Inspection Report - 9/29/2018

OVERVIEW

This inspection was to determine how the newly installed queens were doing. On the last visit a new queen was added to each colony as the previous queens had failed, meaning they were not producing and thus jeopardizing the colony.

COLONY 1 - West Facing

The west facing colony seems to have accepted her queen and I saw signs that she was laying eggs, which is fantastic news. The colony size is smaller, but that is to be expected with the fall season where the population dwindles.

I applied a mite treatment and gave them some sugar water. On the next visit I will start serious winter preparation, meaning I will condense the hive as much as possible, removing any extra space they may have.

COLONY 2 - North Facing

The north facing colony seems to be in some trouble unfortunately. The newly introduced queen is not producing and seems to have stopped. The colony size has diminished and is not large enough to make it through the winter at this point.

I gave them some sugar water to try and stimulate egg laying by the queen, but if the size has not improved by the next inspection, I will combine this colony with the west facing colony for the winter.

SUMMARY

As we head into colder temps, it is extremely important that the colonies are in the best condition possible to ensure winter survival. Right now the north facing colony is not there. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but does mean that I may have to combine the two colonies into one for the winter, this is standard practice for weaker colonies. In the spring the two colonies would be split into two again.