Grand Kids Log Hive
October 8…..Grand Kids Log hive might be showing signs of a comeback.
About a month ago, I was in despair about this hive. The temperature had dropped, I saw drones flying out of the hive, and the number of bees around the entrance had declined.
Sept. 3…The temperature has dropped to 87˙F. I’ve seen this happen before. The temperature drops indicating there is no brood up here. It could either be that the eggs are being laid in a different section or that no eggs are being laid at all.
Sept. 3…..I’ve been seeing more comb now. I’m not happy about it because it means there are fewer bees. What is happening?
Sept. 17…Then I saw a drone exiting. I took it to mean I had a laying worker. Not good. This hive is ‘going down.’
Sept. 21…The bee population is dwindling. What more evidence do I need that this hive is history?
Oct. 4…Temp has risen 2˙F. That’s interesting.
Oct. 6…Are there more bees up there?
Oct. 17…..It looks like there’s a lot more traffic here. I hope they aren’t robber bees.
Oct. 23…..WOW! Look at all these bees inside!!! The hive must have superceded, but why had I seen drones last month?
Note: I asked this question on beesource web site. Harley Craig answered “…those drones could have been from anywhere in my limited experience when you see a lot of drone interest in a particular hive they typically have a queen getting ready to mate or just had one return.” Maybe drones were already sniffing out a new prospect. 🙂
November 4…New comb has been built. This new queen is ambitious, but is November a good month to be building new comb?
Adventures in Natural Beekeeping 
Hallo Pat, I do hope that there are bees living in your Grandkids log hive again. It must have been quite a desolate feeling when you saw that the hive was emptying. It does look rather hopeful. Do you think these are new bees on the block or descendents of bees in there before?
Thanks, Lindylou. You’re right. It was very depressing watching the hive as I sat down. I thought of the months ahead of being bee-less in the only hive I could see from the house.
In answer to your question, I think these bees are descendents of the bees that flew in on May 13th. Maybe the queen was weak and the colony superceded. I asked the question about drones on http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?318142-Can-bees-truly-survive-with-zero-interventions/page2
Apparently, the drones could have come from different hives. They are aware of a new virgin queen that will be flying soon. That answers my question about drones being brothers to the virgin queen and ensures good genetics.
Such a great video! Those bees are so clever. They must have needed to r-queen so now you have a new young queen it looks a vibrant hive and so important if you can watch them from the house. I loved the shots of them bringing pollen, it is such a pleasure to watch them bringing in the pollen. The bees cut things a bit short to have enough drones left to fertilise the new queen but better late than never. The deer look so cute eating the fallen apples. Amelia
Thanks, Amelia. I still don’t understand the drone thing. The colony senses the queen is failing and builds queen cells. The old queen lays the eggs in them. But the old queen is the mother to the new queens AND the drones. Will the new queen emerge to mate with a brother? That doesn’t make sense. What am I missing?
Bee genetics is very complicated but they still need the diversity in their genes, and eggs that are too closely related will not survive. There is also the phenomena of drone drift because drones will be accepted into nests that they were not born in. In addition, the virgin queen leaves the nest for her mating flight and will be smelt and seen by drones from a great distance. After her nuptial flight she will return having mated with several drones, probably not from her nest. Amelia
Trying to work out the timeline. Sixteen days to hatch a queen from laid egg. Call it five days for her to go get mated and settle down to laying. Then twenty-one days for her first workers to hatch.
Taking October 6th as the first hatchout of workers, a new queen would have laid those eggs on September 15th. The queen herself would have been laid on August 25th by the old queen. Does that fit your observations?
That could work. I looked back in my August photos to see what the hive looked like through the window…I didn’t take any photos/video in August. Going back to July, the bees were numerous and active. Something must have triggered the need for a new queen between the end of July to the time when the new queen egg was laid. Between the photos taken on 9-3-15 and 9-21-15, the number of bees were low. I could suddenly see most of the comb where it was covered with bees before. The queen would have been hatching, doing the mating flight, and laying eggs which would account for the low number of bees. Thanks for working out the bee math. 🙂
Wow, love that hive log. Thanks for dropping by my blog today, solarbeez. You have a very interesting looking space here. All the best for your bees.
Thanks, Christine. I hope they make it through the winter. It’s ‘tough love,’ because I’m intervention free. (No sugar water)
Ahhh, sugar water? … no, I won’t try and lure them to my camera that way! Well, maybe just the once. The blue-banded bees flit about at top speed, and so erratic. 🙂
Hey Pat, I hope you’re log hive is doing well. We’ve had a few days of 70˚ F weather in western Mass, so the bees are giving some final bows before the season really turns.