The following photos were taken Memorial Day, 28 May 2012 about 8:00 AM. We intentionally allowed this top bar hive to swarm hoping to catch the swarm and install it in our Warre. Luckily, it did and we did just that. You can see the Warre hive sitting next to the TBH in one of the photos.
What we did not expect was for this colony to swarm twice. It did, but again we caught the swarm and placed them in a Langstroth hive (also seen in a couple of the photos in the back lot). This was the first inspection of this hive since mid-March, and what we found was no brood but a newly-bred queen and a few bars containing eggs. As you can see in the photos, all but a couple of the bars are fully drawn, and many of them contain honey and/or pollen. Although the secondary swarm really set this colony back as far as brood-rearing is concerned, it probably could not have happened at a better time. This apiary is experiencing drought conditions, while farms three or four miles away have had plenty of rain.
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- “We’ll be back…”
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- She’s glowing with sunshine
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- The queen among her sisters
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- “Thar she blows!”
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- Still no sign of the queen
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- Keep the broad side perpendicular to ground
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- Brood combs with brace comb but no brood
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- Removing a piece of burr comb
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- A funky looking comb
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- Lots o’ bees but no babies
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- Give ’em a puff or two
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- Still no signs of a queen :- /
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- More brace comb
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- Use caution when flipping the bars!
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- Honey across the top
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- looking for eggs
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- Some brood combs don’t have it, but always check!
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- another view
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- Be sure to cut both sides
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- Removing brace comb on honey bars
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- Separating bars after cutting brace comb
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- Cutting brace comb
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- Bread knife for cutting brace comb
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- Not sure what to expect…
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