So inspected my top bar beehives yesterday
The most active of the two hives had been a bit aggressive with any 'nearness' to it lately and hadn't really got into it the last two inspections because of this
But a New bee suit - one of those triple layer breathelable types had arrived and it would make donning a beesuit here in tropics more bareable - so come what may this hive was getting a thorough inspection and the time it takes
My concerns of not inspecting hive for a while and now finding the topbars cross burred to the max were totally unfounded
One small bit of burring and two queen cells on one piece of comb
The burring is fixed easily
And I took out the top bar with the queen cells and after checking for the queen took two more topbars with brood and all the bees attached - placing them all into one of my spare small topbar hives in the hope a queen will hatch and start a new hive
I sealed the hive and started substitute feeding it for a week or so when the queen cell should of hatched and taken over
An experiment but here's hoping!
Been a while since I messed about with bees at all so always learning
The first hive also had well formed straight combs
And the bees hadn't reattached the comb to sides after first attempts at comb making three months ago
While no queen spotted, heaps of brood cells plus lots drones and drone cells ( that last bit not always a good sign depending of your viewpoint)
Not much honey in combs but a moderate amount of pollen in lower parts of the combs
The second hive has rarely been seen buzzing with activity during recent weeks but when opened had plenty capped honey, brood and plenty of young bees
Interestingly when so close to the big hive with its plethora of drones - having no drones at all.
All its comb was mostly straight too
Still undecided about whether to put a new, more prolific queen in this hive .............
Was also thinking of splitting big hive and getting two new queens but now with queen cell experiment and full hive again - undecided
If still heaps of drones next inspection maybe a new queen is needed
The wet up here is almost done and hoping local trees start flowering as not much other food sources happening
Final comment with a verdict on the new beesuit that is positive given heat and humidity of the few hours working on bees. Much more bearable than heavy cotton version most use down south in cooler climes and I was using til I bought this aerated one.
Keep loving those bees.
NT TopBar Beekeeping
