Over the winter of 2019 to 2020, I decided to add a few more hives. By the end of April, I had three hives humming along – pun intended. Hive number one was recovering nicely with plenty of honey stores from the previous year. Hive numbers two and three started with package bees. I decided to go with package bees for my second and third hive because of cost and a bit more confidence in my beekeeping skills.
The package bees needed a little help as April in my area was a bit cold. I put out sugar water for three weeks to help keep the bees fed while building their frames for brood, honey, and pollen. I should note that the two new hives use bare frames with wax foundations. That means the bees had to build up all the cells.
My first hive was a nuc with five frames already wholly built up. It has taken longer for hive #2 and #3, but they are doing quite well. On the weekend of June 13th, 2020, I collected 28 16oz jars of honey from three hives. I plan to collect honey the weekend of August 15th as my honey supers are filling up fast.
The summer has not been all good news, however. My original hive lost their queen. The workers built numerous queen cells to try and replace her. A queen cell is a much larger cell, pictured below, that allows for the development of a queen bee. Any egg can become a queen, worker, or drone depending on what is fed to the larvae that hatch. A queen is made by being fed Royal Jelly from young worker bees.
Image of a large queen bee cell by George Wimmer
Hive #1 produced approximately a dozen queen cells. When the queens hatch after 16 days, they go on a mating flight. This flight is incredibly important. She needs to find drones to mate with and then return to her hive. If she is not mated or does not return, the colony can be lost. The best and easiest way to know if you have had a successful transition to a new queen is by finding eggs in brood cells. The eggs look like tiny grains for rice. After several weeks of inspections, no sign of eggs.
I have now resorted to purchasing a new queen who will arrive one week from the time of me writing this article. If the hive accepts her, then we should be good to go. If the workers do not like the new queen, they will kill her, and the colony may be lost.
It is important to note that a worker bee during the summer lives approximately five to six weeks. Worker bees are needed to bring the newly laid eggs to adulthood, which takes 21 days. The last brood in hive #1 hatched approximately two weeks ago. Suppose the new queen is accepted and starts laying immediately next week that takes us to week three. Add three more weeks for the new workers to emerge, and we have burned through the six weeks. We are cutting it close.
Image of queen bees laying eggs by George Wimmer
There are other variables if a worker bee decides to lay eggs. The laying worker is unfertilized and can only produce drones, which are males and, in a beehive, have only one function – to mate with a queen. They do absolutely no work and only drain resources. Insert your worthless male joke here.
Please cross your fingers that the new queen is accepted and starts laying immediately, and our first hive survives. In article #5, we will discuss the plight of the honey bee and beekeeping in general.
