Update on the bee hives

I've been very happy that I started with 2 hives as everyone suggested. Being a new beekeeper, there is really no other way to understand what a strong hive and a weak hive look like.

I have one of each. And the difference between them is huge.

The hive that I call the West Hive (because it was on the west stand) is doing really well. Okay, that might be an understatement. It's going crazy. Meanwhile the East Hive is hardly doing anything. And Until recently, I learned all of that just by watching the entrances and checking the bottom box by holding a mirror under.

When I started noticing the East Hive falling so far behind, my friend Pam Kelley suggested I switch the positions of the hives. That will sometimes help even out the populations by tricking the stronger hive's bees into calling the weaker hive their home.

Jeremy helped me make the switch one sunny day a few weeks ago. And it did help the population of the original East Hive. But eventually it dwindled again.

So, after reading and talking with my bee friend more, I was certain there was no queen or even, perhaps, a laying worker bee (which is a real problem). So I called Wolf Creek Bees to order a new queen.

But John at Wolf Creek convinced me that something else might be happening. I needed to investigate a little more closely before I introduced a new queen. That was not a pleasant prospect for me. But I did it - with help from my wonderful and brave husband/co-farmer Brent. We opened up the hive and pulled out the combs.

Here I am looking really closely at the cells.

It was fascinating. John explained what I should look for to determine whether there was a laying worker - the eggs would be on the sides of the cells and there may be more than one egg in the cells. So, as you can see, I looked really closely. And, strangely, there were no eggs to be found.

John also mentioned that they might be growing a new queen. I'm still puzzled about that. How could they if the queen wasn't laying? But, guess what, that's exactly what they are doing!

Comb with queen cells - those peanut shaped things sticking out.

We found queen cells on a comb near the center of the box. And one of the cells was capped (closed up). That was all I needed to see. So we carefully put things back together. Then I quickly went inside to start reading. And I learned that a queen would hatch about a week after the cell was capped and then go on a mating flight a week later. So, maybe, this little hive will pull through.

It's already been 2 weeks since we opened that hive. I'm watching carefully for signs that the workers are bringing in pollen for brood. But I'm not seeing anything yet. 

The West Hive is obviously thriving. When I took off the feeders near the end of May, I could see with my mirror that comb was already built in the bottom box. So Brent quickly constructed new boxes with windows for me and we added one to the bottom. That was box 3. A week later we could see comb in the new box with the window. It's amazing. Since then, we added another box making that hive 4 boxes tall!

It's growing crazy-fast. The bees coming and going get so crowded at the entrance that they knock each other off the landing board. The number of bees living in there must be incredible. If you listen carefully near the screened bottom, you can actually hear the whoosh of air moving in the hive. It's a very healthy and happy sound.

We might get to harvest a little honey from that hive this year :-)