Bee drama
Just a little background. I started my beekeeping adventure in the Spring if 2016 with one hive. Queen Beatrice was amazing and I was able to take quite a bit of honey that first year. Nevertheless I was inundated with Varroa and had to treat the hive several times going into winter. I was really worried that the Varroa would kill the hive, but to my amazement the hive did so well coming through winter that I had to split it once and take two of its boxes to combine with new hives that I installed in the Spring of 2017. Unfortunately I ended up losing Queen Beatrice in the process and had to replace her.
I was lucky to have several pieces of property and put one new hive in Orange Village and the other in Pepper Pike. I ended up with four hives, my original, two new hives and one from the split from Beatrice.
The 2017 season was crazy and the hives were growing so fast that two of them swarmed. One right before my eyes. The Orange Village hive re-queened itself (we saw her emerging). I had to buy Queens for the other hives left queenless.
I treated all of the hives for Varroa several times, but my original hive went into the winter weakened and I lost her in January 2018. I was really devestated. When you put so much energy into something and then it’s gone, it really stinks.
Now that you have some background...The nice weather yesterday provided an opportunity to take a peak in the hives. It’s amazing to see how different they are and how the winter has impacted them.
The Orange Village hive is HUGE. The bees consumed all of their Honey stores and ate through the candy board that I put in place for them. I have been adding pollen patties and sugar cakes for the past month to keep them nourished until the weather breaks. Obviously it’s working because I am going to have to split that hive as soon as possible.
The Pepper Pike hive on the other hand did not eat any of the candy board and has a full super of honey that they barely touched on top. The hive seems healthy and quite large. The only thing that I can think is that they had quite a bit of honey in the lower boxes that has been sustaining them.
The surviving hive in South Euclid is doing great too. I thought for sure that this little hive was a goner because of the harsh winter, but to my surprise, she is healthy and thriving. The girls at most of the candy board also so I have been supplementing them until the flowers start blooming.
I am awaiting two new hives and with one to two splits I will have 6-8 hives this season. Yikes
I was lucky to have several pieces of property and put one new hive in Orange Village and the other in Pepper Pike. I ended up with four hives, my original, two new hives and one from the split from Beatrice.
The 2017 season was crazy and the hives were growing so fast that two of them swarmed. One right before my eyes. The Orange Village hive re-queened itself (we saw her emerging). I had to buy Queens for the other hives left queenless.
I treated all of the hives for Varroa several times, but my original hive went into the winter weakened and I lost her in January 2018. I was really devestated. When you put so much energy into something and then it’s gone, it really stinks.
Now that you have some background...The nice weather yesterday provided an opportunity to take a peak in the hives. It’s amazing to see how different they are and how the winter has impacted them.
The Orange Village hive is HUGE. The bees consumed all of their Honey stores and ate through the candy board that I put in place for them. I have been adding pollen patties and sugar cakes for the past month to keep them nourished until the weather breaks. Obviously it’s working because I am going to have to split that hive as soon as possible.
The Pepper Pike hive on the other hand did not eat any of the candy board and has a full super of honey that they barely touched on top. The hive seems healthy and quite large. The only thing that I can think is that they had quite a bit of honey in the lower boxes that has been sustaining them.
The surviving hive in South Euclid is doing great too. I thought for sure that this little hive was a goner because of the harsh winter, but to my surprise, she is healthy and thriving. The girls at most of the candy board also so I have been supplementing them until the flowers start blooming.
I am awaiting two new hives and with one to two splits I will have 6-8 hives this season. Yikes
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