April 04, 2009 - 4 pm

At the bee yard it was 73º and no breeze.

Alpha Hive

At the entrance the Alpha hive looked busy. I checked on the hive top feeder and found that the bees have not been doing much with it. I removed it. I looked inside the hive and there were bees in there but they were not very active. The main cluster of bees were on the south side of the hive. They covered about five frames. The other five frames had bees milling about but not many. Of those five frames two were being filled with honey. I did not remove any frames where the main cluster was located. I didn't notice any hive beetles or other pests inside. I put the queen excluder back on and a honey super and closed up the hive. I did not see any ants or other pests on the outside of the hive.

Beta Hive

There was alot of activity at the entrance to the hive. Within the 10 minutes or so of watching them, there were so many bees that they appeared to be flowing in and out of the entrance!!! The entrance reducer is still in place and with the smallest opening. I opened up the hive to peek inside and found that the bees have moved up to the top hive body and are busy drawing comb on three frames! I did not do a detailed inspection, I just moved a couple of frames to see what they were doing. I didn't see any signs of hive beetles or other pests. I put things back in place and closed the hive. I didn't see any ants or other pests on the outside of the hive.