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.
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