Don’t destroy him, he is the only bee in the hive that can’t sting you, lol. 
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OK, calling on my keeping teachers again.
First, an update. The strong hive is just incredible. The number of bees is astounding and they seem to be doing great. They have built comb on every single lever- at least 3 frames on all 3 levels and some have 5. I’m a little confused because I thought they would build comb (and perhaps even fill it with eggs or honey) in the first 2 boxes (brooder boxes?) before they moved up. But they have built as much or more comb on the top level as the bottom (I have 3 boxes total, and a queen excluder on top of box #2). hopefully that is normal.
But of course my main question today is about hive #2. Not much news here, and not much hope I fear. They still have about the same number, which is only about a total of 1 frame or less (about 1/2 a frame in 2 sides) . Queen is still there and seems fine. But what is as worrisome to me as the very small number in this colony is the fact that they seem to be making almost no progress at all. There is about the amount of comb that there has been for a week or so! They dont seem to be building any more, nor filling any or capping or anything. THey just sort of all stay pilled up.
There is one strange exception, and thats a big part of my question today. One thing that the weak have done twice is to build a small, strange looking group of cells. Its a little smaller than a bar of soap, and both times they have built one of these they have been pure white- much brighter, purer white than the rest of the comb they build. They have built these little soap-bar sized comb pieces right on top of the regulat comb they have drawn on the frame. The first one they built ended up falling off the frame, and once it went to the bottom of the box the abandoned it. Then about a week later they built another. I’ve never seen or read anything like this in the videos and books I’ve read, so I’m just very curious. If you all have never heard of or seen anything like this either, that’s fine. Or maybe its completely normal part of what bees do? Just curious.
BTW…my healthy hive is doing so great that I wouldn’t be surprised if they turn one of their frames into a brood frame, if so, I will be talking to you all about the possibility of transferring them (the brood) to the weak frame. But for now, what’s up with the little raised, pure white comb “blobs”? Thank-you.
Right square on the screws, BobC.
Hopefully everyone has extra hives laying around. Like I said before a hive is around $30-$70 depending on materials you have on hand. I just use budget or commercial hive bodies and build the top and bottoms out of scrap 9 1/8 Commercial Frame and 9 5/8 Hive Bodies - Commercial . This is the third swarm I caught this year! They swarm more after a very mild winter so I was prepared. This is a link to a hive that needs a top and bottom built and some paint and it’s complete Assembled Hive Body with Assembled Frames and Plasticell This is the type of top I use Flat Wood Cover - Pine - Commercial . This is the type of bottom board I use Pine Bottom - Reversible - Commercial . Tops and bottoms are easy to build out of pallets or scrap from construction or the lumber store so there is not a need to buy them unless you want to but one way or the other they need assembled.
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Wow!
You are GOOD, Clarkinks!
Tom
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Really nice, I always enjoyed catching bee swarms
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Tom,
I’ve just been really lucky catching that many swarms. You never know what will happen.
Jason,
Catching swarms is the best feeling in the world. My grandpa told me many years ago they were everywhere. My grandma said her and the kids would catch swarms very frequently. There are not nearly as many swarms around due to varroa and tracheal mites.
KUDOS TO @Chikn !!! Phil solved my mystery that I asked about above…the strange, bar-of soap size/shaped comb that is lilly white and barely attached to a frame. So poorly attached, in fact, that it fell off and they rebuilt it. Turns out, just as Phil told me, it is something called BURR COMB! He told me, I googled it, and 100% certain…that is it! I’m so glad to have an answer to that because I was very curious about it. I’ve now read a lot about it and bee space and I have learned a lot.
I also applaud @BobC for answering my other question about why my bees are drawing wax in my top box before the lower ones are full. Sounds like I should have waited before putting my third (and maybe even 2ed) box on. My weak hive only has 1 box, but about all they’d built so far is some burr comb. I’m going to remove it tomorrow and see if they will start building regular comb on my frames. But I’m pretty sure that hive is going to fade way sometime soon. Its only got about 1/2 frame of bees total and they haven’t done much of anything for the last week. oh well…we will see what happens.
Got a commercial bee keeper that keeps bees at my place every summer (used to keep them here year round but now moves them south every winter) Was out finishing up my grafting yesterday and thought I heard some commotion up in the field and sure enough it was him dropping off bees (Looks to be 32 of them). Was up near there today doing some weed control around some seedling apple trees and several times had one attacking me. They can be moody when they are first dropped off !
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I caught a swarm of bees one time and they were always moody. I got stung by bees in that hive several times. I put them in a top bar hive I built, I lost them that winter to starvation and was not really that sad to see them go…
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Derby,
I have a swarm like that now that will nail your shirt on before you know what happened. Needless to say they are not getting sugar water like the others.
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Kind of funny till one of the little sob’s stings you on the temple, I will never forget that one, felt like someone hit me with a hammer, lol.
