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Mon, 30 Mar 1998 11:29:57 -0600 |
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I live in southwest Missouri. Last November I acquired 3 colonies of bees
from Pennsylvania. Each hive consists of two hive bodies and all three
colonies were made from last years' swarms. Colony #1 was made from an
early swarm and colonies #2 and #3 came from swarms later in the year. I
was told that each had plenty of stores. When we unloaded them from the
truck the weight differences were obvious. Colony #1 was much heavier and
I was told it had a large bee population, and had produced three medium
supers of honey last season. Colonies 2 and 3 were noticeably lighter.
I did not open the colonies (except to peer down through the inner cover
hole to check for stores) until late February when I installed Apistan
strips and Terramycin patties in each colony. Here is what I noted at the
time:
Colony #1 was very full of bees with large amounts in both hive bodies. I
did not remove any frames but by observation and the weight of the top hive
body I judged it had plenty of stores. I installed two Apistan strips in
the lower hive body and a patty on top of the frames.
Colony #2 had only a small cluster of bees mostly on the center three
frames of the lower hive body. I did not remove any frames. There were
plenty of stores. I installed two Apistan strips in the cluster and a
patty over the frames.
Colony #3 had a small cluster in each hive body. Again I did not remove
any frames and there were plenty of stores. Not knowing which cluster
might contain brood, I installed an Apistan strip in the middle of each
cluster and a patty over the frames in the lower hive body.
March 22 was a warm day so I decided to open the colonies for inspection.
This is what I found:
I examined the weakest hive (#2) first. The bees were still clustered in
the lower hive body on the center three frames. The bees were flying and
bringing in pollen. I looked at each frame but saw very little capped
brood, maybe 10% of one frame. I saw no eggs or larvae. I did find the
queen and I watched her for a short period and she appeared to wander
aimlessly. Practically none of the patty had been removed. I cleaned off
some of the burr comb, cleaned the bottom board, moved a couple of frames
of honey in next to the cluster, and reassembled the colony.
Next I examined colony #3. It still had a small cluster in each hive
body, each cluster about the size of the single cluster in colony #2. I
inspected each frame and found some green mold on one outside frame in the
lower hive body. There was a small amount of capped brood on one frame in
the lower cluster. I cleaned off some of the burr comb (there was a lot)
and also cleaned off the bottom board. I then looked at the cluster in the
upper hive body. There was more brood there but still on only one frame.
I never did see the queen. I didn't open colony #1 because the weather
turned cool. for the past couple weeks I have been feeding 1:1 syrup with
fumidil by inverting a jar over the innercover.
I re-read all the reference material I have and tentatively decided on the
following course of action:
1. Order a new queen. (This I have done and a new buckfast queen should be
here on April 24.)
2. Rearrange the two clusters of bees in colony #3 so that all bees are in
the lower hive body.
3. Unite colonies #2 and #3.
4. When the new queen arrives, place her above the united colony over a
double screen board with several frames of capped brood and nurse bees from
colony #1 ( the strong colony).
This past Saturday (March 28) was another warm day so I inspected colonies
#2 and #3 again. Colony #2 looked the same as the previous week with a
small amount of larvae and capped brood on only 1 frame. In colony #3
there was noticeably more larvae on the three frames that make up the upper
cluster. I moved those frames to the lower hive body with the rest of the
bees and made sure that adjacent frames were full of honey. I refilled the
syrup jars.
My goal is to end up with two strong colonies instead of 1 strong and two
weak, and also to (hopefully) reduce the likelihood of swarming in colony
#1. But after this latest inspection I wonder if my plan is the correct
one. Since there was noticeably more larvae in colony #3 maybe that queen
is okay.
Should I:
a. Continue with the plan I outlined above?
- or -
b. Unite colonies #2 and #3, killing the queen in colony #2 (the weakest
colony) and add several frames of brood from colony #1. When the new queen
arrives introduce her in colony #1 ? (since this colony came from an early
swarm last year, this queen could date from 1996, couldn't it ?)
- or -
c. Some other approach that I haven't thought of?
TIA
Rod Rupert
[log in to unmask]
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