Inspection 5/16/11

Mary & Nuc#3
72°F
Sunny moments in between rain showers

Since Myrina swarmed I've wanted to inspect Mary.  For a while there she was showing lots of Chalkbrood dropped out in front of the hive and the amount of field bees seemed diminished.

The honey super was a sad sight.  The bees are now drawing out the comb, but slowly.  However they are making many drone size cells so the comb will be great for honey production.  I moved the drawn or drawing frames to the side and placed the empties in the middle; trying to spur the drawing out of those frames too.  Beautiful new wax

The Top brood box looked like this (from left to right):

1. Plasticell - little honey - open cells - Brood
2. Plasticell - little honey - open cells - Brood
3. Plasticell - little honey - open cells - Brood - many swarm cups/ removed
4. Plasticell - little honey - open cells - Brood
5. Crimped wire - little honey - open cells - Brood
6. Plasticell - honey - open cells - Brood
7. Natural comb - no honey - open cells - All Drone frame/comb cut out - Queen
8. Plasticell - little honey - open cells - Brood
9. Plasticell - honey bound
10. Plasticell - honey bound - returned to position #1

Not much in the way of honey or pollen.  Plenty brood both young and old.  Very, very little chalkbrood.  Both Mary and her spun off nuc have the CB.  For some reason Mary always has it.  The solid drone frames have been popping up lately.  I cut off all the comb but left enough at the top for the bees to have a guide.  This, i hope, opens up the brood nest enough to dissuade them from swarming.  The copious amount of queen cups in the swarm position was unnerving.

Bottom brood box:

1. Plasticell - honey - pollen frame
2. Plasticell - little honey - pollen frame - Brood
3. Plasticell - very little honey - open cells - Brood
4. Crimped wire - very little honey - open cells - Brood
5. Plasticell - little honey - open cells - Brood
6. Crimped wire - honey - open cells
7. Plasticell - honey - open cells
8. Plasticell - honey bound
9. Plasticell - honey bound - returned to position #2
10. Plasticell - honey bound - returned to position #1

More honey and less brood in this box.  There is enough open cells & undrawn frames in this hive to keep them from swarming, i hope.  With some of the honey comb reaching the bottom of the frames I'll add an excluder soon.  If it looks like it's getting crowded I may replace a honey bound frame with a foundationless one.  The colony looks OK for now.  The plan is to requeen her anyway.

- - -   - - -   - - -

Next was the split made from the neighbor's colony that i call Nuc#3.  These bees are the hardest working bees I know.  The first to flight each morning and the last to rest every night.  The Nuc, a 9 frame deep box, is full with brood and honey.  Sadly the parent frames are Mediums.  The bees have taken to drawing comb tangentially to the bottom of the 5 smaller frames.  I cut it all out then rearranged the frames so each small frame was bracketed by larger frames.  That should straighten out the bottom comb.

The bees have little room left though.  I need to add another deep as soon as I can.  This was suppose to be a Nuc but she's turned into a full colony.  I guess that happens when you start out with 5 frames of bees.

There's a hitch to it though.  I am going to requeen Mary with the queen from Nuc#3.  Then let Nuc#3 make herself another queen.  Mary will then become as productive as this awesome Nuc/Hive.  I plan on requeening this weekend.

* ____________________________________________________________*

Inspection 3/12/11

Mary & Myrina
64°F
Partly Sunny
Slight Breeze

Not a full inspection but a brood check.  It's that time of year where time gets short with all the tasks to be completed.  A beek needs to monitor the Spring brood up for Swarm Control.  The last inspection showed small brood nests in each hive.  Today's inspection was to learn how much more those nests have grown.  

Myrina's bottom Deep had full honey frames from the 10th  to the 7th position.  Frame #6 was filled with worker brood.  I stopped pulling frames and closed the box up.  The last thing I wanted to do is pull apart the brood nest.  I'm sure, judging by the amount of bees on them, frames 1 & 2 also had brood.  I tipped the box on it's side to look for Swarm cells hanging off the bottom frames but saw none.

