Hive Check 5.3.13

Yesterday I noticed several Drone larva outside the hive. After doing a lot of research and asking questions on the International Bee Master Forum I felt it was because I had quit feeding them.

Today I saw more dead larva on the tiles and I spotted a Wax Moth Larva that was about 3/4 inch long. It was on the hive stand in front of the hive. Looked as though the bees had killed it but I made sure.

in 2011 I had a weak hive in the TBH that had been over run with red ants. Once they were taken care of we went  out on the water for 10 days and when we got back the bees were gone and the hive was full of wax moth larva.

So…I felt it necessary to check the hive and get rid of them if we did have some.

We set up with a second hive and were going to move each frame into it. Here is frame #1

This comb had some honey in it. It is a top bar that was inserted into this Langs frame, so Jim unscrewed it and put it in a medium Langs frame for the super. I had to cut a small piece off the bottom. It was inserted onto the starter strip of another frame. This should help them start building in the super.

#2

This was an empty frame when we did our last check…what beautiful comb.

#3    this looks like brood. This was a very small comb on last check.

#4  This is all natural comb…not foundation.

#5

more brood…looks like a lot of Drone cells? I was concerned that the Queen might not have room to lay but I see new comb in the L corner. I did not check for eggs in it.

#6         more brood

#7  more brood

# 8   brood and Drone cells…I think that is what the raised cells are.

#9

#10

The pictures were taken out of the video that I did. Jim was helping so couldn’t take pictures. They aren’t very clear but if anyone sees something that shouldn’t be there ….let me know.

No wax moth larva or webbing. All the comb I looked at looked good. Did seem to be a lot of Drone cells…but I don’t know what is normal. Here are some other shots of the same frames.

this is comb 10, it isn’t completely filled out, but does have brood on the R.

this is the one that went into the medium frame. You can see it has an extra piece of wood. That is the original top bar.

Each frame had bees on it. Looked like lots of bees to us. We’ve never had so many…I guess they can take care of the wax moths.

I do have a moth/wasp trap out….sugar, white vinegar, part of a banana and water….I drained it once…at least 12 moths and it looks like I need to do it again.

Glad I checked the hive…but now we get to worry about squishing the Queen or losing her completely…all the bees went inside so guess she was in there…it is now raining so don’t have to worry about them absconding tonight.

This is the video I did…