While we have been tending to our bees more or less faithfully we have quite badly neglected our blog and now have too much history to suddenly report in our usual fashion of logging each visit to the apiary. It would be like trying to binge-watch one of those entertainments with a large, ensemble cast that bounces attention among multiple story arcs like a game of Three-card Monte. Only confusion could result along with a complete loss of interest in any of the characters. Instead we shall try catching up by relating each colony’s months-long tale separately with dates inserted in the text.
Angharad The less fortunate half of our Baldrick split had been steadily declining. We found no brood even in the cross-combed mess of the lowest box. [2021-Jul-03] We decided to simply dismantle her, stealing the honeycomb and unceremoniously dumping the bees to let them find their way into whatever hive would have them.
Blodwyn The more fortunate half of our Baldrick split, had been steadily drawing out comb and raising brood. [2021-Jul-03] Rather than make the tower of nucs any taller, we moved all the frames into Clarissa, opening only a single entrance hole in front of which we fixed a dangling branch to encourage reorientation by any departing bee. At Blodwyn’s former location we left one box of empty frames for returning foragers.
Moving the frames involved separating those cross-combed in the bottom box. To our surprise this was much easier than expected and showed some lovely combs of brood. It seemed as if the bees themselves had corrected much of the problem themselves.
Before sunrise the next morning we put a wee table at entrance height in front of Clarissa. Then we carefully carried the diminished Blodwyn thither and put her on the table facing Clarissa’s entrance. We thought this would encourage the occupants of the nuc to move to the hive with its familiar welcoming scent. Unsure of how long to leave it, we simply lost patience and later in the afternoon dumped any reluctant bees onto Clarissa’s roof and took away the nuc.
Cerys Our captured swarm struggled. While she drew out comb steadily for a time, she only ever achieved a few cells of drone brood. Did we fail to catch the queen or somehow injure her? Was she too depleted to lay the egg that would supersede her? [2021-Jul-03] Our manipulations temporarily swelled her population with refugees from her dismantled neighbors, Angharad and Blodwyn, but she never grew. We dithered over trying to find her a queen or attempting a paper combine with a hive but [2021-Aug-07] finally we dismantled her as well, letting her dwindling population find new homes.
And then there were none…except for the three full-sized hives.
Dorcas We had been watching her population drop and observing the emptiness of her comb so [2021-May-16] we transferred a comb of open brood from Beatrix and [2021-Jun-27] that seemed to have done the trick. She prospers and [2021-Aug-01] a sugar roll showed only one mite per sample.
Inspired by a recent post from Sassafras Bee Farm, [2021-Aug-10] we popped a jar of syrup into her closet today for the dearth.
Clarissa The bees formerly in Blodwyn have taken to their new home. [2021-Aug-01] Alas, a sugar roll showed 8 mites per sample, so we have applied formic acid treatment and should soon check its efficacy. [2021-Aug-10] She also received a jar of dearth syrup.
Beatrix After the swarm she remained our most populous hive and simply carried on, raising bees and making honey. [2021-Jun-27] A sugar roll showed her having only one mite per hundred bees, below treatment levels. All seemed well until we noticed her population dropping. [2021-Aug-01] Inspection showed several empty queen cups and no brood at all. Time did not improve the situation and she sounded different than our other hives. Perhaps this was the queenless roar?
[2021-Aug-07] Fortuitously we learned that a local beekeeper, not overly far from us, had a pair of extra queens for sale and drove out to get one. She was from the beek’s favorite line so he was quite invested in our success and kindly gave us excellent instructions for the ride home and the coronation. Back at the hive, much of the former brood chamber was being backfilled with nectar so we dug through until we found empty comb. There we pressed the queen cage into the comb and watched. Rejection would have had agitated bees trying to ball, bite, sting, or otherwise do her a harm through the mesh. Instead bees gently collected, extending probosces through the mesh to feed her! In addition, the overall sound of the hive seemed to swiftly become calmer.
[2021-Aug-10] And three days later, after supplying a jar of syrup, we looked and found the cage empty. Now we hope for brood.