Her top box had many bees in it but a frame by frame search revealed no brood.  There too the bees were on most of the frames.  Still some honey in the end frames.  I expect eggs in the top box soon.  The Reversing tends to set them back a week or two and it's been only one week since that happened.  The bees look healthy now and I'll do another brood check soon.

There were a few equipment issues with Myrina.  The unpainted wood sheet beneath the bottom board had molded.  Apparently it soaked up the rain water which mixed with the hive debris under the screen.  The bees couldn't access it to remove it so it molded.  That sheet was replaced with a corrugated plastic 'Land 4 Sale' sign.  The wood sheet looked terrible.

Rain seeped in onto the unpainted wood sheet

I also changed out the Deep box that had been lowest in the hive.  It too had the mold/mildew spreading up it's sides.  I hope to save the box but that will take some bleach first. 

Mold & Mildew spread upwards

I wanted to put the first Honey Supper on Myrina.  I had ripped out all the Plasticell comb and then wired all the frames for Foundationless Natural Comb.  It's my understanding, however, that the bees must have brood in the box directly below the super for them to draw it out. 

Foundationless Medium Honey Frame

Since the top Deep has no brood in it I'll need to wait on that for now.  We are still having cold nights.  With the bees only filling one & a half Deeps an extra Super might add to much space for them to heat when they need to cluster.

Mary is much farther ahead.  I was pleasantly surprised to see full brood frames in the top Deep.  Recall the first inspection where she only had brood in the bottom Deep.  I pulled one brood frame to remove some bur comb beneath it.  On the next frame i found Drone Cells both capped & uncapped.  Great news!  I guess in a week or two I can go ahead and make my nucs.  Unfortunately in the excitement I forgot to look under the boxes for swarm cells.

I say I can make my nucs soon because the plan is to let the nucs make their own queens.  So drones need to be flying first.  I could wait and buy Queens to put in the nucs later but I want to make my own.  I hope to rear local queens and eventually have a bee yard filled with Survivor bees.  Though I don't plan on requeening Mary or Myrina this year,  Their queens are not yet a year old.  They should last me until next year at the earliest.  The nucs will, hopefully, make queens quickly.  Those who can make it through next Winter will seed the next batch the following Spring.  The big picture is to make my own queens and sell Wintered nucs.

However, I did see a small pile of Chalkbrood mummies beneath the entrance.  That's usually a sign of a weak queen but the brood in this hive looks great.  The amount is good and so is the pattern.  I keep an eye on it to see if it gets worse.  If it does I may need to requeen her.
Since Mary had plenty of brood in the top box I added an undrawn foundationless Honey Super.  That might help ease any potential over crowding until I can pull the nuc frames and replace them with more undrawn foundationless ones.  Which breaks up the brood nest and diminishes the swarming instinct.

However,  I did replace one frame from the top Deep.  The bees had over-drawn one frame and under-drawn the next one.  To fix this I replaced the oversized frame with another undrawn foundationless frame.  Now the bees can hopefully draw both out to normal size.  That too should relax the chance of swarming.

Both Hive Top Feeders were removed.  The bees showed no great interest in the syrup this Spring.  Maybe they hate the Tea or the Maple flow is just to good (still going strong).  The Inner Covers were placed back on too.  I'll put the Slatted Racks on as soon as I finish them.

*

Inspection 10/17/10

Mary
72 f
Sunny


Mary had the same crystallized sugar in her HTF as did Myrina.  Not to much but it was there.  The bees seemed calm when I started.  A good bit of bur comb too.

 Almost looks drone sized
-

The frames are Plasticell from 2008.  I've not cycled any of them out yet.  Maybe next year if the comb is dark enough.  The Nosema stains are from when Mary was in the ICU last Winter.  I scraped it off along with all the propolis on the frame rests.

