Kois Farm Hive Must Be Queenless...

Jaimi, Maddi, and I went out to the Kois Farm Hive (KFH) today to see if we could find a queen.  My eyes aint what they use to be up close so we took some video to get some other opinions.

This colony has been in this hive for about 9 days.  They came from another TBH that did not over-winter for my cousin very well and we assumed it was queen-less...that was almost exactly one month ago so I didn't think it would even last this long.  So take a look at some of these videos and tell me if you see a queen...I've looked pretty hard and did not see one.

Video Links:

Opening Kois Farm Hive - KFH

KFH Bar One

KFH Bar Two

If you're seeing a queen let me know.

We've got Bees!

Today Theresa (cousin) and I took a nuc that she had that wasn't doing so well and moved it into one of my TBH's.  We're not sure, but the colony could be without a queen.  There's a chance that there's a laying worker bee that is laying eggs, but she can only lay drones (males), who really have no jobs in the colony accept to breed with a queen.

We had to take her 18" bars and cut an inch off to fit in my hive.  Keep in mind they had bees and comb on them and the comb was too wide so we had to cut away some comb too.  It was a bit of a cluster, but thanks to my Milwaukee Hackzall I was able to trim the bars quick.  We got the bars to fit and duct taped any openings so they couldn't get out.  But they did anyway.

Jaimi and I took the hive out to the farm and set it up and then put a baggie feeder in just in case.  The hive entrance is closed with a screen right now, but I'll stop by tomorrow over lunch and open it up.

We're not sure this hive will make it this year, but it seemed like a waste to let them just stay in the nuc box to die...and I had an extra hive anyway.

All for now...I'll take a few pics tomorrow and post them.