Queen
April 26, 2010
This last weekend was cold and rainy, so I was unable to inspect any of the hives. Monday afternoon was better, although it was still partially cloudy and fairly cool (mid 60s).
First, I opened up Lib-BEE-taria for inspection. All things looked good. There was plenty of capped honey, pollen and brood in all levels of development. I even found the queen in the top box. I did a full reversal of the hive, along with cleaning up the bottom board. I...
April 22, 2010
It is the fifth day since I grafted larvae into plastic queen cups. This afternoon, I went out to check to see if the grafts took and the cells were capped.
April 18, 2010
I did my first full inspection of Plan Bee... this afternoon. This top bar hive was the one invaded by mice and so I felt it needed an early, complete look-see. In all, the hive is quite healthy with plenty of larvae in all stages of growth throughout the 15 or so bars. There were places where the mice had done damage, but nothing the bees can't fix. I did see the queen as well in all her regal splendor. I added two bars between the broodnest...
April 18, 2010
Today I grafted larvae from a frame found in the Worker Bees... hive. The queen in this hive came from a queen cell I brought back from my queen rearing course last summer at the University of Minnesota. After grafting, I placed the frame in the top box of Bee Glad... which I made queenless yesterday by inserting the slide into the Cloak Board.
April 17, 2010
Yesterday, I began setting up Bee Glad... for use in queen rearing. I am following the methods outlined by Susan Cobey in an article available on the internet. I did the following things:
1. Confined the queen to the boxes below the queen excluder on the Cloake board.
2. In the box above the excluder, I placed:
a. a couple of frames of open brood.
b. frames of nectar/pollen near where the grafts will be placed.
April 16, 2010
Lauren Mikula, 23, stepped into the shoes of Miss Winona last year, and has been performing a challenging juggling act between school, work, friends and the crown
April 14, 2010
Drones have begun to fly out of Beelandia during the day. I will take this as an indication that my queen rearing project can begin. On Friday, I will turn the bottom entrance of Bee Glad... around 180 degrees, move the queen to the two bottom boxes, place a Cloake Board between the second and top boxes, and move frames of open brood into the top box. This weekend, the process of grafting from the Worker Bees hive will begin in earnest.
April 11, 2010
Yesterday afternoon, I spent some time in Beelandia doing some necessary bee chores. I did partial reverses on both Lib-BEE-taria and Bee Glad... and all went well there.
April 7, 2010
Winona State University presents 43rd annual children's show: Alice in Wonderland, although connections to new Burton movie may be few and far between
Putting on a children’s play, especially one as whimsical as “Alice in Wonderland,” requires actors to step back from reality and get in touch with their inner child.
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