Top Box Frames:
10. Full capped honey - 2008 Plasticell
 9.  Full capped honey - 2008 Plasticell
 8.  Full capped honey - 2008 Plasticell
 7.  Full capped honey, drawn out oversized - 2008 Plasticell
 6.  1/2 capped honey, drawn out undersized -  2009 Plasticell
 5.  1/2 honey, 1/2 brood (back filling w/honey) -  2008 Plasticell
 4.  Full capped honey (back filling w/honey) -  2008 Plasticell
 3.  Eggs, 3/4 back filled honey, queen cup - 2008 Plasticell
 2.  Capped brood, 3/4 back filled honey - 2008 Plasticell
 1.  Full capped honey - 2008 Plasticell

Bottom Box Frames:
10. 9/10 capped honey - 2008 Plasticell
 9.  9/10 capped honey - 2008 Plasticell
 8.  9/10 capped honey - 2008 Plasticell
 7.  9/10 capped honey - 2008 Plasticell
 6.  1/2 capped honey, 1/2 pollen - 2008 Plasticell
 5.  Eggs, larva, pollen, honey, CHALKBROOD - 2008 Plasticell
 4.  Larva, pollen, honey - 2008 Plasticell
 3.  Larva, pollen, honey - 2008 Plasticell
 2.  Pollen, honey, brood - 2008 Plasticell
 1.  Pollen, honey, brood - 2008 Plasticell

Spotty pattern but it's the end of the season
-

After pulling all the frames & scraping all the propolis I felt the bees needed even more agitation.  So I pulled off the bottom box and dumped and cleaned the solid BB.  The bees temperament was fine, until then.  They didn't come after me but they did take to the air with a vengeance.  Well, of course they did, their hive looked like the Scarecrow after a fight with the Flying Monkeys!  After I put it all back together it took an hour before they had calmed down.  And yet not a single headbutt or found stinger in the jacket.

Incidentally, under the BB was a huge Black Widow and her egg case; which was as big as a golf ball.  She got mashed and the eggs were thrown into the woods.

The Chalkbrood was very minor; only a few cells.  This queen seems strong enough so I'm not inclined to worry about it.  If i see it again in Spring I'll requeen.  Interestingly enough Mary never received a screened bottom board this year.  I left the solid BB on in Spring when her population was critical; she needed heat to brood up.  I never got around to fabricating her one this Summer and now here we are.  I can't say if they're related but I wonder why this hive has always had Chalkbrood in it, and through the reign of 3 queens now.  Quite suspicious.

So for once Mary looks good.  What a turn around after last winter.  Her stores are looking good, she still has plenty of brood, and her population looks great.  All of this from the 2 cups worth of bees that survived last Winter.  My options then were to let the colony die and use their hive for a new package or take extreme measures to aid them.  I'm glad I did what I did.  I now know how to bring back a colony from the population brink.  Think of it, originally not enough bees to cover half a deep frame!  And now...

...Here is just 1 of her pollen frames

-

The decision whether to requeen every year has not been made.  Ideally I would use queens I reared.  I was hoping to rear queens this year but we couldn't even produce enough honey.  I will feel better about making my own queens once the bees & I have had a truly productive and successful year.  If I need to requeen I'll get more queens from Bobby again, or someone local.

I'll do a Varroa check this week to see where that population is going.  The whole year I've not seen a mite except in blown-up photos.  My neighbor did a 24 hour drop check in her 2 hives and counted only 11 & 13 mites Total!  I believe mine will be near the same. 

I'll feed the bees a few more times before Winter.  Include in that a Fumagillin treatment.  We'll see about the Apistan treatment.  If I can avoid it I will.

