The Honey Factory

[R2elk]

Actually it was an all night parade of Fox, cats Coons and opossum. I will also mention that across the "crick" 75 yrds away my in-laws have 2 photos on their trail cam of a Cougar. This is true as another neighbor a half mile down the road has a pick full face on of it. I am not concerned as the "experts" say there are NO Cougars in New Jersey. These animals better start reading the books and listening to the (EXPERTS?)

The big kitties were reported in PA a long time ago. Not that far to NJ.

I have seen the big kitty tracks in the two track in the right of way beside my house.

 

[jerryse]

Had a hive swarm. Moved into a dead out. Might be 2 swarms as another dead out had a lot of activity. I will check when it is not raining.

 

[Apis mellifera]

The queen was available sooner than expected so in between rain and sleet storms I was able to take out the TempQueen and put her under a push in cage today. The TempQueen did its job, no laying workers. The cage is 4"x6" so it will fit on both deep and medium frames and can cover emerging brood, nectar, and a few empty cells to lay in. Ill check on her Friday and will probably pull the cage.

 

[Sally PB]

Anyone recognize this? It's the seedling of a basswood tree. I used to pull these, but now I'll pot them up and see if they grow. They might flower for the bees by the time I'm... 75.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

The queen was available sooner than expected so in between rain and sleet storms I was able to take out the TempQueen and put her under a push in cage today. The TempQueen did its job, no laying workers. The cage is 4"x6" so it will fit on both deep and medium frames and can cover emerging brood, nectar, and a few empty cells to lay in. Ill check on her Friday and will probably pull the cage.
View attachment 3817266

Does a queen not need any assistance bees?
When i receive packaged bees, the queen is locked away in the queen-cage, together with a couple of bees from (i assume) her original hive to care for her.

 

[Apis mellifera]

Does a queen not need any assistance bees?
When i receive packaged bees, the queen is locked away in the queen-cage, together with a couple of bees from (i assume) her original hive to care for her.

The queen came in a typical 3 hole queen cage with attendants. Queens need attendants for shipping or holding for an extended period of time. For introduction into a colony removing the attendants increases the chances for acceptance. Taking her out of shipping cage and putting the queen over emerging brood works every time. As the new bees emerge, they immediately accept her triggering acceptance from the rest of the bees. Some of the cells in the photo do have nectar in them if the queen did want to feed. Workers will feed a queen though the screen once they accept her. I'll probably remove the push in cage tomorrow.

Package bees aren't an established hive so it doesnt matter if the attendants are removed or not.

 

[R2elk]

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

View attachment 3819144View attachment 3819145

OMG!
So that's the reason why all fish have vanished from my pond!
I was suspecting the dux…

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Warmer weather has taken its time to arrive. Unwrapped hives and completed full inspections last week then reversed boxes. Was pleasantly surprised to see capped drone brood meaning I could start queen rearing. That has to get pushed back a week because I had unsold package bees that need to be turned into nucs to sell later. The queens were/are slow to start laying and they need a boost of brood to get rolling fast. With any luck I can take that frame of brood back by June 1st. Thinking the slow queen starts of those packages was due to the cooler weather than normal. An hour South of here the queens started laying within a week of installing the same packages.

Red maple is still in bloom, Sugar Maple is starting, the various willows are blooming or starting and in the warmer spots in my area a few Dandelions are already emerging. They won't be in full bloom where my yards are for another two weeks more.

Setting up a cell builder for grafting and performing a fly back split next week. The game is on!

 

[5Australorpasaures]

Temp here is a mid 50s, cloudy and light mist. I picked up a NUC 8:30 this morning and wasted no time getting them installed. They were not a happy bunch which I expected after two days of cloudy, cold and damp being closed in the box. All went smooth and didn't get whacked. Put on a gallon of 1:1 with foundation and will givem' 10-12 days before I peek in on them and checker board the frames.