12/22/13 : Warm winter day inspection

Unseasonably warm spell for the prior 2 days (both rainy and windy) and today (breezy but sunny).  This followed some unseasonably cold weather in November with several days that had highs in the teens or low 20s.
I went in to all my hives today to see:

1)  How many live bees are in there

2)  How many dead bees are on the bottom boards (and clean them off)

3)  How much honey they have
4)  How the remaining honey is distributed
The good news is I have live bees in every hive.   The bad news is I never did combine that nuc I raised as an insurance policy with another hive and it turns out that was a bad idea.  Almost all the honey was gone and the nuc was 5/6ths dead.  Queen and maybe 200 bees are left.  I'm sure they will die, very sad.  I'm tempted to try to move them inside the shed or something to give them a fighting chance, but don't really know what will help.  One other hive was light on bees with already 1 inch of dead bees on the bottom board.  They may or may not make it, long shot, I'd say.  The four remaining hives were relatively strong and had quite a bit more honey.  Best of luck to all of them.  I did move some frames of honey around so they'd be more available to the clusters later.  I will probably make some candy boards later, especially for the two hives that were already near the inner cover. 

Most hives actually die in March cold snaps, not Nov and Dec, so it is still too early to tell.

2013 Going into Winter

Nuc 2: Perfect Nuc
Hive 1: 2 deeps, about 5 empty frames in upper deep, light on bees and honey
Hive 2: 2 deeps and 1 shallow honey super, lots of bees and honey, but had lots of chalkbrood problems throughout year
Hive 3:  2 deeps and 1 shallow honey super, solid hive, lots of bees
Hive 4:  2 deeps, solid hive
Hive 5:  2 deeps and moderate amount of bees, solid hive


Hive rankings as of 12/26/13 (62 degree inspection day):

listed as STRONGEST > WEAKEST

H2 > H4 > H1 > H5 > H3 > N6

2013 Fall Honey extraction

Extracted about 25 pounds of fall honey on 11/9/13.  This came from 3 different supers, only one of which was anywhere near full.  There were a lot of empty frames and a number of frames that were less than half full.  Supers came from hive #4, hive #5, and hive #3.  Not a stellar fall flow, but better than last year.  Saw bees on asters very often.

7/23/13: Queens not laying

Inspected 2 hives and a nuc today and found no eggs.  This was after a neighbor (Linda) stated brood was spotty in her main hive and her nuc had no eggs, though a queen should have hatched and mated by now (same timeline as the main hive).  I spotted the queen in her nuc and confirmed no eggs on 7/23/13.  Saw a queen in my nuc and no eggs.  What do these ladies know?  Preparing for a dearth?

8/3/13 UPDATE:  Found eggs in all hives except H2 (unknown if H2 has a queen who will resume laying shortly or if they need to raise a new queen).  The weather has been unseasonably cool for Late July/Early August with highs in the low to mid 70s and lows in the low 60s.  We have had moderate rain and everything is growing like crazy.


8/10/13 UPDATE:  All queens laying.  The H2 queen was just a bit later than the others to restart.  H3 new queen is laying well.

2013 spring honey extraction

Extracted honey on 7/14/13 (fresh spring honey) and 7/15/13 (fall honey stored in comb, some slightly crystallized).   We had 3 spring supers, 6 deep frames, and 2 fall supers.

We yielded probably 120 pounds of spring honey and another 75 pounds of honey from deep frames, cappings, and fall supers.

Dumb mistake 7/2/13

Like a dummy I decided to try to pull a cultivator attachment through the future orchard area where I keep my bees.  They apparently did not like how close I got with the tractor.  I took about a dozen stings before I ran to the porch.  I regrouped, put on my bee suit, and tried to drive the tractor out of the orchard.  The tractor was slipping and sticking so I shut it down and gave up for now.  And there the tractor sits...

I began to have a moderate reaction to the stings and I monitored it closely to determine if it would lead anaphylaxis.   Thankfully not.  I did feel feverish, got lightheaded, and had some strange sensations like the tops of my feet itching and my tongue tingling (not swelling).  All my stings were on the forearms, finger, ear, and behind the ear.  I took off my wedding ring before the sting on the finger became too swollen.

OK, girls, I get it.  That's your area and I play there at my own risk.