*

Inspection 5/20/10

Mary
68 f
Cloudy

Mary has been busy lately.  She spent a almost 2 weeks at my place of work before being moved to a new Stand in the back yard.  While 'at work' she was in full sunlight.  Something we don't have here in the yard.  She used it wisely too.  Her activity level increased remarkably so her population looks good now.  The spot at work is a good one.  I'd like to use it all the time.  Right now it serves as only a temporary spot for moving hives & swarm catches.

The bees are working all 10 frames of the single Deep box.  The population has filled the box.  The number one reason I went in was to check for Swarm cells.  None were found but there were some queen cups in the 'swarm position' on frame 6 & 2 cups in the 'Supersedure position' on frames 1 & 2.  Right now 6 frames are filled with eggs, larva, & pupae.  There was a handful of drone cells.  Mostly on the bottom of frame #6.  There were a few isolated drone cells mid-frame in a few spots too.  They have even filled the end frames with fresh honey.  For a week colony they are looking about as good as they can.

Chalkbrood is still an issue.  A little on every brood frame.  Frame 2 is half gone with it.  Hence the dire need to requeen her.  I'll be seeing a beek this weekend who has queens.  I hope they're ready.  Although I couldn't find the queen today at all.  My beek neighbor helped me look but neither of us could find her.  I was ready to mark her but no luck just yet.

The bees are making lots of bridge comb.  The frames aren't too bad but I'd like to see less of it.  I scraped the propolis off each frame a while back to maintain the right bee space.  Yet every frame had a spot or two of it.

After all that it was time to add the second deep box.  This is almost the same box & frames she had on her last year.  I took them off when her population crashed last Winter.  After it came off the frames went into the freezer and the box was retired.  The box was original equipment from when I bought the hives.  I wanted to put it back on last week but after I thawed the frames the Wax moths found them.  I had to refreeze the frames for a few days to fix that problem.  One frame has a new wood part after I dropped & broke the old one.  I just transferred the old comb (plasticell) right into the new frame. A few others were cleaned up a bit with a sander.  The box is new.

The frames in the second Deep Box

Before I put the frames in the box each one got sprayed with sugar syrup.  As soon as the box went on the bees started to move up into it.  I didn't pull any of these out to look.  I'll check them in a week or so.

I put the hive top feeder on with a gallon of 1:1 syrup in it.  I hope that will help the bees produce extra wax.  That way they can quickly repair the wax moth damages cells in the second box.

*

Inspection 4/29/10

Mary
75 f
Sunny

At least she's consistent in her problems...

I took off the T-cover to look at the Hive Top Feeder.  It was about a quarter full of crystallized sugar.  All of that was dumped on the ground away from the hive.  The ants & dogs will appreciate that.  Though there were still some bees in the HTF working the candy.  It will be put away for now.  The nights are now in the 50's & 60's so the bees won't be clustering anymore.

Beneath the HTF was the brood nest in the deep hive box.  The population looked great.  Few of the bees stolen from Myrina are left.  They still make their presence known during inspections by becoming hyper-defensive.  The rest of the girls are Mary's.  They have 4 full frames of capped brood right now.  Unfortunately the brood pattern is spotty.  Which is a sign the Queen is weak.  I have already talked to a local queen breeder about buying one as soon as he has some.  Mary was weak all last year.  I didn't understand that until late Fall when it's too late to requeen.  Now is the time for that.

Another sign of a weak queen is chalk brood.  Which i found several cells worth in the middle of the nest.  I knew it would happen.  That's why I talked to that queen breeder 2 months ago.  But I must say for a fading Queen Mary is doing better than expected.  If she can keep it going for a little while longer she'll have done her part.  After which with the new Queen the spotty brood & chalk brood will go away.

Speaking of which Queen Mary was found on frame 5 milling about.  I meant to mark her today but forgot to borrow the marking pen from my neighbor; now a new beekeeper herself.  I mark her next time.

