Shell Games in the Bee Yard

Outside of Caldwell, Texas - The arrangement in the bee yard upon our arrival yesterday.

When Mark and I last visited the bee yard for our hive inspections a little over one week ago, we still found ongoing issues in many hives.  The varroa mites had allowed for the entry of small hive beetle larvae and wax moth larvae and they were taking their toll on our bees.  Yesterday, we continued our efforts to keep our hives going.  (Click on photos to enlarge).

Sometimes, Mark and I make really stupid mistakes in beekeeping.  REALLY stupid.  This time, we made two mistakes.   

We started our inspection of hive 02 (remember our hive 01 was down and out and those deep hives were empty).  When we opened hive 02 we were expecting that our new queen would have escaped her cage and to be laying eggs right away.  However, when we lifted the lid, we found her still in her cage.  The bees had not completely eaten through the fondant to allow her to exit the hole.  So, in order to get her out of her cage, we felt confident that we could pull the screen off the top and let her fall into the hive box and get busy. 

Hive 02 queen still in cage since our last inspection.

Me, prying the screen to remove the queen from her cage.

As I cut the screen from the top of the cage, I held the cage down into the top deep hive box so she would fall down easily into the hive.  I was sure that she made it out of the cage and into the hive, even though I didn’t actually see her move down.  Mark didn’t see her move down either and it made him very nervous.  Still, I felt okay that I did a good job. 

Here’s the first mistake...after releasing the new queen, we then decided to check the frames to see how they were coming along.  We should have done this BEFORE, before releasing the queen. 

When we looked at the frames, we noticed small hive beetle larvae and wax moth larvae in many frames of honey and we knew then that we were going to have to remove some frames in order to control the pests.  The infestation was so bad that we had to remove one of the deep hive boxes altogether.  We then noticed the very bad condition of the bottom landing board.  Mark and I decided that to swap the frames and move them into an empty box in hive 01, because the hive 01 box was empty and clean. 

Here's the second mistake...I should have been much more careful when opening the cage.  We started looking for our new queen to be sure she came along with the frames into hive 01.  Mark and I couldn’t find her.  We must have searched at least five times through all the frames.  Finally, I began to get desperate and started looking directly on the ground.  My heart sank.  How stupid!  Looking back, I wonder if she ever made it into the deep hive box when I pried open the screen on the queen cage. Sure enough, there she was right between my feet and half dead.   
 

Moving hive from 02 position to 01 position.

Big mistake on my part and our queen died from it.

New hive 01 and a new replacement queen for the old replacement queen.

Our situation was bad, but we still had to move forward with our plan.  If you recall during our visit last week, we had ordered an extra queen to have on hand, just in case we needed her.  We weren't sure we would need her, but wanted to have an extra queen because you never know what to expect.  Mark and I were so lucky that we had kept our “just in case” queen alive at home in Houston last week.  We brought her along with us for this inspection and we were able to place her and the frames from hive 02 right into our hive 01 without further incident. 

Hive 01 (moved frames from hive 02) with another new queen to replace the one that died on the ground.

The bees took to her immediately.  Like I said…we were so lucky.  Still, the hive has an uphill battle, as they are in a new space with less honey and comb. 

We removed the top deep hive from hive 03.

We moved down to inspect hive 03.  Basically, hive 03 received the same treatment as hive 02.  In hive 03, we found that the new queen we put in place at our last visit was still in her cage, just like the hive 02 queen.  This time, we inspected the hive the right way – learning from our very recent near disaster.  We inspected the hive and removed pest infested frames of honey and brought the hive down from two deep hive boxes to one deep hive box. 

Boxes nearly situated for hives 01 and 03.  Hive 02 no longer exists.

Then, we released our queen from her cage and Mark and I both carefully watched her descend down into the box and closed the lid.

 

Releasing queen into hive 03.  She was still in her cage since
installation over one week ago.

