Hi Blair.  you have some good questions there and they show that you are
getting into the brood nest and observing.  That's really important in
developing an understanding of what is going on in the hive.  I'll respond
to your questions in turn.
 
>Two months when I was suffering from queenlessness in my only hive, I
>requeened, and now have some observations and questions.
>
>A good consistent brood pattern, indicating the queen is laying suggest the
>hive is heathly.
>
>More drone cells than I had previously observed-- perhaps several dozen
>together near the bottom of each of the half dozen frames I examined
>yesterday.  Is this normal, or is a problem?
 
Yes, this is normal.  Usually this time of year drone production drops off
in our area (mid-atlantic), but a newly introduced queen will produce drones
a little longer than an older queen.  It would be a problem if you started
seeing drone brood in the middle or mixed in with the worker brood
(indicating that the queen may becoming a drone layer).
 
>
>I have two deep brood boxes, and one new shallow super.  The bees have not
>drawn out any foundation in the super.  I removed the queen excluder in
>early June.
 
You might as well go ahead and take off the super.  The honey flow is
finished in our area.  It ended in mid June.  We don't get enough of a fall
flow here to draw comb.  By taking your foundation off now you will prevent
the bees from chewing up your foundation wax.  They will move the wax
around, making quite a mess of the nice new foundation or worse yet with
Duragilt they chew the wax off the plastic rendering the foundation useless.
 
 
>When I work the bees, they  are a little more "hyper" than before.  I
>attribute this to the new queen's genetic contribution.  Am I right?   My
>original queen was a carolian from Weavers, I now have an Italian from
>Hardemans.
 
Good observation.  What you are seeing is not necessarily a stock change
expression but a change in behavior at the end of a honey flow.  When the
honey flow has ended the bees become more defensive.  Italians can be a
little "hotter" than carniolans, but I think you are seeing the typical
sefensiveness at the end of a honey flow.
 
 
>In June, the top brood box was heavy with honey.  It is lighter now.   Do I
>need to feed the bees this fall and winter?
 
In our area you need approximately 60 lbs of honey to winter a colony.  More
of course is better.  To estimate this - a deep comb will hold approximately
8 to 9 lbs of honey.  Just as important as honey is a good population of
healthy mite free bees to go into the winter.  Use the vegetable oil patties
to control the tracheal mites and Apistan for the Varroa mites.  I recommend
that people monitor (ether roll method) for varroa and treat when mites show
up in the test.
 
A late Summer feeding in an area where the fall flow is uncertain will
stimulate the queen and give you a better population of healthy bees to going
into winter.
 
>I live in a heavily treed suburban section of Arlington, VA, with lots of
>tulip poplar trees and normal suburban vegetation.  I noticed this May/June
>that the Tulip Poplar flowering was less prolific than in prior years.  What
>causes this?
 
Seasonal variation is my best guess.  This year in your area the Black
Locust trees did very well.  The bees will fly right past a Tulip Poplar to
go to a Black Locust.  After smelling the Balck Locust can you blame them?
 
>How do I convince my bees to get on with it and starting building out some
>foundation in the top super?
 
Build them up - get them through the winter - and give them the foundation
next year.
 
Remember - Next years crop starts this Fall.
 
good luck
 
Gordy
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
Gordon Allen-Wardell
Extension Apiculturist
Department Of Entomology
Univeristy of Maryland
College Park, MD  20742-5575
301 405-3953
email -  [log in to unmask]