I have been wondering how the bees will handle making drone cells on Plasticell.  It's cell size is smaller than drone cell but not by much.  Mary's girls made some drone cells on the bottom of 1 frame; not unusual.  However, they half attached it to the imprinted Plasticell foundation & half on the wood frame.  That way they could make it that little bit bigger that they needed.  I've not yet found any drone cells in the middle of the frame.  I'm thinking they won't but am waiting to find out. 

Also on the bottom of the frames I found a few Queen cups.  These differ from the queen cups in the New Hive due to their location on the frame.  Queen cups on the bottom of the frame would become Swarm cells.  When a Swarm cell hatches the OLD queen takes half the colony and leaves the hive for good.  They then setup shop elsewhere as a new colony.  The New queen from the swarm cell stays in the original hive to carry on the where the Old queen left off.  Not enough space in the hive is one reason for a colony to swarm.  This may be a indicator that this hive needs another deep hive box put on the hive.  With extra room for brood the colony will be less likely to swarm.  So I'll put another brood box on this hive this week, as soon as it's painted.

Finishing the inspection had a slight bump.  Without the HTF i need to put the Inner Cover on.  I don't have one I'd use.  Mary's old one from fall was puled off when I moved her back outside.  It was plastered with crystallized sugar & Nosema droppings.  The leaking syrup also warped the cover.  I'd rather burn it than use it.  For now I'll leave the HTF on but with water in it.  What rock sugar i couldn't knock out will sweeten the water.  I'll make another IC this week and put it on next weekend.

To review:
Spotty brood & chalk brood.
She needs a DHB and a IC.
Oh...and a new Queen!

A Quick Look

A cool 48 degrees & sunny today. An OK fly day for the bees. I went down to the hives to check activity. I closed off the entrance. Then waited to see what the foragers were bringing in.

Mary's girls were bringing back some wax from that old frame I left out. No pollen. Plus I checked under her SBB and still see signs of CB. I will lay a stone pad beneath the hives this winter to reduce ambient moisture near the hives next year.

Mary's girls coming home almost empty handed

Myrina's bees, of course, were returning from somewhere with some bright orange pollen. I have no idea whats blooming but something is. Even our mums are gone. I'll guess at somebody's potted flowers and leave it at that.

I count 6 with pollen

--- --- ---

Also I took their Fall pictures:

Mary ↓

--  --

And Myrina ↓

Both have double deeps, HTF, Inner cover, Vent box, T-cover, & a tin top sheet. Mary has her SBB while Myrina has a Solid BB. Myrina will get her SBB as soon as I make it. Winter will see even more reduction.

--- --- ---

The November meeting was last night. We hosted a panel of 3 experts to pose questions to. Two local guys and one man from N.C, a Bob Cole. Mr. Cole made the point that we should be raising our own Queens. That plus what else I've read convinces me to do just that. I'll need to read much on the topic this Winter to make a successful try at it.

That and 2 splits will make for a very interesting year in 2010.

aun Aprendo

Reserve Inspection

Mary
65 F
Sunny

I run double deeps. Just did a pre-winter inspection.

TOP BROOD BOX: (Old frames & old wax)
FRAME
10 - no brood, some bread, some uncapped honey
9 - no brood, a few CB mummies, some uncapped honey
8 - no brood, a few CB mummies, some uncapped honey
7 - no brood, mostly bread & uncapped honey
6 - no brood, all bread + empty superceedure cell
5 - no brood, all bread
4 - no brood, slight bread
3 - no brood, some honey, some bread
2 - no brood, few CB mummies, tad honey
1 - no brood, half honey, half *unknown* (perhaps bread with a white crust??)

