7-25-2013 Hive Check

I've actually checked on the bees at least three times since the last blog post, but didn't notice any difference since the previous post, and this time was no different.  Hive A continues to show low to moderate activity while Hive B continues to consistently have lots of bees at the front entrance.

It seems like hive A might need a new queen and I'm looking into re-queening this fall.  Hive B appears to be in pretty good shape and I doubt I'll mess with them too much.  (BTW, I rarely get stung, but the guard bees in hive B did get me on the hand .... I will need to remember not to get into the bees without protective clothing from here on out).

4-28-2013 Honey Super check/Hive reversal

Went down to check on the hives again.  Hive A has STILL NOT drawn out any comb in the honey super.  There were quite a few bees up there, but no drawn comb!  I probably need to do some more reading on how to get the bees working on drawing out this comb.  I did note that several of the frames in the bottom box appeared to either be empty, or have very small eggs in the frames.  I'm hoping maybe it's just still early in the nectar flow and they will eventually move up.  I tried doing a hive body reversal to see if that would do any good.

Hive B was in similar shape, although I noted the bees were doing a pretty good job finishing the outside frames in the top box.  I reversed the hive bodies on this  hive as well and added a honey super "just in case".

4-13-2013 Hive Check

We were down in Va Beach for an indoor rock climbing competition and decided to swing by Beachland for a check of the hives.  Not too much to report... it was windy so I didn't want to keep the hives open too long.  Hive B appeared to be doing ok, but there were reports that the bees were "hanging out on the front porch"... So we removed the bottom board to expose the screened bottom for more ventilation.  The hive B bees still hadn't filled out the top super, so no super was added to this hive.

Hive A bees were making their way to the honey super, but had not yet started drawing out the comb in that box.?  Maybe there still are not enough bees to really get started on this, or maybe it's still not quite warm enough?  This was similar to what happened last year.  I did not reverse the hive bodies this time as an experiment.  I'll probably need to try to read up on how to "encourage" the bees up into the honey super.

3-30-2013 Removing entrance reducers and adding honey supers

After a report from dad that there was a "crowd" around the entrances of both hives A and B, it sounded like spring was far along enough to add supers and removing the entrance reducers.

Hive B with entrance reducer

 

Hive B after entrance reducer was removed

Hive B bottom box check.  Top box was still a bit sparse except for center frames

Adding honey super on hive A... They're definitely ready for it! 

A look into the top box on hive A

3-10-2013 First Hive check of 2013

Well,  it's been quite a while since the last hive check... so with the temp forecast to be in the 50's and 60's today, we went down to Beachland for a visit and a hive check.  Dad had warned me that earlier he had witnessed activity around hives A and B, but none around hive C.  :(   Well, today we confirmed that hive C was toast... and did not make it through the winter.  This was expected since despite attempting to feed both B and C in the fall, hive C never seemed to be storing the sugar water and kept getting smaller and smaller.

On a positive note, hive A appeared to be in REALLY good shape,  I only looked in the top box, but from the pictures below, you can see that they're still occupying the top box very well.  I will need to probably put a honey super on this one earlier than later.  Note that I still have the entrance reducer on this one and will need to remove that as well..... but the nights are forecast to be down into the 30s over the next week, so I'm going conservative.

A shot of the top deep with the telescoping cover removed.  Quite a bit of activity for early March. 

 A shot of the entrance to hive A reveals some foragers laden with pollen... Not sure where they're getting it, but it's nice to see some activity.  

A quick shot of one of the inner frames from the top box.  Lots of pollen, less honey, and hey... a few larvae!

Hive B was in OK shape, but FAR fewer bees in the top box, I didn't want to pull things apart, but a peek 
down into the box showed a reasonably healthy number of bees.

A view of the top deep super of hive B.  Not nearly as many bees in this box as in hive A.

 A look down through the top deep of hive B into the lower deep.  Quite a few bees.  Hopefully the queen is down there somewhere getting ready for spring.  The lack of brood in the top box makes me think I'll have a little time on this one before I have to worry about them swarming.... but we'll keep a close eye on it and probably get a shallow super on it before the full nectar flow.

A view of the front of hive B.  Note the bright pollen on some of these diligent foragers.  Some have an orange colored pollen and others have a pale yellowish pollen.  I'm guessing some of it might be pine pollen... but not sure about that.  There isn't much blooming except dandelions, chickweed, and henbit.  Maybe some other plants as well?