12/31/10: One last inspection (#14)!

Conditions: Sunny, 55F
Present: Just me
Equipment: No changes.
Activities: Smoked hives about 2:30pm. Inspected representative frames.
Observations:

First of all, we had a phenomenally warm day, 55 on New Year's Eve. It was sunny, easily the nicest day since early November. Even more luck, I didn't have to work! With the bees flying so much, I had to check in on them. There were lots of bees near the hives on trees, snow, weeds, and anything else. They weren't flying far, maybe a dozen yards or less, then landing and just hanging around. Before I finished up, one must have landed on my leg and was just hanging out, too. I bumped my tray that I use to carry my hive tools, smoker fuel, frame lifter, etc. into her and she stung me on the inner thigh. I felt that one. Last sting of the year.

Newer hive:
Lots of food, about a half inch of dead bees on the screened bottom board, which I cleaned out for them. No pest damage, no mites seen. Some starved bees in the top-most super which was not full of honey to start with (I am overwintering with one deep and two shallow supers). They probably ventured from the cluster to eat higher up and got caught in a cold snap. Still plenty of bees there, not too concerned. I did not spot the queen, but there was a small patch of brood on the center frames in the lower deep and some newly emerged bees.

Older hive:
Not as much food as the newer hive, fewer dead bees, and maybe 50% more bees present. The upper super was not full to start with and the lower shallow super was pretty heavy. I spotted the queen on a center frame in that lower shallow super with a small patch of brood. She looked fat and happy. No way to be 100% sure because she wasn't marked, but this is most likely the original queen, 3 years old and overwintering for the second time. She's done well for me. Hard to decide to requeen when she's done so well or maybe try to rear some queens from her. I likely won't have too much free time this year to try my hand at queen rearing, but I'd like to someday. If I requeen, I'll likely get a Pioneer Queen from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms. David and Sheri Burns put out lots of great and FREE beekeeping information (with a sales pitch thrown in, but not in a pushy way). Anyway, I'll resume feeding in the spring after the thaw and likely put some pollen patties in around February and hopefully they'll all pull though!

The New Year:
What does the 2011 hold? Hopefully lots more hives, bees, honey, and some other hive products. Candles, anyone? We hope to produce enough to sell our surplus. People have been asking!