Bee update
Quick update on the bee hives… The front hive (the original, or Hive #1) is doing great and seems to have lots of stores for the winter. There are still three deeps on the hive, and they have the bottom two full of honey and brood. I have seen no swarm cells (although there is the occasional supersedure cell on the upper half of a frame), so feel pretty good about them making it until next year. No real signs of mites, either, as I have been checking the bottom slide-out board that is part of the screened bottom board. So that’s all pretty sweet! The larger hive in back (Hive #2) is also doing well, although they do not have all of the top (second) deep box filled with comb or honey, so I put some heavy (2:1) syrup out for them today. There appears to be some condensation inside the hive, so I might want to get out and check on their ventilation and make sure they don’t get too wet this winter. That could be as easy as drilling a couple of 1/2″ holes in the honey-super box that is enclosing the food jar and then covering those holes with some hardware cloth, although I will have to research it a bit before actually committing to a plan. Otherwise, they (that is, the bees in Hive #2) are doing really well and there are some food stores and capped brood. I have high hopes for this colony, as well, so should come out of the winter with two good, strong colonies (barring any catastrophic failures over the course of the winter, that is).
Hive #2 on a hot summer evening with all the bees back from foraging and hanging out on the front porch...
On the other hand, Hive #3 seems on the verge of collapse. They were never very strong to begin with, being that that was the last swarm that came out this past summer, and, at that, was only a small ball of bees. I haven’t seen the queen recently, so fear that she has expired. Chances are that I should combine these few remaining bees with Hive #2 and clear out the frames for the winter (so as to avoid anything else from taking shelter in there, like mice). It’s been sad seeing their numbers dwindle over the past month or two, but I always hoped that they would be able to pull through. Alas.
So, with that hive out of commission, and with the other unbuilt hive that is still in the basement, next year I will have all the equipment to set up some new colonies (either through swarm capture or splits). With luck, that means that we’ll be needing a centrifuge for collecting lots of honey…
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