Then There Were Three

Well we now have three hives and probably could split them again to make four but I am out of boxes and frames (reminds me...need to order more). Well two weeks ago I ventured out and split my one hive that was doing very well and took one of the queen cells from it and placed it in the split. I also took a couple of frames of brood from the other hive and placed in it as well. We have inspected it once more since the split and the queen has not emerged.

We have also inspected the other two hives and found no queen in either of them. Not sure what is going on but I have left queen cells in both of them hoping they could raise their own queen. We will see.

All three hives are bringing in nectar but have not made it up to the honey supers that I will rob. I am hoping the three queens emerge soon and we can have some honey this year.

Well Our Worst Fear Came True.

On April 11, 2012 our worst fear for this year happened...the early budbreak was attacked by the evil frost bandits. I had heard the day before that there was a frost warning so we were a little worried. Well the next morning we had every right to be worried because the temps reached 29 in the vineyard and we had massive damage in the Merlots. We have lost about 2/3 of our Merlot but were lucky in the Cabs as we only lost close to 10%. This years crop will be the smallest we have had in years. So keep you fingers crossed nothing else happens!!!

Early Merlot Shoots and Swarming

Like I have posted earlier this warm weather has pumped these vines up. With the Merlot shoots now 2"-3" inches long we applied 5 oz of 10-14-10 vinevineyard fertilizer to the Merlot vines. The Cabs are still holding but I believe this week they will pop. Still to EARLY!!!

Well as much as I talked about my one hive that is booming well, it is booming too much. After checking it out yesterday I noticed 10 swarm cells and could not find the queen. This doesn't mean anything because I have gone two weeks without seeing her before and I also saw fresh eggs so I know she was just in the area.

The other concern that I have is there were alot of bees gathering underneath the bottom board (hey the queen might under there). The one good thing in searching the two hives is the weaker hive is doing better.

I will keep you posted because I am going split the booming hive soon and see if the keeps it from swarming.

My little helpers.

This weekend me and my little helpers built and painted two more brood boxes.

We dodged a bullet last night.

Last night they had a frost advisory for our area and luckily it was just an advisory because nothing happened. It would have not been good if we did receive frost because our Merlot has shoots that are about 2"-3" long. The weather man said we are not out of the woods yet because they are predicting more frost to come around April 4-6. Let's keep our fingers cross nothing happens.

First Day of Spring March 20

We were able to get into the hive and check them out. Seems like both hives are progressing well, one it just further along than the other so we are feeding the one hive that is not as far along until I feel it is ready to go on it's own. Check Joyce out below feeding the bees.

With this warm weather everything is budding...even our Merlot. Temperatures this week are supposed to be in the low 80's, high 70's. This is the earliest they have ever popped and I am afraid that we will have another Easter Freeze like we did in 2007. We need to keep our fingers crossed!!! Check out the pick of the Merlot Bud that has already popped.

Winter Pruning Complete

This past weekend we finished our winter pruning and thanks to one of our 2010 investments, getting up the cutting (and everything else) was a breeze.