Today’s episode is about an inspection of Honey Bee Hive-A I conducted on April 28, 2012. Previous episodes noted below show how well the honey bees came out of the winter here in northern Virginia. I installed this first hive last year. One thing I learned as spring approached was
that honey bees have a harder time surviving spring than they do winter. My concerns have been about the health of the hive, the health of the queen and enjoying a possible honey harvest this year. Thus I conducted this inspection to address all three concerns.
Raising honey bees has been a wonderful experience and my knowledge of this animal has increased dramatically. We have found a renewed respect for nature and benefit from having tens of thousands of these wonderful animals pollinating our many gardens. As you will see from the video the bees are doing well in this hive and there is a healthy queen laying eggs. The question that remains is whether or not the queen in the hive is the same as the one installed last year. The question arises because of an opened queen cell at the bottom of the cage. This is typically to produce a queen so the original queen can leave the hive with a swarm of bees to propagate the colony. The number of bees leads me doubt a swarm has occurred and that checker boarding the hive done in March proved useful towards that end.
Talking with a honey bee scientist at work leads me to believe that original queen may have been superseded. If the original queen is gone but the bees are calm then all is well. As such I’ll continue to let them bee as bees and observe and interact as necessary. Enjoy the video and let me know what you think.
How to manage honey bees by my favorite advisers
- Rusty and HoneyBeeSuite.com
- Michael Bush and BushFarms.com – The Practical Beekeeper
ToDoListHome.com Honey Bee Episodes
- Episode-88- The Honey Bees In My Back Yard Just Got New Neighbors
- Video of last year’s first honey bee package installation
- Episode-44- Beekeeping For Dummies Book Review
- Episode-52- Keep Honey Bees Healthy In Winter
- Episode-59- Checkerboard Honey Bee Hive For Swarm Prevention and Growth
- Episode-66- Spring Into Action With Honeybees, Gardening And Cherry Blossoms
- Episode-73- To Bee Or Not Two Bees
- Episode-80- Honey Bee Honey Bee What Is Up With Thee
- Walt Wright and Checkerboarding
- Awesome Bee Forum Beesource.com
- Walter T. Kelley Company – Honey Bees and Supplies
- Brushy Mountain Bee Farm – My hive supplier
- The Backyard Beekeeper – FREE reading
Song of the Day – Billie Piper – Honey To The Bee