2013 Nuc 2

Hive status:  New nuc 2013
Hive origin:  Nuc formed from 1 frame of 2013 Hive 1 (found capped supercedure cell 6/10/13) and 2 frames from 2013 Hive 2
Queen type:  Pending new from 2013

6/10/13:  Created this nuc when I found a capped supercedure cell in 2013 Hive 1 which had a relatively new queen.  I removed this frame to a nuc in case she just needs a bit more time to pick up laying.  Added two frames of nurse bees with a bit of brood from H2.  Two remaining frames are one undrawn and one of drawn comb.  A tiny nuc just to raise this queen opportunistically.

6/15/13:  Still small, queen cell open, queen not seen and no eggs.  Perhaps on mating flight?  Same as Nuc 1.

6/21/13:  Still no queen spotted, no eggs, this time there was another capped queen cell.  That egg must have come from the new queen, but they are not happy with her?

6/28/13:  Saw the new queen that hatched out, she is not yet laying. Small nuc.

7/5/13:  Small nuc, new eggs, spotted queen.  OK in nuc for now.

7/23/13:  Queen spotted, not laying.  No queens were laying at this time.

8/3/13:  Eggs and queen spotted.  Low on honey, could soon go in to a deep with some frames of honey.  Ditto for 8/10/13.

8/17/13:  Spotted eggs and queen.  Small nuc, no food.  Added a frame of honey and 20 minutes later there was a swarm of bees raiding this nuc through a crack between the lid and the nuc box.  I changed the lid to one that did not leave a gap and stuffed most of the entrance with grass to prevent robbing.

8/25/13:  Eggs spotted, ok on food and space.   Not robbed out.

9/11/13: Perfect nuc!  Food, brood, eggs, not too big or growing too fast for the space.  Has honey, pollen, and is drying nectar.

9/28/13:  Still perfect.

12/22/13:  Nuc is nearly frozen to death, starved, down to a couple of hundred bees (200?) and the queen was hanging on.  This hive will likely freeze in a cold snap.  Replaced an empty frame with a frame full of honey in the center of the nuc.

2013 Hive 5 (formerly 2013 Nuc 1)

Hive status:  New nuc 2013
Hive origin:  Nuc formed from 1 frame of 2013 Hive 1 and 2 frames from 2013 Hive 2
Queen type:  New from 2013 (superceded swarm queen from 2012)

5/19/13:  Created this nuc when I found what I think was 2 queens in the same hive (2013 Hive 1) which is doing very poorly.  The larger queen which apparently has deformed wings was moved to this nuc to be able to monitor her laying and potentially replace her.  I also placed 2 frames containing eggs and bees in this nuc from 2013 Hive 2 to provide enough bees as well as eggs if the workers would prefer to supersede the current queen.

5/27/13:  Queen present, spotted about half a dozen eggs total.  Tiny nuc.  One egg was being raised into a queen, maybe day 6 or so?  Added more eggs from H2.

6/2/13:  Queen removed.  The queen was small and had wing deformities in addition to laying almost no eggs.  Practiced handling a live queen with her prior to squashing.  Single queen cell present, 3/4 of the way to capped, so they were superseding her already.  Not sure if this cell is still viable or not (did not seem much further along from 5/27/13 inspection), so added a frame of brood with eggs from H2. The frame of eggs and larvae from 5/27/13 probably no longer viable.  They look undeveloped with no new capping.  Must have gotten chilled when nights were in the low 40s and there were not enough bees.

6/10/13:  Still a small nuc.  3 capped queen cells, 1 full size and 2 that seemed desperate.

6/15/13:  Still small, queen cell open, queen not seen and no eggs.  Perhaps on mating flight?  Same as Nuc 2.

6/28/13:  Spotted the queen and she is laying.  There was 1 frame of eggs/larvae, good dense pattern where she has laid.  The nuc has achieved medium size, not yet ready to move to a deep, but perhaps soon.

7/5/13:  Large nuc, ready to move to a deep, eggs and queen spotted.

7/23/13:  Queen spotted, not laying.  No queens were laying at this time.

8/3/13:  Eggs spotted.  Could probably add another deep in a week.

8/10/13:  Full of bees, low on food.  Added 2 deeps of honey/pollen I had set aside.  Eggs.

8/17/13:  Eggs and lots of young brood present, some nectar.  Added a second deep with two frames of honey in it.  This hive is growing and ready for a population boost for the fall flow.

8/25/13:  Eggs spotted, ok on food and space.

9/11/13:  Some deeps undrawn (problem frames?), but otherwise full.  Unsure if I should super or not.  Saw 4 day old larvae, almost eggs, did not inspect many frames and was satisfied queen is laying.

