August Notes


8/9 what’s difference a week makes! The queen castle is robbed out and the observation hive is well provisioned!

8/11 made a nuc from the orange hive to mate queen from Q7. To Mel’s to pick up queen — she’s dead.

Dead Queen from Q7 (Cleo)

Dead Queen from Q7 (Cleo)

 

8/13
Observation hive – Small hive beetle! Argh! Probable wax moth larva recorded tunneling in the wax.

 

Larvae in wax (white below 2nd cell from the left on the top) and bee corralling SHB 3rd cell from the left on the bottom

Larvae in wax (white below 2nd cell from the left on the top) and bee corralling SHB 3rd cell from the left on the bottom

8/15
The farm – top box has mostly nectar. The center two frames are about 15% capped. Found young brood and eggs in the next box down. Ended the inspection there.

8/23
Fed pink and green colonies and orange nuc. All are looking good. Queen cells are being torn down in the nuc but I didn’t see the queen. I’ll give them two weeks and see how it’s going. Lots of bees and capped brood.

8/25
Remove feeders and treated pink and green hives with 1/2 tx of MAQS. Treated orange, muddy pink and yellow green with full tx of MAQS.

Treated the farm hive with a full MAQS tx too but I actually believe the colony has either swarmed or they absconded. Very few bees visible. As I was treating I was unable to inspect first. We’ll see on the weekend how things are.

 

The queen in the observation hive and her retinue

The queen in the observation hive and her retinue