July 28, 2011

Well, in addition to keeping bees, we also feed Hummingbirds. Little did we think they would socialize with each other!!

July 25, 2011

Checked the hives today and they both seemed to be doing really well. Lots of bees and comb buildout. I added a new 'deep' box to the new hive and a Queen excluder and honey super to the old hive. I'll check them both in a couple of weeks to see if they're filling in.

July 11, 2011

Checked both hives today to see how the bees were doing. The new hive which currently has 1 deep and a top feeder seems to be doing really well. Since we installed a new Queen several weeks ago she has been very productive. The hive has excellent comb and brood build out. I decided not to a a new deep until I get a little more build out of the frames. Right now they have a little more then half of the frames built out, so hopefully in a week or two more will be full. I did change the reducer opening to the next larger opening. Video was taken of this inspection but due to technical difficulty, it didn't come out very well!

The original hive is  also doing really well. It currently has 2 deeps and a top feeder on it. I inspected both deeps and they have excellent build out. See video below. I decided to leave the top feeder on the hive and wait another week or two before adding a Queen excluder and a honey super. Added a gallon of syrup and called it a day.

July 6, 2011

Checked both hives to see if they needed any syrup. The new hive still had plenty, but I needed to add a gallon to the old hive.

June 30, 2011

Check both hives today to see how things were going. The first thing I noticed was both hives are feeding on the syrup, so I'll keep feeding them. The old hive has really nice comb build out on the top 'deep'. I also noticed eggs and larvae  in the hive. The new hive also seems to be doing OK. I did see some larvae, but didn't really see any eggs. That doesn't mean there are no eggs, only I wasn't seeing any. I also did not see the queen in either hive, but I never do! I filled the top feeders and put everything back together. Guess I'll have to start deciding when to put the first 'super' on the old hive. I really don't want to rush things......want to make sure I have a good build up of the hive for winter.