Saturday, September 7, 2013

Latest

I checked the hives today.
I did see the hybrid queen, but  not the Italian. I did see eggs, larvae and capped brood in both hives so the queens are both doing their jobs.
The Italian hive has lots of bees. The bottom box has some brood, and they appear to be putting  pollen in this box. The second box has more brood, some honey, nectar and pollen. The third box used to be all honey, but now has brood as well as honey and some pollen. They have not yet started putting any stores in the fourth box. I am not currently feeding this hive. They are noisier than the other hive, and I was stung twice. Maybe this is just a function of working around lots of bees.
The hybrid hive does not have as many bees. The bottom box has maybe 4 frames of brood. The frames on the outside are still empty.The second box has about 6 frames of brood with honey and pollen in the outer frames. The bees are drawing out the comb in the 3rd box, but so far no significant stores for winter in this box. I am feeding this hive with 1:1 syrup with a couple of tablespoons of vinegar in the bucket and some pollen substitute on the inner cover. They don't seem to care about the pollen substitute since they are bringing in their own.
Both hives have their first doses of ApiVar Life. I need to keep up with the 3 doses and add in the other medications, but at least it's a start.

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