Inspection Report - 10/6/2018

OVERVIEW

Today’s inspection was mainly to replace the BLUE colony which had failed. A new colony was brought down from our Snohomish apiary where it was doing well and had a strong queen.

COLONY 1 - BLUE

The blue colony failed due to several reasons; 1. Access to the bees was limited due to badge issues. 2. Failing queen 3. Lack of good resources. This is unfortunate but is not a surprise as this colony was struggling from the start. The queen failure was most likely the main cause for the failure as she dictates the condition of all the colony. At one point I replaced her with a new one, but it was too late by that time.

I replaced the BLUE colony with a strong one that was sourced from a swarm captured earlier this year and are a very strong colony. I added three gallons of sugar water and a pollen substitute to encourage final colony building for the fall. This should stimulate the queen to lay workers that will support the colony over the winter

Replacement colony with a top box (blue) with food.

COLONY 2 - GREEN

The Green colony continues to also struggle to build enough reserves for the winter. The queen is laying but at a very slowed pace. This is a bit troubling as we want her to be laying a lot of eggs right now, but I added some pollen substitute which should encourage her to begin laying a bit more.

I also took a box off the colony to condense them tighter. This will help focus the bees on one specific area and build in the space available. If all goes well they should build out this box for the winter.

On the next inspection I will be able to determine how she is reacting to the increased pollen.

Green colony