9/28/13:  Very little larvae, eggs on two frames only.  Not drawing comb but have some honey, nectar.  Not filling their 2 deeps, candidate for combine (with nuc?)

12/22/13: 5 Frames of bees in the upper deep.  Saw queen and 1 egg.  Moved some lower frames with honey up to the upper deep.

Drew the beekeeper

In February we gave Drew a bee suit and bee gloves.  Ever since he has been dying to use them, occasionally playing beekeeper.  His first chance came with installation of packages in 2013.

 He was calm and curious.  The many bees buzzing around him did not scare him.

After the two installations, Drew got down close to the hive and let the bees land on him, especially his gloves.  He then asked, "Is this a worker bee?" for each bee that landed on him and said, "Hi little bee." to many of them.  No stings and a very successful intro to beekeeping. 

2013 Hive 1

Hive status:  Overwintered from 2012 (Hive 6 then)
Hive origin:  Swarm caught by Alan 2012, was a new nuc in 2012
Queen type:  Swarm queen from 2012

Significant events/observations:
This hive is the only overwintered hive from 2012, formerly tracked as 2012 Hive 6.  A smallish cluster is still alive as of 3/29/13.  I placed a pollen patty under the inner cover and a feeder on top in early March.  We have had a fairly cold March, good maple weather with freezing nights and just above freezing days.  The cluster is under the pollen patty and when warm enough takes syrup from the feeder.  About half of the sugar syrup was gone by 3/29/13.  Evidence of dysentery is on the front of the hive, so concerned for nosema.

Early April I re-filled the feeder with sugar syrup plus Fumagilin B based on the amount of bee crap on the front of the hive.

4/29/13:  Inspected and found two frames of bees left, small patch of brood on two frames with a combined size of a dollar bill.  There was still remaining syrup on top and half of the pollen patty.  Workers were bringing in bright yellow pollen.  I cleaned off all propalis and moved to a single deep, cleaned out the dead bees, and moved the hive from a rickety perch on a tree stump (that turned out to have an ant's nest in it) to a cinder block based stand.  I will add the upper deep once there are more bees or the lower deep is full of eggs/brood.

5/4/13:  Spotted the queen again, hive has not grown much yet, but she is laying.  They are foraging as well as taking sugar syrup and pollen patty.  Left them in a single deep with entrance reducer in.

5/19/13:  This hive is in bad shape, no bigger than it was in March, though some brood and eggs were still present. I think I found 2 queens (very confusing), so I removed the larger one (older?) on a single frame  to a new Nuc (along with 2 frames from H2) and placed a frame of eggs and brood in this hive from H2.  This queen appeared to have deformed wings.  Either the small queen (new?) will start laying or (hopefully) the workers will use the eggs to raise a new queen.  This hive is too week to keep ants out.

5/27/13:  This hive is queenless now, added a frame of eggs from H2.

6/2/13:  Thought this hive was queenless after being uncertain if I really did find 2 queens on 5/19 and not seeing a queen on 5/27/13.  The small hive was also agitated during inspection, but I found the small queen and she is laying.  Perhaps she was out on a mating flight when I last inspected.  The hive is starting to build and now fills 2/3rds of the lower deep.  Probably ready to add the second deep in a week or two.

6/10/13:  Found queen,  not laying well yet but some eggs present.  Removed frame with capped queen cell (supercedure) to start 2013 Nuc 2 in case she just needs more time.

6/15/13:  Queen spotted, not much brood/eggs, but some.  More bees than earlier.  Added second deep and got a fresh feeder of sugar syrup from Linda.  Her one hive was totally full and needed a honey super, so I got free syrup.

6/28/13: Inspected upper deep only.  Brood on one frame only, supercedure cell started and not yet capped.  Letting it go.  This is still a small hive for 2 deeps.

7/5/13:  Nearly filling 2 deeps, but not overcrowded.  Perhaps 1 week until super needed.  Spotted eggs.

7/23/13:  No eggs.  No queens were laying at this time.

8/3/13:  Eggs spotted.  Laying pattern is very scattered, lots of chalk brood bits on bottom board screen.  Added queen excluder and honey super of drawn comb as the hive was quite full.

8/10/13:  Eggs.  Hive is growing, nothing in the honey super yet.  Still chalk broody, probably the cause of spotty brood pattern.  Lots of drones, too.  Varroa.

