On June 6, 2005 09:12 am, olopmac wrote:
> I'm very new and inexperienced--I've got two hives, and one of them
> looks like every picture in every book of how a hive should look. The
> other one is...different. It has changed queens a few times, been at
> times very cross, at time very gentle, has been sometimes full of
> capped brood and sometimes not so much, and in weird patterns...

There are several things that can effect a queens temperament. Some are
genetic and others are environmental.

If the temperament of the hive is due to genetics it will with exceptions be
due to the queens genetics and age. It may have come from stock that is
aggressive if. This would manifest itself as the general overall temperament.
As the queen mated with many drones the temperament of individual bees will
vary to the genetic temperament of both queen in the colony and the queen
that sired the drone.

Randon temperament change is more likely due to environmental influences. Such
as your actions and temperament in the hive. A pest bothering the hive. The
weather. Is there something wrong in the hive. Disease, a failing queen, no
space for the queen to lay????

Which drones eggs are being laid.

Generally though we can assume that is some combination of all of the above.
Some you can change like your actions in the to other like the weather you
have no choice as to what can be done other than buttoning up and forging on.

Others like a bad or failing queen just replace her. Get a queen from a good
breeder for this.


> OK, so weird hive has two deep bodies, then one super (full) of
> over-wintered honey, then a queen excluder, and then a sorrowfully
> empty super on top. The hive is full of bees. The current queen has
> been in for about a month.

Dose she have any brood? If so what dose it look like? Dose She have a place
to lay?

> When I opened the upper of the two hive deeps, I found several frames
> of new capped honey--both sides, every square centimeter. In fact,
> the cells the honey is in, newly drawn, extend out so far that very
> little comb can be drawn on adjacent frames--there just isn't room!
> It just seems odd--they have an entire super of their own honey that
> they're not touching.

So what is the honey like in the brood chamber?
Please describe the condition of the brood portion of the nest?
Are there eggs?
Is the pattern spotty?
What is the drone cell level? Those bulbous ones not the standard comb ones.
Is there close resources? Pollen? Honey?
How many combs of brood?
How many combs of bees?

Have you disease such as AFB?
What are the mite levels?

--
Thanks
Shanta McBain
Bee Breeder
http://shanta.org/Apis a general view of beekeeping. This is a user
contributed site. Hosting for your site also can be provided.
http://shanta.org/ecf The site Eagle Creek Farms: Apis
Queens, Swarms (Queen and all her bee in your box). Pollination services for
the Okanagan Corridor BC Canada. Organic operations preferred.