Bees are here!

Hello dear reader!

BEES ARE HERE!

Sorry for caps lock, but I am so excited to finally take care about three hives of bees. I bought two swarms on five DB (Dadant-Blatt) frames and one was a gift of my cousin, which is also my mentor. The bees are in their designated hives, ready to work.

                    Frame from the hive #2.

First month 

9th of June - Picked up the first two hives I bought. Both hives are with young queen from this year. Swarms seems healthy and ready to expand.

10th of June - Added one frame of foundations to the hive #1, #2 is not ready for new frame. Added syrup to encourage laying and comb building.

12th of June -  Added syrup to the both hives and one frame of foundation to the hive both hives.

15th of June - Hive #1 has a bunch of queen cells started, could it be that queen is missing or bees decided to change it's queen. Hive #2 bunch of larvae, everything is in order. Gave some syrup to the both hives.

18th of June - Hive #1 is missing queen definitely. Lots of queen cells. Destroyed all of it and bought a queen which i introduced to the colony same evening (in the cage). Hive #2 doing fine.

24th of June - Hive #1 is doing fine, queen started laying. Hive #2 is great, just as it should be.

25th of June - Feed syrup to the both hives.

3rd of July - Hive #1 is missing queen again. DUDE WTF? Some queen cells are already made. Building comb. Hive #2 is doing great, added two new foundation frames, since they need more space. Queen is laying beautifully.

9th of July - Hive #1 destroyed all the queen cells, added one frame of the fresh larva so they can build proper queen cells. Added feed so they can continue building comb. Hive #2 is doing great, hoping to add super soon. Hive #3 is here, my cousin gave me a artificial swarm he made. Gave feed to the new colony, also one frame with foundation and one with built comb from hive #2.

Thoughts

If you read my first month beekeeping, you will notice that I had some problems with one hive. I am glad (not that i like to struggle) that i had a chance to experience some issues right away, because it pushed me to learn faster and to really think about my next moves.

I will continue improving and preparing my hives for the winter.