Back to the bees

[tejas]

Hi everyone, finally the beehive is buzzing again. Man I’m glad its time to get back to the bee yard. (There is just so much time I can pass playing Texas Hold’em.) We had a beautiful day here and I decided I would do my hive spring-cleaning today. I was a bit nervous, I had kept a pail feeder on all winter long due to a robbing problem I had in the fall. I wasn’t sure if there honey supply would last. I was thrilled to find the hive thriving I had a abundance of bees, a couple of frames of capped honey, a frame of capped brood, plenty of larva and eggs, plus finally caught a glimpse of the queen and was surprised to find she was still the same marked queen I started with last spring. (On one of my inspections last year I had sworn I saw the queen but, her mark was gone so I thought the original had been replaced, beginners mistake I guess.) I switched the frames over to a couple of new bodies so I could clean the propolis off of the old ones, reversed the hive bodies, added a drone frame, put in a bee-pro patty, Apistan strips and added the hive top feeder with Fumigilin B and Honey B Healthy in the syrup. Did I miss anything? I’m adding a new hive this year and ordered package bees and an extra queen for the existing hive. After seeing how well it is doing though I’m having second thoughts about replacing her. What do you all think I have a tight brood pattern and it seems she is laying quiet well. I keep thinking of the saying, "If it ain’t broke don’t fix it."

[Horns Pure Honey]

That sounds great Tejas!!!  

[Robo]

What do you all think I have a tight brood pattern and it seems she is laying quiet well. I keep thinking of the saying, "If it ain’t broke don’t fix it."

I'd wait and requeen in the Fall.  Better quality queens and cheaper too.   I wouldn't try pushing your luck thru another winter though, it is not worth the $10.