First year....
Yesterday I went into Hive#1 started May 28th. Today they are not scrubbing. I found a BUNCH of queen cells, most of them looked oldish, they weren't there last month when we checked the hive. I did see larva in all stages (not much) but couldn't see eggs, probably cause I am blind. Not alot of brood but it is getting colder here (at night). There was a few drone cells, and I checked for mites, there were some, not many.
I know happy bees scrub, I watched them for a while today and no scrubbing. I am hoping its cause we were into the hive yesterday and not cause there wasn't a queen. I can still put my face right to the entrance and the worst I get is a few warning flybys. They are bringing in goldenrod still... I have great gentle bees :D . The yellow jackets are nasty right now so today I put a trap out for them :evil:
My husband and I tend to feel that they know what they are doing so leave em alone, but if they need a queen and there are no eggs that could be a problem. We did get rid of most of the queen cells but left a couple new looking ones. The queen was a SMaRt queen from Draper, don't want to lose that line.
I love my mentor but I have gotten so many differing opinions at the SWOBA meetings. I want my bees to be as organic as possible, however, I know I must treat for the mites, and prepare for winter.
The top deep is almost full of honey there are a couple of frames they didn't draw out all the way but I bet it weighs 80-100 lbs, my big muscular husband had a hard time lifting it (its polystyrene too!). There is also honey on quite a few frames in the bottom deep. I have fed them all summer 1:1 and now 2:1 with wintergreen. There is an empty super I put on top in August when they got crowded, I figured to let them draw out the wax and they did somewhat and they are full of nectar.
I am still not sure they didn't swarm and thats why the old queen cells. We last went completely through the hive on August 21st, there were no queen cells and a bit more bees.
I read this forum everyday and learned everything I know here and from bee school last March. Beekeepers are interesting and smart people, and everyone has a different opinion, sounds like my family.
Okay, so, any opinions, advice etc? Oh, and ants, they have driven me crazy all summer, any suggestions?
I will tell you what I find when I go through Hive #2 started June 27th from a large Nuc.