8/17/13:  Hive growing, but not in great health.  Eggs spotted, though not many, still chalk broody.  Running out of food, may be the reason for low number of eggs.  Must be an inefficient way to build up a colony with 10-20% of larvae not viable.  Dumped chalk brood from bottom board and added two deep frames of honey.

8/25/13:  Eggs spotted, ok on food and space.    Very little chalkbrood on bottom board, situation improving.

9/11/13:  Queen laying ok, eggs spotted, pattern is still a bit spotty though a LOT of brood was present.  Did not inspect bottom board for chalkbrood, but probably still the cause of spotty pattern.  Saw some queen cups on the bottom, but no swarm cells had eggs or royal jelly.  Spotted some supercedure cells in the upper deep, one was damaged and two more seemed fine.  They are young, but had lots of royal jelly.  I will allow the hive to supercede the queen and hope for the best.  Nuc is insurance policy if they cannot raise a viable queen.

9/28/13:  Chalkbroody, eggs spotted.  Very little honey in super but bringing it in to deeps.

12/22/13:  5+ frames of bees, good amount of honey but near top of hive.

2013 Hive 2

Hive status:  New package 2013
Hive origin:  Package from QRC, CA origin
Queen type:  Carniolan

Significant events/observations:New package installed on drawn comb in a single deep on 4/30/13.  The queen is Carniolan (first try for me) from the bee supplier.   Pail feeder on top.  Great weather for installing, 75 and sunny with a week of the same, lows in lower 50s.

5/4/13:  Inspected with Drew and spotted queen, eggs.  Taking sugar syrup and foraging, they've had great weather for the first week after installation.  Went to a second deep of drawn comb and removed entrance reducer.

5/19/13:  This hive is quite strong compartively.  Both deeps had a healthy amount of brood in them.  I stole 3 frames of eggs/brood from this hive.  One went to H1 to replace the frame I removed to start a new nuc and the other two went directly into the same new nuc.  The queen was located, so I'm sure she stayed in H2.  If I did not remove so many frames and replace with empties I could have added a honey super, perhaps at next inspection.

5/27/13:  This hive is now of comparable strength to H3, reduced due to the number of frames of eggs removed to support H1 and Nuc1.  Still doing well.  Huge dark queen.  Still no need to super.  Locusts blooming.  Brood in both deeps.  No need to super yet.

6/2/13:  Swapped a frame with N1 to provide brood and eggs.  Upper deep bursting with bees, lower deep not that busy yet.  Did not super.

6/10/13:  Reversed deeps and added queen excluder and honey super.

6/15/13:  No honey in super.  Reversing deeps was a GREAT idea, tons more eggs and larvae.

6/28/13:  First super now half full.  Will add another soon, but not needed yet.

7/5/13: Two honey supers nearly full, lower deep full of honey and bees, not enough room for queen to lay.  Need to add brood super and honey super.  Added a honey super of undrawn wax foundation.

7/11/13:  Removed 4 deep frames of honey and replaced with 1 deep of comb and 3 deep frames of plastic foundation.  Added a shallow super to the brood chamber and moved super of undrawn wax foundation (still not starting to draw it out) between other two honey supers to encourage drawing out.

7/13/13:  Pulled 1 super of capped honey, left on one super of uncapped honey and one of undrawn wax.  Found queen up in supers with some small amount of eggs/brood.  Returned her to the deeps.  Why is she above the excluder?!?  Lucky catch.

7/23/13:  No eggs spotted.  No queens were laying at this time.

8/3/13:  No eggs or queen spotted.  Left alone at this time in case she's there and not resumed laying yet from the mid-summer rest all the queens were taking.  I remember that this hive had the youngest larvae on 7/23/13, probably 5 day old compared to 7 or 8 day old larvae in other hives.  Either this queen is still on her rest and about to start laying again or she will need to be replaced or the hive combined with a queen right hive.

8/10/13:  Queen resumed laying!  Eggs.  Bringing in nectar, ok on space.

8/17/13:  Lots of bees, eggs spotted, nectar, honey, space ok.

8/25/13:  Ok on food and space.   Did not inspect deeps.

9/11/13:  Eggs spotted, seemed ok on space but added a super of drawn comb in anticipation of fall flow.  Hive is big and busy.

9/28/13:  Removed empty honey super, now at 2 deeps and 3 supers with about 2 supers full.  Pulled 1 frame from center of upper deep and saw tons of eggs.  Removed queen excluder due to honey super barrier.  Closed upper off-set entrance.

12/22/13: 10+ frames of bees, frames of honey near edges of upper deep with center frames nearly empty.  Still have entire super to move up into.  Strongest hive.

