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[Sunshine]

I inspected the hive just now. One single capped queen cell on frame 2 and 4. On frame 13.5(don't ask about the weird numbering) there were approximately 4-6 queen cells, one of which looked bigger and better than the rest. Other than that there were maybe 1 or 2 other frames that had half-assed built cups which looked neglected.

What's odd is that I remember there being a lot more queen cups spread across more frames. Previously on the last inspection frames 6 9 10 12 13 13.5 14 all had queen cups/cells on them. I'm wondering if the bees destroyed some of them because they didn't have eggs in them.

On another note; the split seems to have taken in it's new hive. I shifted the split queen from her nuc to a lang deep setup after a couple of days because they were building the comb on the lang converted top bars to the floor of the nuc. Comb built to the floor = frames which can't be taken out. No bueno.

Now that they're in the Langstroth hive it doesn't matter if the comb is built to the floor because it's in the brood box which I don't plan on taking honey from. Though I don't like the idea of not being able to inspect frames, so I will probably take it out after they build out the new hive's frames more and the eggs from the frame hatch.

I had to refit the top bar converted lang frames AGAIN to fit into the Lang deep. Cutting frames WITH bees on them is no easy task. So I tried to knock the bees off the frames by banging it down. The frame that was filled with honey fell off. DOH! Long story short everyone got a good taste of fresh honey and the bees got to clean up the mess.

P.S. I got stung on the thumb trying to harvest more propolis. It was my fault though...they're not queen right(aka not right in the head) and I accidentally crushed a few of them. -_-

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[EIRN]

Hy Sunshine,

Do you know anything about native bees?

Here in South America we have stingless bees, Meliponini. They are safer to handle...

[Sunshine]

There is a big hive in the attic of my grandmothers house which has been living there for years. Their coloring is different and I'm pretty sure they are more defensive, though I'm not sure by how much. They are also more cold tolerant since they have been breeding locally for years. I'm not sure about honey production. I bet their varoa mite resistance is high too. My top bar hive queen will be mating with a local feral bee soon so I'll have hybrid genetics. I'll be able to comment more on their characteristics by the end of the year. The native bees are not sting-less here unfortunately.

I wasn't aware that there were any other honey producing bees in SA other than the Africanized honey bee. From what I've heard they are rampant and overtake local genetics quickly.

[Sunshine]

I think one of the queen cells in my top bar hatched last Sunday. She should have mated by now hopefully. I haven't done my weekly inspection yet but I should have a update by the end of the weekend. I doubt I'll see eggs. I'm hoping there will be a full frame of honey in there I can harvest. The split hive is growing VERY slowly. I reduced their entrance and fed them some sugar water blended with EOs. Hopefully they take off soon. They don't have a ton of time to build before winter.

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[LoveAndTrust]

Wow, this is VERY cool! Lots of interesting info. Def. also going on my hobby bucket list! *Following...

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[Sunshine]

No eggs yet. Not enough honey to harvest either.

On another note, the neighbor walks up while I'm doing the inspection in full gear(net and arm length gloves) and stands literally RIGHT NEXT TO the hive and starts chatting me up. I told him he should back up a few feet because they weren't happy today. He starts telling me "oh they never bother me" and "I'm allergic to them, so I carry an epipen"...at this point I tell him "Dude if that's the case you REALLY should back up." I don't know what this guy is thinking. Here I am fully geared up and I'm not even allergic to them and this guy is standing there like I'm playing with puppies. -_-

Anyway, rant over...he got the message.

[Skink]

What a rube xD

[Sunshine]

UPDATE TIME!

The split Italian hive is still weak and growing slow. They are also VERY aggressive. I opened the hive a few days ago with my veil and gloves on but they were SO aggressive I had to drive back home to get my smoker. The smoke was necessary. I'm not taking the chance of getting hit by a swarm of pissy bees. They haven't built much comb but the queen is still alive and laying.

On a more positive note-

I inspected the top bar hive just now. I was seeing lots of fat grubs...no small fresh laid eggs though(I wonder why?)  Just lots of fat grubs, lots of pollen, and a good bit of honey and a couple queen cups(maybe cells?) I'm not sure if there were eggs in them...

Then I saw her; the queen. She was a gorgeous golden color. No black bands. She stuck out like a sore thumb. She is a very interesting colored pretty Italian-NY hybrid. Perhaps she lacked bands because she's young. I only saw her and no other queen. She didn't have a posse following her around, which I also found interesting. I assumed queens always had a small group following them, grooming and feeding them. I guess that's not always the case.

I harvested some honey a week or two ago. The comb cut up into nice sections for packaging and storage.

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