Hive 04 is as strong as ever.  There were many bees and brood.  One part of beekeeping that makes Mark and I very nervous is checking the bottom deep hive, when the top deep hive looks good to us.  This is because we are nervous that we could harm the queen when we move the boxes apart and then back together.  Because we felt so good about the top deep hive, we did not check the bottom.  After we left the bee yard yesterday, we both questioned this.  We probably should have checked the bottom deep hive box because each of the other hives had most of their issues with infestation in the lower of the two chambers.  So, this will be a big question for us during our next visit.



Hive 04 with a lot of bees.

Hive 04 frame.

Hive 05 was in great shape.  It had nice population and we saw our queen (even though we didn’t catch her in a photos).

Hive 05 in great shape.

Hive 05 frame.

Hive 06 (at the moment does not have a house number on it) is doing well. 

Hive 06 without a house number, but doing well.

We noticed good brood patterns and many stages of larvae in hive 06.

Hive 06 brood and larvae.

Hive 08 has our Kelley Bee queen from Kentucky.  She is an Italian queen and has been a go-getter since day one. 

Hive 08 is strong and feisty.

Below is a great photo of the larvae in hive 08.  It shows many eggs in cells and in some cells it shows one-day old larvae (super tiny).  I have never seen larvae this tiny before.

Hive 08 eggs and one day old larvae.  Look closely!

This photo of hive 08 shows larvae of all ages.

Hive 08 great larvae.

You may remember from our recent blogs that hive 07 is now empty and the boxes were removed.  When we lose a hive and the hive's boxes the parts are salvageable, but in need of a good cleaning, we bring them back to Houston for “special” treatment.  If these salvageable frames have any honey in them, we hang them outside along the Buffalo Bayou near our home.  This area has great native plants and blooms and many varieties of bees that gobble up the honey in just a couple of days, leaving the frames full of empty comb which can be reused by our hives.

Buffalo Bayou, Houston, Texas - Mark and I hang frames of honey
along the bayou for bees to clean.

Not only is this honey not wasted, but Mark and I get to keep these frames of empty comb to use for next season.  Once the honey is removed, Mark and I put the frames and the boxes in our freezer for 24 hours to kill any unseen pests (eggs, larvae, etc.) that may be lurking.  Afterward, we place the frames and boxes into climate controlled storage. 

When the frames are not salvageable (in cases when the small hive beetle larvae and wax moth larvae have destroyed the honey and the comb), we place the frames along the edge of the tree line behind the hives.  This causes the pest to die (the sun kills them nearly immediately) and allows for our bees come collect the honey from the damaged frames to bring back for their stores. 

Small hive beetle larvae and wax moth larvae have infested these frames.
The honey is still salvageable and the bees will retrieve it.

Damaged frames are placed behind the hives for the bees
to clean and bring the honey back to the hives. 

Another new arrangement after completing the inspection.

At the end of our inspection, we had a very unusual arrangement in the bee yard: 

• Hive 01 has one deep hive with bees and a new queen with a white dot released on 9-24.
• Hive 02 is empty.  We have stacked our empty deep hives on the foundation.
• Hive 03 has one deep hive with bees and a new queen with a white dot released on 9-24.
• Hive 04 has two deep hives with bees. This is our Buckfast queen with the blue dot.
• Hive 05 has two deep hives with bees and one super with honey.  This queen has been in place for a while and she is not marked.
• Hive 06 has one deep hive with bees and one super with honey.  This queen has also been in place for some time and she is not marked.
• Hive 07 is no longer there and the foundation is empty.  
• Hive 08 has two deep hives and one honey super, with barely any honey in the super.  This is our Italian queen from Kelley Bees.  She is marked with a white dot.

New arrangement in the bee yard.

Mark and I had been wondering for a while how Doug and Linda’s wild bees had been doing this season, so we took time to check in on them.  They are still doing so well.  It is as if they never have an issue, probably because humans do not interact with them at all!

Doug and Linda's wild bees in the dry well.
Our bee yard is past the tree line in the background of the photo.

I have read that wild bees in our area are referred to as black bees.  These bees are so gentle.  They always let us near them as if we weren’t even there.   

Wild bees inside the well.

It is so great to see bees in nature and doing so well for such a long time.

Wild bees on their comb inside the well.