Inspection Report - 06/26/2021

New Apiary Inspection - 6/26/2021

Over the last month, we have been working to build the new colonies and get them as strong as possible. The goal is to get them building honey and pollen reserves so that they can be ready as we move towards the fall and winter.

As noted in Mid-June, we saw that several of the colonies were building quickly and needed space as soon as possible. Fortunately Shawn Wood was able to bring in extra hive boxes to add.

HIVE INSPECTIONS

The current configuration has three hives on the East side of the building, and one on the West facing side. This was done because the West facing hive was already established in the current location and moving was not a possibility due to the fact the foraging bees had already geo-located to that location. Over the winter, we will move the hive to the same location as the others.

HIVE #1

This is the strongest colony. They have been very prolific and building fast. I added a box to the hive a few weeks ago, and they had already filled it with honey. Because they are so great, I took three (3) frames of brood and eggs to add to hive #4. This was done as hive #4 has lost their queen. This also gives hive #1 more space to work with and reduces the likelihood that they will swarm.

HIVE #2

Hive #2 is doing great. They have built up a lot of honey and were out of space. As such, a new box was added so they now have room to grow. This colony is also building brood very well and seem to be extremely healthy.

HIVE #3

Hive #3 was also out of space due to a lot of honey being built up. The queen is healthy and vigorously building brood. This is a great sign.

A new box was added to this hive as well to give them more space and build reserves for winter.

WEST HIVE (#4)

Over the last month, I have been working to help this colony. They have lost their queen, and then subsequently killed a queen that I added. This is a bad sign as they seem to be rejecting any queen in the colony. As such, I took some eggs and brood from Hive #1. The hope is that they will start to build their own queen that they will like better. I will inspect how they are doing with this plan on the next visit.

VIDEO

Short video of how the hives are situated

This startles me EVERY time I visit. I always forget it’s there….