Quick inspection

It was relatively warm yesterday so I did a quick inspection of the hives and pulled off the HopGuard.

The original hive had pollen and nectar in the bottom box and capped brood in the middle box. I swapped the bottom and middle boxes so the brood would be on the bottom. The food stores looked pretty good. I was somewhat surprised that there were not more bees, but I probably should not have been. They are tapering down to the winter population. I did not see the queen, but I also did not look too hard. They are still working on their syrup. I put duct tape over most of the entrances and reduced the size of the bottom entrance.

The split hive had capped brood in the bottom box. They were drawing comb and filling in the middle box. There is still some room in the top box. I did not see the queen, but again I did not try too hard. I was trying to minimize the time spent in the boxes since it was late in the day and breezy. Again I put duct tape over most of the entrances and reduced the size of the bottom entrance. They are also working on their syrup.

I have not put on homasote to winterize them. I am still trying to decide on whether to put in a top entrance or not. It was something I read online as an option. I wish I could have made it to the last open hive to ask questions about winterizing.

Syrup for both again.

The split was completely out of syrup. The original hive still had a little, but I pulled the jar anyway. Full jars of fall syrup. Perfect weather. Both hives are heavy. I saw lots of pollen going into the split. It might actually be heavier than the original hive right now. This will probably be the last syrup unless the weather stays warm. I still need to do a last inspection and pull the HopGuard.

Syrup for both

Today I gave jars of syrup to both hives. Perfect fall weather.

Still another jar of syrup

I gave a jar of syrup to the original hive. The split still had half a jar. It was cool and windy so I moved quickly and did not open up the hives.

Syrup & Fumagilin

I gave a jar of syrup to the split hive. The stronger hive still had some syrup. That was yesterday. I will check them again tomorrow.