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I caught two more swarms today and missed catching a very large one that went about 10 feet over my head. Some of these are black bees and some are Italians. I love mild winters! 10 more hives out trying to lure them in. See what happens when I go for a walk on memorial day to relax :0)
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Let me ask a sting question. Obviously I’ve been stung by all kinds of bees over the course of my life, and never had any abnormal reactions. Even since getting into beekeeping I’ve been stung a few times- only one per eipisode until Saturday. and again, outside of the pain and some minor swelling around it, its not been a problem.
But on Saturday I got stung twice at about the same time, and within a few inches of each other on my right arm. It hurt no more than usual, and by bed time it was just a little sore. THen I wake up sunday and my arm is killing me! Not around the stings, but my whole arm, deep, like a broken arm pain. The whole arm is swollen, but not drastically. But the deeo, throbbing pain is shockingly bad. Worse yet, today, which is more than 2 days after being stung, its still hurting way more than I’d expect…quite bad in fact.
It seems to be slowlly improving, and I’ve had none of the classic symptoms of anaphylactic shock (breathing issues, rapid heart beat, swelling of airway, dizziness, etc. so I don’t think its too serious.
The reason I’m bringing it up is mostly out of curiosity. Do any of you get similar reaction when stung one or more times? I hadn’t been stung for years before getting into bee keeping last month, and I’ve been stung about 5-6 times in the last 3 weeks. That doesn’t sound like enough to have a cumulative effect, but maybe it is? Can anyone offer any insights to whats going on? Thankls
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It might be time to see your Doc. I have always though the real danger occurred soon after the sting 5-10 minutes by having swelling in ones throat causing breathing problems. This sounds like a good question for some of the medically trained posters on this site as all I have is none professional advice. Seems odd that it has lingered this long. Bill
Thanks for the concern and info, bill. I don’t want to be overly dramatic about the pain…its tolerable and I’d seek medical if I thought it was really serious…and it is improving. But like you said, I always thought if someone had an alergic reaction to a sting it would be immediate, whereas my arm didn’t really swell until the next day, which is also when the pain got really bad. I thought maybe someone would say “oh yea, that’s how it happens to me when I get more than 1 sting” or something like that. So as I said, its more about curiosity than alarm. Thanks again, tho.
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What are you doing getting yourself stung when you have that full-armor garb hanging around? Oh, well. By midsummer you’d find yourself preferring to get stung than to wear all that gear for any length of time. 
Doesn’t sound like an allergic reaction to me, just a strong reaction. I always react strongly. The stings don’t hurt. I hardly notice them when they happen. It’s swelling and burning itch that drive me batty starting the day afterwards. Ant bites, bee stings, mosquito bites - doesn’t matter, I react strongly to all of them.
Anyway, the potency of stings varies. From what I remember some of the variables are the bee’s age, how long the stinger stays in, what they’ve been eating, and more. The amount they bother you is also related to the sting location and what’s going on with your own body chemistry at the time. Just because a person sometimes reacts strongly doesn’t mean they will every time. It’s usually not something that gets worse with each event.
Did you know that bee and rattlesnake venom share some like toxic compounds? Of course, bees inject much less with their stings. Pain, swelling, and itching in the area surrounding the site isn’t allergic reaction; those are normal reactions to the toxins.
It is possible to develop an infection from the site. There’s always bacteria on skin, and it’s possible for some to be pushed into the tiny wound. If you ever see those red lines that indicate an advancing infection, don’t mess around about seeking medical attention.
Once one bee stings you, more are likely to because they put out warning pheromones, which also get on you and your clothes, and marks you as a target for the others. You may want to wash whatever you were wearing at the time before wearing it around them again. They might be trying to send you a message that you’re messing with them too much for you own good, as well as theirs.
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You smell that banana like smell run! That’s bee language for get him! I brush the stinger out to so it’s not sitting there pulsating more poison into my arm. Some bees have more of a sting than others and the ones that are particularly venomous in my location are some of the wild ones. One sting from them is like 3 Italian bee stings so I have learned to avoid them.
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Thanks Muddy, your responses are always well written, informative, and appreciated. And even though I spent $150 on a fancy bee suit and helmet, you already figured out why I wasn’t wearing it…TOO HOT!!! Also, I’ve had remarkably good luck up till that with being able to be around my bees without being stung. So I got overly confident I guess. Also, it was a cloudy day before a storm, and from what I’ve read bees are more cranky in both of those conditions?
Like you said, the sting itself honestly doesn’t bother me at all. I recently had a TB test for work and it hurt 10 times more than when I get stung. Another mistake I may have made was that i pinched the 2 stingers to get them out, and I’ve read since then that pinching them may force more venum into the body and that I should have just scraped them off. Live and learn.
WHile I’m not happy to hear that you get strong reactions also, it was nice to hear that I am not alone and that this might be more ordinary than I first feared. But the pain was strange because it didn’t seem to radiate or even relate to the sting sites…just serious, deep muscle pain and whole arm swelling. Oh well. Its improving now. Thanks