Latest status

I was able to find the red marked hybrid queen. She has apparently been laying a lot since there are lots of uncapped larvae. There are also lots of drones left over from the old queen. The new queen is working on about 5 frames. There is still syrup in the bucket so I am going to leave her alone until next week I think.

I was able to find the unmarked Italian queen laying eggs in the upper box. The bees are working 2-3 frames in the upper box. The lower box has about 6 frames of brood: capped, uncapped and eggs and some honey and pollen around the edges of the brood. Overall this queen is looking really good. Again there is still syrup in the bucket so I think I can leave her alone until next weekend.

The temperature today is about 80 degrees so I don't think my inspection disturbed the larvae too much. We'll see how things look next weekend.

Checking in again

Since I'll be gone for a week I figured I should check in on my 2 hives. The hybrid queen was walking around looking healthy so I can leave her to get started. The Italian queen has 4 frames of brood going and is still laying eggs. I put another box on top so she won't get crowded while I'm gone. She'll also get a new bucket of syrup before I leave.

I like working without gloves. I find I get stung less often since I can feel the bee before crushing it. Working with just the veil is cooler as well.

Another check on Sunday June 9

I checked on the hybrid queen. She was still in her cage, but they were working on releasing her. I let her out since they should be ready for her now.
I also checked on the queen in the other package. She is doing a great job. At least 3 frames of brood with a nice even pattern. By comparison the other Italian queen is a real dud. I'm glad that I replaced her.
I think in a couple of days I'll add another box to the Italian package. I'll wait a bit longer to do anything with the Russian hybrid, I think.

Requeening

I removed the queen from the hive on Wednesday and replaced her with a Russian hybrid from the Honey Exchange on Thursday. It's supposed to rain for a couple of days so I'll check on the hive when the weather improves.
I gave both hives syrup with fumigilin just to be on the safe side.
Just for a laugh--when I looked into the hives last it looked like there was mold growing! There was gray stuff in some cells. Then I noticed some of the pollen baskets on the bees were gray. I looked it up. Blackberries yield gray pollen so I should see a lot of that.
I need to find a source for Hop Guard that doesn't sell it in 50 units.

Pictures of Troubled Hive

I am planning to requeen this hive since the pattern is spotty and appears to be mostly drones.

Two Queens

I went looking for queens in both hives today and found them!

I didn't think there was a queen in my first package, but I saw her today, and it's too soon for it to be a supersedure so she is probably the one that came with the package on 5/18.  I don't think she's doing a very good job though.

I think the queen from the other package is producing more eggs in a better pattern. I got her on 5/23, and  she has more frames working.

I'll check them again next week and see if I should think about replacing her.