BOTTOM BROOD BOX: (new frames)
FRAME
10 - no brood, 80% honey
9 - no brood, half honey, half uncapped honey
8 - 1/4 uncapped brood (some rice grains), few CB mummies, half honey
7 - 1/4 capped brood, Few CB mummies, some uncapped honey, half honey
6 - some uncapped brood, 1/4 honey, several bees with withered wings
5 - some brood, half honey
4 - no brood, mostly honey, some bread
3 - no brood, all honey
2 - no brood, all honey
1 - no brood, all honey

Note - the bread has that wet look.
Note - Green mold showing up again on wooden ware

Seems to me that this is not right. I thought the hives should be filled with plenty of honey, some bread, and a fair amount of brood. I have a SBB and a vented top. There is a hive top feeder though.

I asked around on the forum and they think this is fine actually. Not as much weight in Mary's boxes as I would like but maybe not critical either. Myrina's boxes weigh a ton. She should be fine.

Also they said that the Queens lay few eggs from October to December. Apistan should be installed during this time. Before the Queens starts to lay for Spring build up again. I'll get that in the next dry & warm day.

Screened Bottom Board, Hive-top Feeders

Big day today. I replaced the solid bottom board on Mary with a Screened Bottom Board. Poor ventilation last winter led to condensation in the hive. I installed hive-top ventilators this summer. Now with the SBB there should be a slight chimney effect in the hives. Yet with the Inner cover still in place I expect no trouble with too much heat loss. Myrina will get hers as soon as I make one.

The view from below the SBB

The debris on the solid bottom board was disgusting. Mummified brood, Wax Moth larva, Just a terrible mess. I hope the SBB works as well for me as it seems to for others in the Club.

Debris on solid bottom board
-Train Wreck!-

I was worried the the temps around the brood might be too low in the cooler weather so I flipped the brood boxes (these poor bees got such a stirrin' today!). When all was done everything looked good but soon after I saw some Robing taking place. I quickly popped in the reducer to control it. Eventually the girls sorted themselves out and everybody went home.

Alright! Break it up, break it up!

--- --- ---

Also today I added the Hive-Top Feeders to both hives. I already like these things for numerous reasons.

1. No more refilling jars every day
2. No more storing syrup in the fridge. All of it goes into the hive.
3. I can refill the feeder without exposure to the bees.
4. The syrup in HTF's will be warmer than in entrance feeders.
   
5. The syrup is closer to the bees.

There will be more reasons I'm sure. However there was an initial issue. HTF's must be put in a super. I first tried a medium honey super. It left too much room above the feeder. This extra dead space would (I think) draw heat away from the bees. I do not have smaller supers so I made some. I used 1 x 4's to make 2 of them. The box leaves only 1.5 inches of space above the feeder. I hope this is enough but not to much.

Hive-Top Feeder in it's new super

Mary's girls found the HTF before I closed the lid. Myrina's, however, had some difficulty in finding it. I had to drip some syrup down through the feeding slots onto the brood box. A few girls followed the trail upwards and found the feeder. Good to go.

I am also mixing a tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar for each gallon of solution. This prevents mold from growing in the sugar. It has been recommended to me to also add some essential oils: lemon grass & spearmint. I've seen this mentioned positively in the forums and have ordered them.

--- --- ---

The club meetings are great. I'm learning more all the time plus getting my questions answered. I plan to take a beginners Beekeeping class in February. I'm going to get my neighbor to take the classes with me. She loves the bees and sits them for me when I'm not home. I'm planning to put hives in her yard anyway.

It looks like I'll be able to split both hives next spring if they're in good condition. That will give me 4 hives total. Since they are both down in numbers from such a rotten year (or my crappy handling) I'm thinking about insulating the hives for winter. It should decrease the cold stress plus give them an earlier start to spring. We will see.

Picky bee wants her bottle back!

Medication

I pulled off the last honey super on Mary. Not enough to bother with. Brood cells are being filled with honey in the brood boxes. Very little brood. Still signs of chalk-brood. I don't know where she went but I don't think there's a Queen. There are still the incomplete queen cells from last week in the brood boxes. I don't know what to think. I put the honey super frames in the freezer for now. All my honey supers are in storage.

