# Video of my hive, hoping for feedback.



## Ryan McEachern (Dec 18, 2011)

Not seeing a problem from here , what is your concern exactly?


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## kaizen (Mar 20, 2015)

nope looks good. you have drone but that's normal. that larvae could be drone if they want. you have at least a frame of brood. just make sure there is open area near brood frames. looks like a fair amount of bees. about what i'm seeing now but i'm in cold country at least a month behind you. i'd give them time. what were you expecting that you don't see?


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## murphys110 (Jun 10, 2015)

Thanks Ryan and kaizen. My own ignorance is my biggest concern... not sure what I 'should' be seeing. That hive was installed from a nuc on the same day as the one next to it, last year. That other hive exploded last year, while this one (in the video) languished... lots 'o bearding, no super comb, etc. Before I try my hand at mite-testing, thought I'd get feedback on the video and the queen. I didn't see mites on the bees, and didn't have time for the mason jar test. 

May still re-queen anyway. I've read where many folks do that every year as a matter of course...

Regardless, thank you both for taking the time to review the vid and give me feedback!


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## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

Murph,
I would leave that queen alone. The frames look real good for this time of year. It should really explode in a month.


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## Mike Gillmore (Feb 25, 2006)

I agree with everyone, looks good to me. Lots of capped brood on the frames we saw, so you're going to have a lot of bees in this hive in a few weeks. I'll reemphasize what kaizen said, make sure the queen has plenty of empty brood cells available so she can continue to lay as many worker eggs as they are able to cover. Not sure what your current set up is with this hive, but along with providing ample brood frames you may want to start some supering if you haven't already done so. They might need additional space to store incoming nectar so they don't backfill and plug up the brood area. 

Also, don't wait too long to check your mite levels in the hives. If you didn't treat at all last year it's likely they will need to be treated. Hopefully you are one of the fortunate ones who does not need to treat, but just because you don't see mites does not mean they are not there. "Usually" when you can see them the hive is already in terrible shape.


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## Matt_inSC (May 12, 2015)

Murphys110,
First - I think you've done a great job on the forum (I read your other post) with keeping a good/appreciative attitude regarding some of the replies. It seems so often these digress into an argument b/c of someone's comment.

On the hive strength...
(Nothing definitive but hopefully you can glean something from my experience)
I'm a new beek as well - installed two packages in early May last year. From day 1 one hive looked way stronger - more bees, drawing comb faster, etc. I asked around and researched and decided to swap the hive locations (to have the foragers from the strong hive boost the weaker) and also swapped a frame of brood from the stronger into the weaker. That seemed to do it for a few months but as we got into fall the hive strength essentially reverted - the originally stronger hive waned at the location of the originally weaker hive and the weaker hive thrived at the location of the original stronger one. I didn't do anything with the queens and they are the original ones (marked) from my packages. Only conclusion I can draw is it seems the hive location is significant. My hives are side by side with about 6" between them and both facing the same direction. I had a very experienced beek from my local club come out for a hive inspection a couple weeks ago and she commented that it may be the foragers simply have a simpler path to one of the hives and thus constantly unload into that hive - regardless of their "home" hive. She said many would argue that this shouldn't happen but she feels she's seen it elsewhere.


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## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

Matt_inSC said:


> Murphys110,
> First - I think you've done a great job on the forum (I read your other post) with keeping a good/appreciative attitude regarding some of the replies. It seems so often these digress into an argument b/c of someone's comment.


What the heck do you mean by this! lol jk


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## Arnie (Jan 30, 2014)

That hive looks fine.
You say they were languishing, but also bearding. I don't normally think of a hive that is strong enough to beard as a languishing hive.

We had a hive last year that built up very nicely but then decided that they had enough honey and never went into the super to store any extra even though the other hives did. So I am thinking of re-queening that one with more ambitious bees from our other hives.

Matt may have it right. Check the flight paths of the hives. If you notice that the bees have to pass one hive to get home they may just go to the first hive they come across. Brother Adam talked about this in his book. He decided to stop lining the hives up in rows because the outside hives got all the returning foragers.


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## murphys110 (Jun 10, 2015)

Thanks all! I've gone back and reviewed the vid also, after watching several youtube vids as well. Feel much better! We're so anxious to have productivity this year... new beekeepers in 2014, did two packages and they actually did fairly well that year. Unfortunately that winter we lost both hives... starved... seems lots around here lost hives that year with a very warm spell in January 15. Did two nucs last spring, and didn't harvest any so they'd make it through the winter. Also kept 2:1 sugar at the ready any time the temps looked to spike. 

I'm going to have patience with the hive, but will explore the flight path. From what we've seen so far, they fly straight out and straight back in, but I really haven't studied with this in mind. They're about 3-4 feet apart right now.


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