Here is a summary of the work I did this weekend with the beehives:
Saturday, April 10
OA treatment to Hive 6
Sunday, April 11
Added top feeder and honey super to hive 6, foundation only. The bees should draw it out quickly with the top feeder in place.
Set up additional hives in preparation for picking up packages next weekend and a hive split in early May.
Had an amazing hive inspection today! The weather was nice, sunny and near 60 degrees. For this inspection, I separated both deeps and examined a few frames from each. The supers are still heavy with honey, particularly the one! So I don't need to bother with sugar water. Additionally, the queen is laying. I found good brood pattern, but only one solid frame of brood, front and back. I had expected to find more judging by how much pollen the bees are bringing in and storing but I'm sure there are other frames with eggs. I didn't look because it's a safe assumption at this point.
Wow, the weather today was amazing! I noticed hundreds of bees out in front of the hives today and in my flowerbeds so I decided to pull the hive apart while they were out doing their bee duties. What I found made me happy, and proud. In the bottom super, the cells are empty but still surrounded by some honey on the outer edges. There were also partially filled pollen cells. I didn't see any eggs but I didn't look that hard - it's still early and I know the hive is healthy so I wasn't too concerned. The top super still had a lot of honey in it.
Wow, the weather today was amazing! I noticed hundreds of bees out in front of the hives today and in my flowerbeds so I decided to pull the hive apart while they were out doing their bee duties. What I found made me happy, and proud. In the bottom super, the cells are empty but still surrounded by some honey on the outer edges. There were also partially filled pollen cells. I didn't see any eggs but I didn't look that hard - it's still early and I know the hive is healthy so I wasn't too concerned. The top super still had a lot of honey in it.
Successful OA treatment. About fifty angry bees met me at the hive entrance. I consider that to be a good sign!
Lost two of my strongest hives, most likely due to poor moisture control. I know the hives were strong a couple of weeks ago. Sad loss, but harvested a LOT of honey.
Inspected all three hives. All are strong with plenty of brood. All have honey but no solid frames of honey - all have brood in the middle and honey around the edges. Some solid frames of honey are in the works and some stored sugar water. I have no reason for alarm with anything I saw today. On the contrary, everything looks good. I was suprised at how strong hive 3 is - that's the one that swarmed several times.
Added robber screens to all hives as a precaution during the dearth. As always, took the bees a while to figure out what was going on ...
This hive swarmed again this afternoon for the second time this year. The swarm split in half and formed two clusters high up in a fir tree. The next morning, they all flew away ...
Several scout bees are actively checking out my backyard garden shed ... I would say three or four actively checking it out for hours today, and several yesterday, as well. They seem focused on the hole in the bird house over the door. I put a nuc inside with several drawn frames ...