I have been making splits over the weekend of honeybees and have noticed
some of the colonies are full of bees and SHB. There was no brood or eggs,
no visible queen but signs of hatched queen cells. Everyone of the colonies
that was like this (full of bees but no brood,eggs, or visible queen) had
hundreds of SHB. One actually had larvae started in the honey frames. Yes a
gooie mess was starting to form. I first thought the bees were robbing but
then relized they were working bringing in pollen and nectar. Hmmmmmmmmmm i
thought ?! These 3 colonies are sure to fail. It actually has me a little
baffled. I later thought maybe i missed the queen, maybe she is virgin and
going on her mating flights. We have had some recent rains and maybe this
has delayed her flying. Then i got thinking, these three hives are on a
piece of property by themselves, no others i have looked at are like these
(full of bees but no brood,eggs, or visible queen).
I then moved to another small yard 3 miles away, BOY OH BOY, did i have some
beauties ! Little ones, BIG ones, medium size ones, SHB of all sizes just
right for SELLING !!! These colonies were filled, I MEAN FILLLLLED with SHB,
BUT the colonies appeared to be fine. Abundance of honey, eggs, brood, and
bees. Go figure ???
I am not incline to treat the internal hive but i did spray the ground
around the colonies to kill the SHB larvae. I checked all my other yards and
i have some SHB but not really many. I haven't treated for SHB or mites in
over two years, trying to raise SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST bees. No Flames
please ! I just think the bees can take care of themselves given enough
time, just my two cents.
Soooooooooo anyone like to make an offer on my Bumper Crop of SHB ?!

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