Summary;
Hive #1 Italians (2 deep box config).
This is my weakest hive of the four. Early spring signs indeed showed the colony to be ok. It had brood, capped and uncapped larva but low on stores (honey mainly). There was pollen and bee bread.
I moved a frame of honey to that hive from Hive #2. I know unless you are 100% sure that isn't always a good idea in case of diseases or mites. Nothing like giving a weaker hive something a stronger hive can keep in check.... good move JohnE-Boy.
Hive#2 Italians I think(3 deep boxes and one honey super)
This is the hive I picked up last spring very strong genetics and fast build up. They had tons of honey and are building very fast. If I were to read what I just typed I might think they were Carniolans instead of Italians. Yes, the type of bees do things differently for winter. The only reason I am saying this is the Dave Irby wasn't sure and this hive by last fall was Very strong. They simply could have robbed Hive #1. If they did rob Hive #1 then I am lucky that #1 made it through winter and Hive #2 is honey bound (meaning little room for the queen to lay eggs) I am hoping that the bottom deep is relatively empty and used for brood currently.
A side note some beekeepers reverse boxes because the bees are in the top box and they always work up, so placing them in the bottom box in effect has them starting over and working up. The fallacy there is that queen does not usually travel across the top of the honey dome. So if she is in the second deep and it has a ton of honey then she won't travel above that unless or until the bees use or reallocate the honey. This then slows down the egg laying and that stunts the growth of the hive when you need it most (early spring). So I added a third deep late fall for the bees to have growth room on top of the box they had for brood chamber. This serves two purposes:
- Give the bees expansion room to grow in early spring. In theory to prevent swarming.
- Give the bees plenty of storage for a hard winter. In reality except for nucleus(nuc's) hives I want three deeps on all my hives eventually. To make it easier to remove swarm cell frames to start nuc's.
- A third point is to give me some room/time for error. I have learned that bees are somewhat resilient and given time, they can survive my errors.
This is my weakest of the two Russian colonies but still fairly resilient and they were in the top box and active. This hive worries me constantly as it doesn't have much outside activity. This caused me to think it had died in early March until I looked inside (without my jacket and veil). They were not happy at that moment and I learned a valuable lesson..... again
Hive #4 Russian (3 Deep configuration)
Very strong hive and defensive. I am one of the few beekeepers who doesn't mind defensive behavior in his bees as long as I can't see a problem.
So what causes bees to be defensive?
- Bees that are queenless.
- Diseases
- Excessive mites
- Being robbed and one could say a beekeeper is robbing.
- Animals (bears, skunks, dogs, etc.
- Yes Africanized bees(AHB) also exhibit this behavior.
Now the peculiar thing I noted yesterday. strings as I call them on my two weakest hive (#1 ). These 'strings' are up to half an inch in length and are at the entrance and vent holes in the hives. This could indicate dysentery. I am not looking to introduce chemicals at all but I am researching Fumagillin B. Then I'll see how the bees deal with the issue after cleaning this up. off the hives.
I also made the fail of leaving my camera outside in the snow.....ARRRRG!!!!!
