27 May 2011
For the first time this spring, a hive inspection that wasn't disappointing. This bee yard is just full blooms and the air is loaded with fragrance.
The wet weather continues with nearly an inch of rain over the lat two days. We may yet break the record for wettest spring ever.
Green Hive
The new queen has been released, accepted and is laying. This group is likely to be out of balance for awhile because of the large number of drones the previous queen laid, but we'll see what happens. They're still in only one deep.
White Hive
This is, by far, the best queen of the four that came with our packages this year. While that's not saying much, she is producing really well. A few notes:
For the first time this spring, a hive inspection that wasn't disappointing. This bee yard is just full blooms and the air is loaded with fragrance.
The wet weather continues with nearly an inch of rain over the lat two days. We may yet break the record for wettest spring ever.
Green Hive
The new queen has been released, accepted and is laying. This group is likely to be out of balance for awhile because of the large number of drones the previous queen laid, but we'll see what happens. They're still in only one deep.
White Hive
This is, by far, the best queen of the four that came with our packages this year. While that's not saying much, she is producing really well. A few notes:
- The queen is in the top box and looks good.
- While it's about at a point I would consider reversing the hive, there is still a whole heap of capped brood in the bottom. Those bees should be emptying out of the bottom pretty soon, then I will probably reverse the boxes to get the empty comb above the queen.
- The queen is really doing a good job of painting these frames with brood.
- Added a honey super with about half of the frames filled with drawn comb. Given the amount of forage here these could fill up fast. I'll be ready with another box on our next visit.
- While plenty could still go wrong, this hive has the best potential to produce honey this year. I'm especially concerned about a bear finding this apiary.
