4 December, 11 am - 2010

It was about 60º at the Back Yard Hive. Windy and partly cloudy.

This is the first time in about three weeks or so that I opened up the hive. I wanted to make sure the bees have plenty of food for the winter. This hive has two honey supers and two brood boxes. The top honey super has about 5 frames of capped honey, the second honey super has all frames of capped honey! I will leave this for the bees. The top hive body has about four frames that are all honey. The bees fill the second honey super and they fill the top hive body and the fill about half of the bottom hive body. I didn't see any wax moth or larva at this time.

It was about 62º at the Bee Yard at my parents house. It was windy and partly cloudy.
Today I wanted to check on the bees and see if I need to feed any of the hives.

Swarm Hive
This hive has one honey super and two hive bodies.
I opened the hive and discovered that there are very few bees in this hive. The fill about 6 frames of a hive body. The bees covered about four frames in the honey super. So I removed the bottom hive body and left the honey super since that had honey and pollen. I started feeding the bees 1:1 sugar water today. I will continue to feed them until they stop taking the food.

Alpha Hive
This hive has one honey super and two hive bodies.
There was a lot of hive entrance activity.
I opened this hive and found that the bees cover are scattered all over the frames in the honey super and they cover about seven frames in both hive bodies. I didn't see any wax moth or larva. I started feeding the bees 1:1 sugar water today and I will continue to feed them until they stop taking the food.

Beta Hive
This hive has one honey super and two hive bodies.
There was was a lot of hive entrance activity.
I opened the hive and found the honey super full of bees, they filled all frames of the honey super. They also filled eight frames of the top hive body. I didn't check the second lower hive body. I started feeding the bees 1:1 sugar water today and I will continue to feed them until they stop taking the food.