Spring inspection

Saturday, March 30, 2013  
Randolph-Henry High School Campus
I am working with the ag teacher on spring hive inspection. We scraped and cleaned all the frames, there were no queen cells, and no small hive beetles.

Honey Bee Cut Outs 2013

Saturday, March 30, 2013
My first cut of the 2013 season was from a former location. This old house site has seen many bee colonies. This one was new from last spring. The comb was not hard to cut. There was may be 1/4 cup of honey in the combs, no queen cells, no drone cells, but lots of small hive beetles. The brood comb was saved with the remaining going straight to the wax melter. My helper on the ladder is a local man. He has been my best student.

                                               

Swarm Season 2013

Today, I have boxed my first swarm of this new season. I was surprised as the weather has really been cold at nights. It was 18 degrees here yesterday morning. I still have the 2 sided wraps on my boxes.

Waiting for spring

Getting boxes ready for spring activity. We were deep into bees last year at this time, but Mother Nature's cold nights have kept us at bay from doing removals. Packages will be here in 16 days. It has been too cool to go into boxes. Inspectors will have to have to hustle to get their work done so we beekeepers can sell our nucs.