Healthy Happy Honey Bees in Charlotte
  • Honey for Sale
  • T's Bees Blog
  • Swarm 911!
  • Contact
  • Honey Uses
  • Links

T's Bees Blog

Wherein you learn all the trials and errors, successes and failures of a simple city beekeeper.

Nuc Inspection #1 (drum roll please)

4/9/2012

 
Picture
So 25 days had passed from when I'd made my first spring splits off of Hive Boris, who was threatening to swarm and in a big way. I'd made two nucs, and was hoping and praying they'd succeed. If they did, I'd have 2 backup queens and/or 2 more hives in my apiary. Since the queen cells were capped, I figured they'd need a minimum of 21 days to hatch and mature into laying queens. It was time to look. The first nuc looked awfully busy when I removed the cover. Here are the four frames minus the in-hive frame feeder I first put in.
Picture
As you can see, they certainly didn't need any extra feeding with all of the nectar coming in. Just look at this frame of capped honey! And not just a little bit of honey, a full frame of it! It was the same story on the second side. Seeing this made me realize I'd need to keep a keen eye on my nucs, as the honey flow is in full swing. If the nucs run out of room, just like hives Boris and Natasha they'll start thinking about swarming. All I need to do is keep them busy and keep giving them space and room for the queen to lay.
Picture
And (drum roll please) ............ YES, this was what I was looking for! A frame of worker brood, in a beautiful tight pattern. Nuc #1 has a laying queen. She successfully hatched, oriented (I got to witness that), flew off and mated, and made her way back home and is up and running! There are so many obstacles and potential pitfalls in a virgin queen's way that I find it amazing it can succeed. Well, the proof is in the brood frame! Having seen what I came to see, I buttoned up this nuc and moved on to the second, holding my breath just a bit.
Picture
Before I left nuc #1, I put in an empty frame for them to draw out, replacing the frame feeder. This way she'll have room to lay and the colony will continue growing.
Picture
Okay, onto the second nuc. I only gave this one three frames. It felt like removing 7 frames of brood with the queen cells was the max I should take out of Boris when I did the early spring split to prevent swarming. So far, nuc #2 is lookin' good!
Picture
And, YES, nuc #2 has a laying queen. I was ecstatic when I saw this frame of capped brood in a tight pattern, with some new bees hatching out. Since these nucs are small, I didn't waste time looking for the queens. I know they're in there. The proof is in the brood. I removed this nuc's frame feeder and replaced it with an open frame for it to draw out and the colony to continue its expansion. Well, it's official, I now have hives 3 and 4 in my apiary, and I am a BEE BREEDER! I feel like I've arrived.
Picture
I cleaned up all the excess burr comb the nucs had made. When I got back in from the apiary, I noticed one piece was pristine white and full of fresh honey. I enjoyed my first taste of T's Bees honey. This bit of Top Shelf White Spring Honey was the bees' knees with floral notes, super sweetness and a soft grape finish. I can hardly wait for the harvest this season! So far so good with these early successes in the apiary.
J. Daniel Davidson link
4/10/2012 02:52:59 am

Tom,
This is fantastic ! Thanks for all the great work you are doing. It is so interesting to see and read. And, I am looking forward to the honey later this year.
Way to go, Bro !

Tom Davidson link
4/11/2012 03:59:49 am

Thanks, bro'! It gets more and more adventurous as I go along. I'm looking forward to honey as well. It's looking like my Top Shelf White honey from early spring will be ready in just a matter of weeks! :)


Comments are closed.
    Picture

    Tom Davidson is the owner and beekeeper at T's Bees.

    Subscribe by email

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Categories

    All
    2 Queen Hives
    2-queen Hives
    9 Frames
    9-frames
    Apiary Inspection
    Autumn
    Bait Hives
    Bee School
    BPMS
    Cartoons
    Combs
    Cut-outs
    Drawn Out
    Early Spring
    Early Summer
    Early Winter
    Extracting
    Feeding
    Flora
    Foundation
    Foundationless
    Hardware
    Inner Covers
    Insecticide
    Late Autumn
    Late Spring
    Late Summer
    Late Winter
    Mentoring
    Mid Spring
    Mid Summer
    Mid Winter
    Mid-winter
    Nucleus Colonies
    Nucs
    Orientation Flights
    Oxalic Acid
    Packages
    Plasticell
    Pollen Patties
    Queen Cells
    Queens
    Small Cell
    Splits
    Swarms
    Tanging
    Trap Outs
    Trap-Outs
    Treatments
    Washboarding
    Wax
    Winter

    Archives

    March 2021
    March 2020
    September 2019
    February 2018
    July 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    November 2016
    September 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    October 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    December 2010

  • Honey for Sale
  • T's Bees Blog
  • Swarm 911!
  • Contact
  • Honey Uses
  • Links