Hello everybody on this fine, just gorgeous day. It's probaby about 75 degrees, it's Monday May 21st And I'm going to check on my split. So I have to give you guys a little bit of an update about the split. So I did a Taranov split originally for my big hive because I found a couple queen cells, and I knew that they were going to swarm. I saw eggs and so I thought my queen was still there So I did a Teranov split, which basically means I shook out all the bees in the hive to get the swarming bees separated from the forager bees that wanted to stay in the old hive. So I did get a cluster and I shook that into a split or a -- essentially a smaller hive, with the hopes that my queen was in there because I couldn't find her, so, I went back to check on that split and I couldn't find my queen. So she must have swarmed. Because she's not there and she definitely wasn't in the main hive because they are producing queen cells, which means they're producing a replacement queen, which is great because that could be a very viable and healthy queen. So, that left my split -- which means a small little hive -- queenless. So I actually got a call from Li Ying, very coincidentally, on the day that I discovered my queenlessness and she said that there were some grant bees. I am part of the RIBA Association the Rhose Island Beekeepers Association and there's a grant that they've got going where they've got these bees that they've selected -- queen bees -- they've selected for good hygienics, yada yada yada.... Um, anyways, these queen bees came in and they were a bit stressed; they came in late; they were mailed from Michigan I believe, or Minnesota... So the grant Queens were given out to beekeepers in the hopes of bolstering the good genetics here for the local bees So Li Yang got in touch with me letting me know that she had some extra Queens that were no longer needed to be part of The grant program because they were stressed on route. So I said perfect. I'll take one I went picked one up and by the time I brought it home it was about 7:30 So the Sun was setting and I couldn't set up my camera there wasn't enough light so I slipped the Queen into the split In a queen cage where the queen is housed there's a little bit of fondant or Candy plug basically that plugs up the hole and what the bees do is they eat through that and they release the Queen So before we release her we want the bees and the split to get to know her So we put a little bit of tape over that candy plug Put the Queen cage in the split and allowed the bees to get to know each other if we release her too quickly they could kill her and Now today which has been another two days I'm gonna go and actually it's been three days because we had some rain I'm gonna go in there and see if she's been released Hopefully I'll see her and see if she's lain. I hope she's laying because that means the hive is set. They've accepted her She's laying and the hive is going So if I don't find the Queen I'll have to make my decision What to do with this split either requeen it give them a frame of brood and eggs And maybe they'll make their own Queen or something but fingers crossed I really hope the Queen is there and I hope she's laying the behavior of the bees has been good Although traffic has been very very slow here There aren't that many bees in there. So traffic has been very light and The behavior they've been showing has been pretty good. Although I should say Better. so if you look at my other hive look at this traffic This is my main hive and it is currently queenless. They are making a queen bee but look at that traffic This is a mature hive though this is overwintered and there are a lot of bees. look at that traffic. Meanwhile here There is some traffic Very little but there is some which is heartening and They seem to have a little bit more vigor Which has me thinking that there is a queen in there if you have bees that are kind of Dilly-dallying around and not taking off and not bringing in anything. Then that's a sign that they're queenless or haven't accepted the Queen Let's find out so right now what I'm observing Is there is a bee Fanning, which is a good sign and I also saw a bee come in with pollen on her legs Which is a good sign because pollen is needed for brood rearing. I do also see some drones Which are the great big male bees Which are kind of useless kind of mooches Anyways, let's get in there. I gotta get my smoker Alright, let's get in there Alright no queen there I don't see any wax building, which is not a good sign I do see a lot of drones All right, Queen has been released I don't see her Oh, I see her I see her The queen is a blue queen. She is marked blue and I see her on the frame There she is She's beautiful. Can you see her? She's right there Right at the end right there I want you guys to see her Where is she? She's right there. Do you see that beautiful cobalt blue? That's my queen. Yes Now we want to look for eggs There she is beautiful blue mama She's looking fat, too Alright now I'm gonna look for eggs They look like they've accepted her. She has a nice group around her Now we look for eggs. yes, and I see eggs wonderful Yes, and inside those cells are eggs, she's looking beautiful Did you notice how the queen has golden legs? She's beautiful. Oh she's laying can you see her laying? Oh my gosh. She's laying She's finding an empty cell and she's laying Beautiful This is great. This is all that I could have hoped for. Okay, now she's gonna look for another empty cell. wonderful Okay, perfect So, I'm gonna put them back. Sugar syrup encourages them to, uh build more combs, So I'm gonna give them more syrup There's still more syrup in here Get the bees off, the lid Put the brick back Okay leave 'em alone Yeah, so I found my queen she's in there she's accepted she's laying So yeah, that's the best outcome for this situation so far. I'm going to keep an eye on them Keep giving them syrup because syrup is important for wax production they're going to need to produce more wax for the Queen to lay in and Yeah, great news. Okay. See you next time. Bye.
