9-1-12 Adding feed

Today, we added the plastic hive top feeders (that came with the hive boxes) to hives B and C.  Initially, we had to level out the hives a bit before filling with sugar water.  Then we put the wooden cover plates on top of the feeders before adding the telescoping cover.  Dad called on 9-2 and mentioned that the bees were able to get into the water and drown as a result of putting the wooden cover plate on top of the feeder, so he took them off and we'll see if that helps. 

In a general inspection, the hives were about in the same situation they were on the last check.  Hive A is in good shape, Hive B has some brood in the top box, and Hive C has almost nothing in the top box.  Hopefully, feeding hives B and C will help get them ready for winter.

8-18-12 Hive Check

This is a bit late, but I wanted to put in an entry for a hive check I did on 7-18.  In a nutshell, hive A was in really good shape.  Lots of capped honey in the top box and lots of bees coming and going.  Hive B was not in as good a shape, but still had some capped brood in the top box and most of the frames had been drawn out.... Although not any capped honey to speak of.  Hive C didn't really have much of any activity in the top box and hardly any of the frames had been drawn out.

At this point a decision was made that I'd need to come back and add feeders to hives B and C.  Since I didn't take any honey from hive A, I'm just going to let them go with the honey they harvested themselves and forgo any feeding for now.