Two Swarms And One Removal---April 2, 2010

[JP]

Got a call from the place I rent bucket lifts, said they had a swarm on one of the buckets.

Removed bees from an apartment bldg. I caught a swarm from this hive this past week, the one on the brick wall. I caught three queens, two virgins one mated.

There were several hatched queen cells. Bees were extremely gentle and good workers. I will be looking to use this hive for splits/grafting in the future.

Saw something I have never run across in this hive. Three sealed queen cells when opened had workers inside. One was dead, two walked right out.

I spoke with Alan Bukley and he said this is not a rare occurrence. Queens will hatch out, then workers will enter, but are sealed inside the cell, accidentally.

This blew my mind as it doesn't seem like something bees would ordinarily do, but I saw it with my own eyes.

Last set of pics is of a swarm that I am calling "Charles Manson bees" as they are sooooo polite!

Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/112138792165178452970/April22010#


...JP (worn out!)

[beee farmer]

Gotta love those gentle swarms.  make it all worth while when compared to the tough ones.

[annette]

OH just love the photo of the queen in the cage trying to get out, she has her head out the cage and the other one with her legs wrapped around the cage.  Just wonderful photos. Also love the photo of the cutout with the white comb with honey. What a beautiful comb that is.

Thanks once again for sharing JP

Annette

[JP]

Glad you enjoyed the pics Annette. The bees have me so tired I can barely stay awake!


...JP

[Jahjude]

All that in one day's work JP,as a new beek i'd be real excited to have gotten all the experience.HIve in da brick wall area is amazing-beautiful white combs.Thanks again for sharing da pics JP
But hey,how do u know the difference between Virgin & mated Queens??
Seems like a really exeptional scenario :shock:

[G3farms]

Great jobn JP.

Was that boom lift one you had rented before and left a little lemon grass oil on??

Dandy cut out, and beautiful white capped comb ful of honey, I would have taken a bite right out of it for sure.

Nice swarms.

How many hives are you up to now?

G3

[JP]

All that in one day's work JP,as a new beek i'd be real excited to have gotten all the experience.HIve in da brick wall area is amazing-beautiful white combs.Thanks again for sharing da pics JP
But hey,how do u know the difference between Virgin & mated Queens??
Seems like a really exeptional scenario :shock:

Jahjude, I placed two queens in hairclip queen catchers and placed them atop the hive frames and the bees were not interested in covering them in the least. When I placed the third queen atop the frames the bees instantly covered her.

The mated queen also was larger and didn't move quite so much as the mated queen. Virgins are notorious for moving very erratically.

This was actually a pretty established colony. The white combs were the newest section of combs they had built and yes, the honey was very good attested by myself and about eight other people who lived close by.

G3, I am at 46 right now, and the thing about the lemongrass, I ain't saying!  :-D


...JP

[Jahjude]

SO this hive was quite old then since there were a few hatched queen cells,Just to eliminate any doubt here-This hive you took from the brick wall had 3 Queens??that what u saying 1mated and 2 virgins?? :-\
Cant imagine why something like that would happen but just wanna get full clarity here

[JP]

SO this hive was quite old then since there were a few hatched queen cells,Just to eliminate any doubt here-This hive you took from the brick wall had 3 Queens??that what u saying 1mated and 2 virgins?? :-\
Cant imagine why something like that would happen but just wanna get full clarity here

This colony IMO was there last season. They made it through winter and are strong and healthy. A good strong colony will throw off reproductive swarms every year.

When a colony is in swarm mode or prepping for it, they make many swarm cells. They have a parent swarm and sometimes after swarms. All swarms have at least one queen.

If you catch the colony at the right time, multiple hatched queens can be found in the colony.

The day before this one, I removed a colony I caught 4 queens, this one we speak of I caught 3.

Two yrs ago I caught 9 queens from one colony.


...JP

[Jahjude]

Oooh kool kool,Wow nothing beats da practical experience huh JP.Always read that in situations where there are multiple queen cells-the 1st queen that emerges would walk thru and sting the other queen cells...Guess that's another story by itself or some other scenario

[JP]

Oooh kool kool,Wow nothing beats da practical experience huh JP.Always read that in situations where there are multiple queen cells-the 1st queen that emerges would walk thru and sting the other queen cells...Guess that's another story by itself or some other scenario

Things in reality don't always happen exactly as the books say, when the books say it.


...JP

[Jahjude]

Yah nothing beats da practical experience JP,then again da person who wrote da 1st book on beekeeping must've done so from "practical experience"  8-)

[JP]

I've seen queen cells ripped out at the sides after virgins apparently killed others and I've listened to them pip, but have also observed many in the same colony together.

I think its all about timing. I'm sure at some point, a war ensues. The one where I caught nine, I had no choice but to cage four together. One apparently killed the other three inside the container.


...JP

[Jahjude]

Patiently awaiting the time for me to gain a few a those experiences JP