goatskin gloves for greenwapiti
Viel for rubibees
Smoker
Hive tool
J-tool style hive tool
frame holder
cement blocks for stands
poultry waterer with stones in tray