Conditions: Sunny, 61F
Present: Bud F. and I
Equipment: Removed honey supers (empty). Installed screened bottom board on Russian hive.
Activities: Smoked hives about 4:45pm. Inspected all frames in honey and food supers (directly above the deeps where the brood nests are). Sugar-dusted for varroa control.
Observations: We finally had a break in the cold weather to make some needed equipment changes and check on the bees. It's been cold and wet for many days, and today was a window of 60s and sun, with rain forecast for the next week or so.
The Russian colony had not stored anything or built any comb in the honey super we put on it. It was overly optimistic to get some honey from them in this first year. We removed it and replaced the old plastic bottom board with a screened bottom board for varroa control. We used the bellows to sugar-dust them for the second time (first dusting 8/29/09) to encourage mite-drop through the bottom board. I did spot a live varroa which dropped through the screen bottom board once grooming had started after the dusting. The food super directly above the deep was packed with capped honey, wall to wall. They are taking sugar syrup from the pail top feeder, but not very aggressively. We saw a few drones on the old bottom board when we swapped it out, but much fewer than earlier in the year. They appear to be getting the boot from the ladies, which is typical with the onset of cold weather. Looks like all is well.
The Italian colony had built some small areas of comb in the top honey super on maybe 4 or 5 frames and began to fill it with sugar syrup. Nothing was capped yet. We removed this as another "empty" super and, since it was not cured and not honey from nectar, will allow the bees to clean it up outside the hive and bring it back if they see fit. If they are still flying once the rain stops, that is. This colony also had filled the food super directly above the deep with capped honey. There was some brood up in the center frames of this super, one larvae still being capped, so if the queen has stopped laying, it was within the past week. We thoroughly sugar dusted these gals, too. They previously received a screened bottom board during the first sugar dusting on 8/29/09.
We did not delve into the deeps (brood chambers) of either hive in order to be minimally disruptive on this cool day and therefore not chill any brood. With the food supers filled, we suspect whatever is not currently filled with brood is also capped honey. Both hives are ready to be relocated about 10 miles away to our new home. We have less than 2 weeks to move them, so the next post will be our hive moving adventure. Glad we got in today to take off empty supers and swap out that bottom board!
