Back to the Bees

Here in northern New Jersey, it got near 60 degrees on Sunday... January 31!  Crazy.  But that meant the bees were flying.  They were going nuts, in fact, uncrossing all their little legs in their "cleansing" (bathroom) runs since they won't go in the hive, bringing out their dead, and generally cleaning house.

We took advantage of the terrific weather and the girls' activity, and did inspections on all 11 hives.

The six in our yard are doing well, most with phenomenal populations, one with the population a little lower than the rest, and we'll need to keep an eye on them.  One of the hives, the Pooh hive, was downright angry because their mouse guard had been removed somehow, and we believe a mouse or other animal had gotten in and shredded some of their comb.  We replaced the guard, and when they get a chance, they'll repair it like new.

They all still seemed to have quite a bit of honey, but had eaten the two winter patties we provided to each colony, so we added one more to each hive.  Better too much food than too little, and if there's one thing these bees will not die of under our watch, it's starvation due to lack of stores.

The two hives up the road, one of which we're actually overwintering as a single deep hive box rather than our typical two-deep, are going gangbusters, bursting at the seams with bees.  We'll have to be right on top of them in early spring so they don't swarm!  We gave them each a new patty too; they'd devoured theirs.

The two hives farther across town were also going gangbusters, and actually really calm and unstressed, which was nice to see.  We gave them each a patty and let them go about their business unhindered.

And then there was the small summer swarm Eric had caught and collected back in June.  We tried our darnedest all summer and fall to keep them going, requeening them when theirs disappeared, adding honeycomb and brood from other hives, and feeding them, but they just never really got their population where it needed to be to survive the cold snap once it came.  We found the hive devoid of live bees, and just a handful of dead ones on the bottom and in the comb.  The top box still had all their honey and they hadn't come near the food we'd left them.

So we're down to 10.  In practical terms, we're ok with that.  I personally get upset over losing a hive, and cried for those girls, but in the end, we're doing well.  If it keeps going like this, we're in a really great place for honey and expansion come spring!