2013 Hive 3

Hive status:  New package 2013
Hive origin:  Package from QRC, CA origin
Queen type:  Carniolan

Significant events/observations:New package installed on drawn comb in a single deep on 4/30/13.  The queen is Carniolan (first try for me) from the bee supplier.   Pail feeder on top.  Great weather for installing, 75 and sunny with a week of the same, lows in lower 50s.

5/4/13:  Inspected with Drew and spotted queen, eggs.  Taking sugar syrup and foraging, they've had great weather for the first week after installation.  Went to a second deep of drawn comb and removed entrance reducer.

5/19/13:  Fair sized brood nest in upper deep, confirmed eggs present.  Lower deep was pretty close to empty, though some brood was present on the upper edge of the center frames.  Once these bees emerge I will probably reverse deeps if the queen has not begun laying all over both deeps.

5/27/13:  Hive is stronger, brood extending further in to lower deep so I did not reverse.  Still no need to super yet.  Locusts in bloom.

6/2/13:  Both deeps bursting with bees.  New bees everywhere.  Added queen excluder and first honey super with offset entrance (though this may be too early, seemed chilly the morning of 6/3/13).

6/10/13:  Peeked in honey super, they are starting to fill in one frame with nectar.

6/15/13:  All-star hive.  Nectar on center frame of honey super only.  Tons of eggs, larvae and brood in both deeps, even on the wall frame (upper deep).  This hive is going to be huge in 5-10 days.

6/24/13:  Added second honey super.

6/28/13:  Second super 3/4 full.  Added 3rd. Did not inspect brood chamber.

7/5/13:  Crazy and huge, that is all I can say.  Removed two deep frames of honey and replaced with deep frames of plastic foundation.  Added a 3rd deep for brood and a 5th honey super of undrawn was foundation.  Saw eggs.

7/12/13: Moved super of undrawn wax foundation (still not starting to draw it out) from top to the middle of the 5 honey super stack to encourage drawing out.

7/13/13:  Pulled two supers of capped honey.  Dumped one all over the ground while full of bees and maybe with the queen in it.  I found eggs and larvae up in the honey supers, no eggs in uppermost deep.  Bad to have the queen up there, hopefully she is not crushed.  I returned an uncapped honey super and a super of wax foundation to the hive and removed the queen excluder.  Sloppy beekeeping, but why was she above the excluder?

7/18/13:  Eggs in honey super are now being raised in to queen cells.  Fears that hive is queenless are now confirmed.  Planning newspaper combine with Nuc 1.

7/23/13:  No eggs, queen cells in uppermost super capped.  Did not combine as there we no eggs in any other hive and I did not want to combine with a queen of unknown quality.  I left the 4 or 5 queen cells in to requeen. 

8/3/13:  Still has a lot of bees and they are bringing in a lot of nectar relative to other hives.  Queen cells were hatched in upper super.  Thought I spotted no eggs, but dozens of 4-5 day old larvae on royal jelly.  I am wondering if I will have 3 dozen queen cells in a week or if this is a normal quantity of royal jelly for workers.

8/10/13:  New queen is laying great!  Filling several frames solid with brood in upper and lower deeps, expanding brood nest.  Bringing in nectar, ok on space.

8/17/13:  Tons of bees, eggs, and brood!  Bringing in nectar and event drawing out comb in 1 super!  Fantastically healthy hive after raising a new queen.

8/25/13:  Ok on space, drawing comb.  Did not inspect deeps.

9/11/13:  Big and busy, saw eggs.  Ok on space for now with 4 supers on.  Two deep frames were moved in to the brood nest from the edge to encourage drawing out.  They are drawing some comb slowly.  This hive is an absolute mess to reassemble.

9/28/13:  Strongest hive, eggs spotted, 3 of 4 honey supers full and honey in deeps.

12/22/13:  Top super full of honey, only ~3 frames of mostly flighty bees, not much honey elsewhere.  1” of dead bees on the bottom board, I cleaned them out for them.

2013 Hive 4

Hive status:  New nuc 2013
Hive origin:  Nuc that Alan made from a cut-out he did that had swarm cells present
Queen type:  Unknown, new in 2013 (hopefully survivor stock)

Significant events/observations: New hive that I transferred from a nuc box to a deep when moving it to my apiary on 6/22/13.  Hopefully the queen is survivor stock and will be able to make it through Ohio winters.  Added remaining sugar syrup to the top, about a quart, even though nectar is flowing strong.  Did not spot queen during transfer, but eggs and young larvae present on two sides of one frame were observed.  The 5 frames moved over were foundationless as this hive started with comb from a cutout rubber-banded into deep frames.  One had a chunk of honey the size of a small plate that was stuck to the nuc wall instead of part of the frame so I removed it to have a little spring honey, probably 2 pounds.

