Approaching 6 weeks

6 weeks is the recommended time to stop feeding - that's Friday. However, they seem to be feeding faster than ever. Either there's nothing out there or they're taking the easy way out. Fed both on the 28th, then yesterday, the 30th, and this morning, the 31st. In every case except the outside hive this morning, they were bone dry. The outside had a little left. They won't get anything until next Wednesday or Thursday, so we'll see. They seem to have some cells with honey in them, so that's something to work with. I can't tell how much, though, because I can only see the edge of the comb. They continue to build a lot of comb even though they have plenty of room on the starter comb. Guess they can't help themselves. The available space is within a few bars of being full.

Day 34

I just fed both hives again! Hard to tell whether they are getting lazy or really need it. That's 4 days for the porch and 7 days for the yard. Both feeders were bone dry. (Where does that expression come from?) I waited til this morning for the yard because they were too active yesterday. The feeder area was empty so it was easy. I did the porch an hour ago and the area was full of bees. They didn't seem to mind. I removed a few dead bees - some of them still think this is an exit. I tossed the feeder out the window again with bees on it. Others just flew out. There was only one in the porch and I got it to crawl onto the brush and flicked it out the window. Colum Ceil (the fat old cat) was on the floor snoozing and wasn't bothered at all.

They continue to chain and build more wax. No luck yet seeing the queen or emerging new bees, but I'll keep looking. There are a lot more bees in both hives, so the numbers must be increasing. Even though they are using the feeders heavily, there is a lot of foraging.

Sugar usage calculates to 15 lbs so far.

Day 30

Ok, so I can't do arithmetic anymore. Day 22 was actually day 24. Fed the porch again yesterday (7th time) and yard on the 17th (6th time). Feeding is getting easy. I put on the protective gear but didn't need it. I took the screen out, took the empty feeder out, with a number of bees on it, shook them out the window and only had one left inside. It crawled on the glove and I moved her outside. Very easy.

Both hives are up to about 10 full bars of wax - much easier given that they started with the old bars. Lots of brood and honey cells. I can just see some from the edge. The queen must be on the window side sometime, so I hope to see her some day.

June 2 is the 6 week mark where they should not need any more feeding.

Day 22

Ok, so the titles aren't very imaginative, but they are easy. 6 weeks is a milestone, which is 42 days. If the hive is growing and prosperous, we're good for the summer. Right now, it's pretty clear that both hives are in good shape with active queens.

In this pic, you can see the new comb - it starts out stark white, probably from the sugar. The porch hive is now building across 11 bars! 8 are nearly complete and the bees are very active filling in the missing bars. I had spaced out the old comb and the bees seem to want to fill in the gaps. They are doing their thing spanning the gaps with a bee chain.

I've been able to see a few brood cells toward the front, where they are expected to be. No luck seeing the queen are taking better pictures as yet; the one above is the only decent one so far. I have tried shining a flashlight up through the bottom screen. It has some interesting effects. I like this shot on an artistic basis, but it doesn't you much about the hive.

I fed the porch hive on the 5th, 9th, and 14th, so that's 6 times so far. The yard hive was fed on the 5th and 11th, 5 times.



Here's a great video on you tube; just takes a few minutes:  The beauty of pollination

Day 10

I replaced both feeders yesterday - 3rd time in 10 days and both were bone dry. Every sign I can see suggests they are doing well. There is a lot of activity, whatever they are doing, and clearly they are eating a lot. They are continuing to forage; I see some with full loads of pollen on their legs. There should be a lot of activity starting Friday when the weather warms up and dries out.

The bees are starting with a number of bars of wax from the old hive, which is a major leg up. I think I read that the effort to make a pound of wax is the same as that for 8 pounds of honey.  They have been cleaning and repairing the old wax and there are no dead bees on the bottom screen any more.

When I opened the feeder area on the porch, a few bees came out. I removed the screen and most went out and into the hive. Later, I saw that one managed to get into the kitchen. She was attracted to the overhead fluorescent light, just as I had read - they must be part moth. This morning, she was there again and I decided to remove her. The ceiling is 9 1/2 ft, so I put a dab of honey on the end of a pole and touched her with it. Her butt stuck to the honey. I carried her out to the porch and she had already sorted herself out and was eating the honey. I removed the screen (the weather is cold and damp so no one else was out) and put her on the window sill with the honey. Problem solved.

On a separate note, I was thinking about small hive beetles. I've read that their life cycle requires returning to the ground for a period. If you can interrupt that, it should either get rid of them or reduce the numbers. Since the porch hive is 12 ft off the ground, seems like that should do the trick. It makes me wonder whether hives on the roof of a building, like Weaver's Way in Chestnut Hill, have a SHB problem. Have to follow up on that. 

I've tried to take some photos, but it doesn't work very well through the windows. There's something on the inside that's cloudy. The window picks up reflections so using a flash doesn't help.