I talked to someone who thinks my major problem is mold. Remember it has been endlessly rainy here. NO one is harvesting much honey at all. Last year we had a terrible drought. We also had lots of honey.

I'm mixing up all the Fumagilin-B I need to medicate both hives. At the two gallons per two box hive autumn rate I'll need four gallons. I am using a 1:2 solution. It's really still summer and I want to promote brood laying. I still plan to use the fumagilin again late this fall before they ball up.

I will put the Apistan strips in next weekend or so. I did not see any today but I know they're on the rise in Mary. I want to put them in as late as I can for winter but I may need to get them in there sooner. We'll see.

I suppose I should be happy that I haven't lost all my bees but it's been a terrible year.

Inspection 8/9/9

Mary & Myrina
95 F
Sunny

Mary
Many bad things here. Varroa mites, watered bee bread, chalk-brood, many dead bees in the hive, little to no new brood, spotty pattern, two possible supercedure cells. Am I losing her? Did I accidentally mash the queen during the last inspection? I think it's time to be in panic mode.

(click me)
Red circle = Withered wings

Green circles = Chalk/Foul brood
-
(click me)
Green circles = Varroa mite
Blue circle = Dead bee

She is now down to two brood boxes, an excluder, & a honey super (1/3 full)

Myrina
It seamed like I've seen more bees working at the entrance. Yet there is very little new brood in the hive. I will keep an eye on her to see if she develops similar symptoms to Mary.

She has drawn no honey comb this year. I took off the honey supers. She's only two brood boxes now.

Inspection 4/19/09

Mary
70 F
Cloudy

Well on Sunday I was able to get a look at Mary. First I saw the unmistakable sign of chalkbrood on the front porch. Second they had gummed up the hive frames with lots of burr comb. Third I found many unopened swarm cells. Fourth I found one opened swarm cell.

I pulled out every frame in the hive looking for chalkbrood. Fortunately there was very, very little. It centered in where the Winter bee ball would have been. I pluck out the ones I found (less than 10). The bees can take care of the rest. The wet Spring & cool temps are to blame. Soon it will be dry & hot.

The burr comb I scraped off of everywhere but the bottom board. The board will be replaced in May with a screened board.

It's Spring so the swarm cells are plenty. I found 8 of them mostly in the bottom brood chamber. they where removed.

(Can you see the opened cell to the right?)

Yes I'm sure the previous Swarm in the yard was from Mary as I found one opened swarm cell. I hope she's a good queen as she's in charge of Mary now. Mary's attitude had changed over the Winter as to make me think the re-queening exercise may have worked. Population was up. They stopped exhibiting that odd 'everyone out of the hive now' trait. Had I inspected a week ago I'd still have her. Bad weather, cold & rainy, delayed me.

The brood looked good in pattern & amount. Their stores lasted them through the Winter with surplus. I made great use of the entrance feeders. There seems to bee plenty of bees left in the colony to do there job. Job 1, of course, is make more bees.


I replaced 3 frames in Mary's bottom chamber. They are very old and falling apart. I intend to replace the remaining 7 frames in that box later this year. Then all will be new, plus she gets a new box for that chamber too (back ordered).


All medication is complete. All I did this year was Apistan & Fumidil. I hope that's enough.

I plan to put 2 Honey suppers on each hive this year. That should net me 120 lbs of honey, or so. I also want to make a third hive from one of these swarm cells. I pulled 2 honey filled deep frams from Myrina to put in the Nuc. I'll add the frame with the last swarm cell (and bees) and hope for the best. If it works i'll kick myself for not getting 2 Nucs. I did, however, put the excluder plus 1 honey super on each hive. I get to inspecting Myrina on the next warm day.

Speaking of Myrina I opened her up briefly. Then the drizzle shut me down. All I had time to notice was that the last pollen patty I put in her last Fall was still there. That got thrown away. With all the honey that was left in these hives, from what was a sturdy Winter, I don't think pattys are necessary.