Weather: 65, sunny, windy.
Hive #2 doing well. Good brood patterns, 4 brood/food frames in the top box. 2 just nectar/pollen. 2-3 frames with eggs, larva and brood in bottom box.
No capped honey now. Noticeably more bees than last time. Identified queen laying in top box. Lots of pollen. Mostly dull yellow, some bright yellow, some bright oranges and reds.
Went to inspect hives on our first 70-degree day today. Started about 4pm. Hive #2 is dead. Hive #1 has a lot of activity.
Pussy willow tree is blooming as are maples.
Pulled frames from Hive #2 and it appears that they still had plenty of food in there. Noted a number of mites on bees and on comb. Had to do some reading, but I believe the flaky debris in the cells in the comb is Varroa mite fecal matter. There are also cells with what looks like a white, dried, granular sugar slurry. Not sure what this is.
The bottom box (deep) in Hive #2 also had some weird stuff in it. I think the deep yellow stuff is just leftover pollen, but I’m not sure what this brownish-gray slimy stuff is. There is also some bright white slimy stuff in another sealed brood/larva cell.
The bottom board was just plastered with dead bees. The pile of bees has what looks like pieces of pollen all over too.
Hive #1 looks like it’s doing really well. Lots of activity at the front door and inside the inner cover bees are crawling all over the frames and look healthy. I didn’t get any pictures of that hive other than the outside.
Fed each hive 1qt 2:1 sugar water.
Fed each hive 1qt 2:1 sugar water.
Hive #2 looks good. Only identified one beetle in the bottom box and still no larva. Was going to smash it, but it got away. The top box is nearly full of honey (sugar water, I assume) and there is a lot of honey in the bottom box along with a good bit of new pollen.
Hive #1 also looks good with a lot of new honey on top and new pollen as well.
Fed 1qt each 2:1 sugar water.
Checked Hive #2 to see if there are any more hive beetles present. I found a total of 4 in the deep box. Two each on Frame 1 and Frame 10. Looks like the bees are keeping them on the outsides of these frames and I couldn’t see any other beetles on any frames. Smashed three of the four. One got away from me. No beetle larva visible.
Hive #1. Top box has frames 3-7 partially drawn. No honey or pollen in top. Bottom box has new eggs, larva and sealed brood. Some pollen throughout brood frames. Only one full frame of honey and pollen. Some honey cells elsewhere. Good patterns but hardly any stores. Identified queen.
Hive #2. Top box is basically all drawn and has a good amount of larva and brood. Decent amount of food as well. Didn’t count frames. Bottom box frame 10 had two black beetles and some broken comb. Maybe hive beetles? I took them both out manually and squashed them. Need to look up info on them. Good brood patterns, food throughout brood frames. Identified queen. No activity in queen cups.
Fed each 1qt 1:1 sugar water. Will start feeding 2:1 next feeding.
Fed each 1qt 1:1 sugar syrup.
Hive #1. Identified queen. Looks healthy, seems to be wandering in circles on the frame, though. Identified two queen cups on frames 5 and 7 in the bottom deep box. Some comb drawn in the top box. New eggs, larva in all stages and some bees hatching. Little food reserve.
Hive #2. Did not identify queen. New eggs, larva in all stages and some bees hatching. Good amount of food reserve. Comb mostly drawn in the top box. Swapped frames 9 and 10 to get them to draw 10. Lots of eggs in the top box.
Fed each hive 1qt 1:1 sugar water
Hive #2 swapped frame 1/2 and 8/9 to get them to draw comb fully. Top box brood frames 4-6. Some hatched. Add another box if another frame and a half are drawn.
Hive #1 added box.
Fed both 1qt 1:1 sugar water.
Fed each hive 1qt 1:1 sugar water.