Bee Yard Visit on May 27

This time, Mark was able to join me at the bee yard for some beekeeping.  And, I was pretty happy about that because it is hard work to do alone in this Texas heat!  (Click on photos to enlarge).

This little critter is a helmeted squash bug, aka stink bug.
He was happy to ride along on my veil for awhile.

When I visited hive 02 last, I introduced a new Weaver queen to the colony.  We were happy to find her out of her cage and taking charge of her new hive.  

Hive 02 bees and brood.

Hive 02 honey.

Queens are marked in order for beekeepers to quickly find them inside the hive.  And, its handy to know how old each queen is, so they are marked with different colors to easily note their age. This is a great video from Michael Palmer, on the Piedmont Beekeepers Association website, showing how queens are marked and caged:  How Queens are Marked with Colored Dots.

New Weaver queen in hive 02.
You can find her easily with her red dot.

Our new mated queen (virgin queen that mated and returned) in hive 03 seems to be doing well.  She has produced a lot of brood.  We didn't linger too long inspecting this colony.  It was very hot and the bees were quickly becoming agitated. 

Hive 03 capped brood.

During our visit, we planned to add a new Weaver queen to hive 05.  When we opened the hive, we surprisingly stumbled upon a new queen already in the colony.  Mark and I inspected for new eggs and didn't find any, so we assumed this new queen was a virgin queen.  As planned, we moved forward with introducing the Weaver queen, and to do so meant we had to dispatch this virgin queen.  It was sad and hard to do (it almost seems counter-intuitive), but it must be done, as there can only be one queen for each colony.  We are expecting good things in hive 05! 

Preparing to add a new Weaver queen to hive 05.
Does this bee suit make me look fat?

Hive 05 bees.

Hive 05 honey.

New Weaver queen introduced to hive 05.

Hive 06 has a new Weaver queen that was introduced during the last visit, but we didn't see eggs yet. We added one frame of brood and nurse bees from hive 07, hoping this will help a little.

Empty queen cage in hive 06.

New Weaver queen in hive 06.
She had a red dot, but it has rubbed off.  Just a tiny bit of red
can still be seen on her thorax.

Hive 08 has a super, but no honey in it just yet.  We pulled this frame from the top deep hive box and it has honey.  This colony has a mated queen and the population is very high, so we are hoping for honey in the super soon.

Hive 08 honey.

We'll be checking in on the bees again in another couple of weeks to see how they're doing!