Getting some nucs ready for the masses and reflections on hive beetles.

Raising queens as I am starting to realize is a very tedious process. From trying to keep track of how many days til a queen may emerge, to selecting a larvae that is 12-24 hours old, there is a lot that can go wrong. Im having fun though! Its exciting to be able to create your own stock that is adapted to your area. It also also you to select hives that are doing well. This go around, I selected larvae from a hive that was a daughter of Randy Oliver (if you know, you know). They performed very well throughout the year last year and overwintered very well. Also, they always were very docile. Given I swell up pretty good, that last characteristic is pretty sweet.

It takes an egg 16 days to emerge as a queen in the right situation. In my particular situation. That should be Friday the 28th. I will report back on the 3rd and see if I can find the virgin queens meandering around.

Fig. 1

Not the greatest photo, but the cell on the right you can see the queen cell.

Fig 2.

This is what “swarm” cells look like. Typically they are found along the bottom of the brood. You can see a couple more sticking out of the bottom of the frame.

The other annoyannce I am learning to deal with is Hive beetles. I have found that they like shadier areas. My apiary is unfortunately, you guessed it, pretty shady. I’m not really sure how much damage they are causing since most all of my colonies are pretty strong. But, it can’t be good… I tried the swiffer pad method and it seems to work pretty well. Some colonies, it appears, the bees have started chewing at it pretty good. It seems to last a few weeks, then you have to swap it out. I use this with a combination of the hive beetle traps that you fill with vegetable oil.

It is clear spring is upon us. More and more drones are appearing in the hive. Now its a great time with temps climbing to consider a good knock down treatment for varroa mites. I think Formic Pro in the spring is a good way to ensure you start out the season clean. I also treated all my hives today with 2 pads of Formic pro. In about 14 days ill take them out and drop in Oaxalic acid slow release pads.

Most likely ill do some varroa washes and see what the present.

That would be a good blog…