Inspection Report 06/20/2020

OVERVIEW

This inspection was to check on progress of the newly released queen and to assess how the west colony size is doing.

COLONY 1 - West Facing

Several things happened with the West Facing colony in the last two visits (5/23 and 5/30). The following was done.

Determine how population growth is going
Have they moved into new box

DETERMINE HOW POPULATION GROWTH IS GOING

On the last visit, the west facing colony had a box added to it to give them space to grow and reduce the swarming tendency. Upon inspection, they have moved into the new box and are growing at a measured rate. Most likely they will not fill up the box, and ample space will be maintained in order for them to build bees as well as continue to store for the winter.

HAVE THEY MOVED INTO NEW BOX

I found that the bees are indeed moving into the new box, and the queen has been busy laying a lot of eggs there. At some point I will again determine if we need to reduce the size, but for now they seem to be doing really great.

Bees on outside of box during inspection

COLONY 2 - North Facing

The more important part of this visit was to determine how the North facing colony is doing. On the last visit we released the introduced queen so that she can begin laying. This visit was to see how she was indeed doing.

How is queen
Feed sugar water

HOW IS QUEEN

My biggest concern on this trip was that the newly introduced queen (see inspection from 5/10/2020). There is always a chance that the colony does not accept her, or that they kill her. That was not the case fortunately and she is doing great. The below image shows how much she is laying and in a solid pattern. This means she is very healthy and doing a good job.

The dark brown in the center of image is all brand new bees about to hatch.

FEED

Because this colony is building, it is very important to feed them so that they don’t starve, and that they build reserves. This inspection added much needed sugar water. It is hopeful that they take all the sugar water and start to build.

NEXT STEPS

Continue to feed. Start summer mite treatments.

Inspection Report - 06/20/2020