Parlor Tricks

All of the best action-adventure shows used to caution, "Don't try this at home."  Today's post falls into that category.  Unless you happen to be a mildly insane beekeeper, with a great supporting cast.

My observation hive is in the parlor of our old farmhouse style home.  A parlor is nice because doors can be closed to keep it clean for when guests arrive, or perhaps, to keep bees from infiltrating the entire house when the beekeeper chooses to tend the observation hive indoors on a 19 degree day, which is the beginning of the fun we had this weekend.

The story actually begins with a nice day last week, when the weather warmed into the high 50's and some beekeepers tended their hives.  One such beekeeper had difficulties, and accidentally killed her queen.  Not wanting to leave a queenless colony devouring the honey stores that she could otherwise save for new bees in the spring, she offered to give away her queenless bees.

Since the observation hive went into the fall with a very small cluster, the notion of boosting the population of potential brood-tending bees was enticing.  But if there was going to be brood, it would be nice to have more pollen cake than was stored in the hive.  I had frames from an outdoor hive that had been robbed, which were full of great pollen.  So in the morning, we closed those parlor doors, suited up, and opened the observation hive.  The bees were quite docile as we replaced empty frames with frames full of food.  Only a couple dozen bees were out of the hive, so we left the feeder hatch open for them to return.  Instead, the sun came out & suddenly the hive thought the room was summertime, and there were bees everywhere!  It wasn't until dusk that they migrated back, and even then some needed assistance finding their way. 

Meanwhile, we prepared a hive body with screened entrance to go accept the offered bees.  We drove to the lovely garden with the queenless hive, and there could not have been a prettier or sadder picture.  Picture perfect garden with picture perfect hive, stuffed full of healthy bees and honey.  Transferring the bees to our hive body was surprisingly like doing the same thing on a nice summer day, with fewer bees actually flying around.  We then bustled the bees into a box in the car & got them home to introduce them to the observation hive.

Our clever plan had been to pour the bees into the honey super, without frames in it, and set that on top of the hive, allowing the new bees to slowly move through the opening into the main hive.  But there were far more bees than would comfortably endure such a treatment.  So we used the same concept, but applied it to a large cardboard box with a hole in the bottom to line up with the opening in the top of the hive!  We transferred the frames from our hive, bees and all, and poured remaining bees, into that cardboard box. Then positioned it on the hive & sort of taped it in place.  The bees got the idea and overnight, there was a mass migration from the box down into the hive!  How glorious to see all of those bees in the observation hive!

Even more rewarding was when I saw my queen this morning, healthy & happy, surrounded by a full court, going along laying eggs. 

Once most of the bees were out of the cardboard box, we reverted to Plan A, and moved the remaining bees into the honey super, which is now back on the hive, allowing extra space for the nice bee population.

Things Get More Interesting

Fans of the Dark Queen have asked where she went, and what has become of her now that there's a pretty, plump golden queen in the hive.  My first answer was fairly vague.  But tonight when looking to get better pictures of the new golden queen, instead I found my old friend!  She was busily going about her business, with a full court.

 Meanwhile, on the other side of the hive, the new golden queen put in a brief appearance before scooting out of the bright light.  So for the moment, there are 2 queens in one small observation hive.  The pictures don't do justice to how distinct the ladies are.  The old queen is quite dark, with light stripes down the side of her abdomen.   The new one is strikingly golden, without dark bands.  And yes, we did see both of them at the exact  same moment.

Better pictures of the golden queen with her court (next morning.)

A New Golden Queen!

The bees know what the bees need.  While I was noticing the diminished size and productivity of the original dark queen, the bees were doing something about it.  Yesterday when we were looking for the queen, we found the court surrounding a large golden queen, who was busily going along laying eggs in one cell after another.  The queen mother (the mother of the dark queen) was golden, so her coloration is a fun surprise, but reasonable.
Maybe I will get better pictures, but here is your first glimpse of the new royalty!  Perhaps I should name her George?

The design of this observation hive has the area between 2 frames hidden from view, providing the bees a sheltered environment away from light, and with greater temperature control.  Unless I take the hive outside to tend it, they can keep some secrets in there.  In this case, the secret appears to have been a nice supercedure cell.

Summertime, and the Livin' is Easy

The observation hive is doing great.  The queen busily laid the frames full of beautiful brood as the initial brood hatched out, and in June, they filled & capped the top 2 frames with honey in a quick week.  Basswood honey.  We added the honey super, and although a couple of bees went up & checked it out, they have not gone up there to work yet.  They are using the middle 4 medium frames for brood, and the queen and her court are not bashful about going along laying eggs while we watch.  They have drawn comb in the lower deeps, and had those filled with nectar last week.  This week they have hit a dearth, and have eaten all that nectar!  While that does give the queen the opportunity to move down there and lay eggs, it also gives me an indication that the hives in the bee yard are hungry now too, and not producing.

The queen looks smaller.  I am wondering what that bodes for the future.  She is just over a year old, but was raised as an emergency replacement when I first loaded the bees and frames of brood last March, and barely had one day to go out for a mating flight.  It was snowing on the days around that one sunny one!  She has done a beautiful job, considering, and still has lovely brood.

Observation Hive Enters a New Season

The observation hive's 2012 season ended when the bees swarmed, hatched a replacement queen, but she failed to come back and begin laying new brood.  The contents of the observation hive were then united by the newspaper method with the swarm, which had been captured & was well established in an outdoor hive.  This provided ample food & bees for the hive to be in good shape heading into the winter.  They over-wintered well, as a traditional outdoor hive.. 

When inspecting brood this spring, it was a thrill to see the queen.  Oh wait, two queens!  The one on the left  is the dark one we have known, or appears to be, the queen who lived in the observation hive all last year.  We will assume the one on the right is a young queen hatched out of a queen cell in the hive.  Perhaps we interrupted swarm or supersedure plans.  We put the dark queen into a queen clip, and placed it in the observation hive with 4 frames of brood & honey from another hive.  We allowed several hours for acclimation, but needed to bring the hive indoors because the night was going to be cold.  So we gave everyone a squirt of sugar water, and released the queen into the hive.  Then we brought the hive indoors and connected the tubing to the outdoors.

Immediately there was a most delightful sound! It reoccurred several times, and while we had heard tales of queens piping, we had never previously heard the sound.  Our royalty was greeting her subjects.  They accepted her with no problem, and we have enjoyed the sight of her court her across the hive as she selects cells to lay her eggs into.  https://www.youtube.com/edit?ns=1&video_id=CMq0NtFZfCY  

(You can hear piping and tooting by rival queens in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKBI1q_RbvI  piping is said to be G♯ (aka A♭)and occurs for about one second followed by a string of quarter-second pulses.)

The indoor hive is doing wonderfully, with brood hatching & nectar coming in.  The outdoor 'swarm hive' from last year's observation hive is also doing great.  The abundant brood the 2 queens laid is a beautiful sight, and the hive is packed full of honey, pollen & nectar.