Yesterday's Big Inspection in Beelandia

Yesterday, I spent late morning and early afternoon working in Beelandia on all the langstroth hives.It was not the most comfortable day to be bundled up in "white armor" however. The temperatures were in the high 90s (Fahrenheit) and absolutely no wind to speak of. The sun felt scorching.

I put second boxes on both Worker Bees... and Lib-BEE-taria, along with drawn drone comb frame as part of my mite management plans. I took the 3, 5 and 7 frames out of the bottom box and moved them up to the second and put drawn frames in their place in the bottom box. I left both with a pollen pattie.

I did a walk-away split on Bee Glad... I've never done this before preferring to create nukes from queen cells I've grafted or were given. I am an experimenter and want to see if there is a significant difference in results in my local area. I will report the results as they come in.

Last Tuesday's Inspection

Last Tuesday, I inspected all the hives in Beelandia. While it was sunny and reasonable warm, the wind was very gusty. I have caught the bees foraging Dutch White Clover, chives and mint on my property. I was a bit concerned about the bees since we had rainy and unseasonably cold conditions the previous week.

All the hives seem to be doing well. Plenty of larvae in all stages of development. They are bringing in pollen and the queens look large and healthy.

Drones have hatched in Plan Bee..., the largest top bar hive. I did not see any in the other hives.

I took off the top feeders but did leave a pollen patty in each hive. They have been consuming it and, with the rain and cold, I have worried about the bees diet.

Yesterday's Reverse

Yesterday afternoon I reserved the boxes on the Bee Glad... hive. Before closing up the hive, I left a pollen supplement pattie. Hopefully today, the new packages come.

Yesterday's Beekeeping Activities

The weather was pleasant yesterday (50 degrees F and sunny) and honeybees in the Bee Glad... hive were out bringing pollen. It was a fine day to do some work in Beelandia.

I finally was able to prepare both top bar hives for bee installation later this month. I took all the insulation off, leveled the hives, and removed all the old comb (three years old or older) from the hive. As I suspected, the bees in these two hives had not collected very much nectar last summer and fall and had probably died of starvation.

After top bar tasks, I went on to work with Bee Glad..., the one hive to survive this winter. I remove the quilt box, hive wrap, and other insulation. I made a very brief inspection (I did not remove any frames). The cluster is at the very top of hive with very little honey left. I reversed the top two boxes, left some pollen patties, and put on a top feeder with syrup added.

I did make one discovery doing all this: I am stronger this spring than I have been in the last three. My previous weakness, which I had attributed to age, was probably due to my unrepaired surgical hernias. My December hernia surgery was a success!