It was 82º at the Bee Yard. Clear skies with light winds.
Swarm Hive
Honey super has 9 out of 10 frames full of honey. They continue to cap the frames. I don't think I will be able to take any honey from this hive. I did find the queen on frame 8. I also found fresh eggs, larva and some capped brood. The hive temperament was good throughout the inspection. Buttoned everything up and put down some insecticide to deal with the ants.
Beta Hive
Honey super has a few hundred bees but there is not much food storage happening. Top hive body, I had the ten frames checkerboarded. Five frames have brood/food and five frames are foundation, slowly being worked by the bees. Today I shuffled the frames around so that all of the brood frames are together in the center of the hive body and the foundation frames are on the "outside" of the brood frames. While going through these frames I found the queen and fresh eggs! It was about that time I noticed a swirling mass of bees collecting on a lower branch of a cypress tree about 15 feet from the hive. I put the Beta hive back together and went over to check out the swarm. The swarm was about the size of a softball and getting bigger as the bees settled in. The swarm was coming from some trees about 75' away. So I am hoping it was not from the Beta hive. The swarm bees look a lot like the Beta hive bees. So, since I did see the queen and I found fresh eggs today, I will look for fresh eggs in 7 days to make sure the swarm was not from the Beta Hive.
Alpha Hive
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