6/28/13:  Expanding into single deep, spotted eggs on a frame that was not original to the nuc.  Removed a frame that had very little comb in it and replaced with a frame of drawn comb.

7/5/13:  Hive is drawing out frames that are foundation only or filling in openings where no foundation exists.  Single deep still ok for now, saw eggs.

Sometime in July added another deep.  

8/5/13:  Eggs in bottom of top deep, still plenty of room without a honey super.  Slow growing.

8/10/13:  Eggs.  No food in this hive, added 3 deeps of honey/pollen.  Rearranged partially drawn frames to walls of upper deep as they are not drawing them out.  Moved empty deep drawn comb to center of lower deep to encourage more brood.  Could probably fit in a single deep, but hoping they will grow to fill it.

8/17/13:  Doing well, building up and bringing in nectar.  Spotted eggs.

8/25/13:  Eggs spotted, ok on food and space.  This hive was a bit defensive and is filling up both deeps now, a big difference from 2 weeks ago.

9/11/13:  Hive doing well, added queen excluder and super.  Super has 4 frames of drawn comb and 6 frames of undrawn was foundation.

9/28/13:  Removed queen excluder due to no bees or honey in the super.  Did not see eggs.  Deeps are full of honey.  Swapped super which was mostly undrawn for a super of drawn comb (removed on 9/28 from H2).  Will watch for eggs after they hopefully move some honey up.  Closed upper off-set entrance.

12/22/13:  6+ frames of bees on heavy frames in upper deep, some bees still down in lower, very calm.  Second strongest hive behind H2.

Package Bee Disaster (truckload lost) and Package Bee Arrival

The packages arrived late (target was mid-April, arrived 4/30/13) due to a prior truck of bees to the midwest where all 1750 packages died due to a road closure.  The following information came from Queen Right Colonies, from whom I ordered my bees:

Hello to all our faithful customers. Olivarez Honey Farms has just notified us that shipment of package bees has been delayed a few days to a week, from our scheduled pick-up times due to weather and a loss of an entire semi load of 1750 packages of bees in the mid-west due to a road closure.  This has bumped our shipment back as a result.  To those who understand agriculture, no explanation is necessary. To those who are new to this, some things are simply not under our control.  As always, we ask your patience and understanding as we work out details to what we hope will be a great beekeeping season.

From their Facebook post:

The semi load of bees was stopped out west due to a 100 mile stretch of closed highway. There was over 500 semi's stopped and other vehicles as well in a small town located in a depression or valley, it was cold and all the vehicles were running their engines to keep warm. The exhausts caused the bees to become active to try to remove the fumes from the semi they were being transported in, the result endend in an over heated load and lots of dead bees.

 The load that my packages were on arrived 4/30/13 early in the morning.  If you've never seen a pallet load of bees, this is what it looks like.

I helped a neighbor install her first ever bees in a brand new hive after we picked up our packages together.  She did it all on her own with some coaching and a bit of marshmallow from me.  One thing I noticed was that she moved much more slowly and bees had more time to climb and mound on the edge of the single deep.  Drew and I moved much more quickly and, while we displaced more bees directly with frames since they were still piled on the bottom, it was much easier to squash fewer bees when closing the hives.  If we would have had her smoker lit, she could have tried to chase them inside, but if they don't know the hive as home and there is no honey or comb inside to go after, I don't know what they'd do.

My two packages of Carniolans became 2013 Hive 2 and 2013 Hive 3.

2012 Post Mortem

Looking at my summer 2012 post and how many nucs and hives were thriving, and comparing it to the reality of the bee yard in early 2013 is a stark contrast.  It was a blow to lose my strongest hive and the 3 nucs I had tried to start earlier in the year, but I still went into the winter with 4 hives.  It was a rough fall with nearly no fall nectar flow. 3 more died by Feb. 2013

The lone surviving hive from 2012 is H6.  I hope they make it as March and early April can be rough.  We just got 4 inches of snow on 3/26/13.  I have two packages of bees on order, this time I'm trying Carniolans which come recommended over Italians by Queen Right Colonies.