Day 37: Suiting Up For Inspections

Maybe it's hubris, but I think I am getting a feeling for what's good in my hives and what needs to be addressed. Today I suited up (with hive #4 I can't NOT fully suit up), lit the smoker (I'm getting really good at making it smoke too, by the way), and headed out with nothing more but a hive tool to check in with my hives. Hives #1-3 have boardman feeders on them, and the feeders have all been empty for 2-3 days. Hive #4 has not had a feeder since I took the division feeder out.

Hive #1: This is the established nuc--the furthest ahead of the four hives when I put them in. It still has three or so frames to build out, so no rush to add on a super. However when I look at the contents of the frames that are built out, the first thing I notice is that there is very little nectar or capped honey. There is a lot of brood in every stage that I can see--I still can't see the tiny eggs--through capped. There is some pollen (I'm still not sure how much pollen I should be seeing). But there are no frames built out holding only nectar and/or honey. This tells me that I need to feed this hive. I didn't see the queen, but I wasn't really looking for her. The bees stayed docile for my entire inspection even though I squished a couple (I HATE squishing bees!).

Hive #2: This is the package. These bees are doing GREAT! Still three or so empty frames so no super for it yet, but there are a couple of frames being built out of nectar/honey, and all the other frames have a lot of brood with a bit of capped honey around the edges. Out of all my hives, this one has the textbook colony structure. It does not need supplemental feeding at this time. I did see one queen cell (I'm pretty sure it wasn't a drone cell) and that is a concern, but there were enough larvae in all the stages besides egg (and there may have ben eggs, I just can't see them) that I think I am queen right. This hive had an assassin bug on the outside  of the hive with a dead bee in it's pincers, er claws, er hands, er WHATEVER is at the end of its front legs. There were also a couple of cockroaches in the hive. I removed the boardman feeder and put the entrance reducer back in on the larger size opening.

Hive #3: This hive contains the bees from one of the two nucs that were made up for me the day I was down at Bee Weaver Apiary. It is also the hybrid hive (hives one and two are straight Langstroths). I started my inspection at the end farthest from the TopBar extension, and I just realized that I forgot to check the TopBar portion to see if there is anything happening in there. Based on the status of the rest of the hive, I don't think there is. So back at the beginning... Like the previous two hives, the bees in this one were docile and not perturbed by my presence. I could totally manage this hive in nothing but a veil. As also with the others, there was a lot of brood and a lot of nectar/honey. Problem is that even though there are empty--not even built out yet--frames, the bees are putting the nectar in amongst the brood so that there is capped brood next to nectar. Not good. Don't they know they're supposed to build out the cells in the new frames, put the nectar there, and use the brood cells that have recently hatched bees for new brood? I'm not sure what to do to make them start building out the new comb other than move an empty frame into a spot between two built out frames. Maybe they would get that strong hint. I'm tempted to go do it now, but I'll wait till tomorrow. Saw a hive beetle and a cockroach in this hive. I removed the boardman feeder and put the entrance reducer back in on the larger size opening.

Hive #4: This is the (formerly) cranky hive with the second of the new nucs housed in a Flow hive. It is the one I put a medium super on earlier in the week. I didn't really inspect this hive as I was just in there putting on the super. However I did look in the super box, and while there were some bees in there, they hadn't started building anything out yet. I'm giving this hive another week before I go in there again--and not just because it was a refreshing change not to be chased back to the house. No chance to see pests as I didn't really get into the hive body. I hope to see more movement up in the super next weekend.

I didn't see any of the queens, but given the states of all the hives, I wasn't really concerned/looking for them. I'll look for them specifically next time. I did mix up a pint of sugar syrup for Hive #1 and as I had already removed my bee vestments,  I put on a veil and filled up and installed the feeder just wearing it (well and pants and a shirt and shoes--oh yes, and socks too). And that's it for the Bee Report this Memorial Day. Now go hug a veteran.