Checked on queen today

Checked on the status of the queen this morning and they almost have her out, so I will let them do it.  They were in a nasty mood and one got me on the leg (shorts) and then they chased me to the house, where I put on my suit.  I went back and sprayed the queen with sugar water and a little Honey Bee Healthy and the area around her so they would all smell the same, that settles them down some.  She should be out this PM, hope they don't kill her.

Also checked on the trap out last night.  They have chewed through the foam I sprayed into the brick crevices so today I have to go back and do it right with mortar.

Nadired (placing the new box under the others) another box to the green hive today.  Will add another to the red hive this PM, when they settle down some.   Later

Checked this PM and she's out, picture fuzzy as I was being mobbed without protection.

New Queen finally arrives

After waiting 4 days for a 2 day special delivery mailing, my queen finally arrived.  I gave her a shot of sugar water, thinking she may be dehydrated, and then began to put things together for the installation.  I had previously checked the hives for signs of laying and found that the hive I didn't expect her to be in was where the new brood patterns were.  I also decided that as long as I was opening the hive, I might as well remove the super and do a harvest.  All went well and I have a small amount to honey for sale.  Both hives should get back to normal now.

Checking this morning, the hive with the new queen is more active and tomorrow I'll check to see if they have released her.  All is well otherwise.   Later

Hive split

Yesterday I decided to split my hive as I have not received any swarm calls.  Because I do not open the hives, I have no idea which new hive the queen is in.  Today I went to one of the Staten Island beekeepers and looked for queen cells to give to my hives but because it was overcast, her bees were testy, to say the least, so I left them be.  I guess I just have to hope that whichever hive the queen is in, the other has an egg which they can create one.  If it doesn't appear they had one in a couple weeks, I'll buy one on-line.

This morning I checked the hives and the one I moved away had no activity outside the entrance, so I switched places, which allowed the in-active hive to receive all the forage bees.  By mid-day, both hives had good activity at their entrances. 

Just have to wait and see now.  In about 28 days I should see new bees doing their entrance dance. Later