July 28 hive inspection - all looks good

4) Let's start with the Nuc...It has only three completed frames but I saw the queen.  Probably because there were so few bees.  But it looks healthy and I see brood in there so I did nothing to the Nuc.  I'll just keep watch.

3) Hive 3 is the new hive, second from the right.  That looks healthy and there was brood, capped and uncapped so I must have a queen in there but I didn't see her.  Because I had some frames that were new and not drawn out with comb, I added a top hive feeder and some 1:1 syrup to give them a boost.

2) Hive 2 appears to be thriving after such a slow start this year.  I removed a bunch of comb, added some syrup to the feeder inside the hive, and also put the super back on the top  in case it's needed.  They aren't really using it yet.

1)  I have a lot of bees in this hive but the second deep seemed rather light on honey stores...but I did move some frames out of this last time so I think it just hasn't had time to recover yet in 10 days, at least half of which were rainy.  So I added the top hive feeder again to hopefully help them build comb on the new frames faster.  I saw progress but this should help.  Then they should be ready for the goldenrod coming very soon.

I'm thankful for my flowers because I think they really help the bees in the slower times.  I did see lots of colored pollen in the hives...yellow, orange and white...

I charged the fence yesterday too so I think the bees should be fine for a week or two.

Lastly, others use tie downs to hold the hives together so I bought some..the kind with a ratchet at the end.  I added one to Hive 1 and Hive 4 and was tired so I stopped.  My fence has a strong charge so I think I'll be ok should a bear decide to break in.  I think (hope) they have learned to stay from this fence.

Soon, I'll pull off the supers from Hive 1.  That's probably the only harvest for this year.

Hive check 7/16/17 - and new pink hive

Exciting day yesterday when I add a new hive...the pink one, third from the left.  I had to purchase a new complete hive, with top cover, deep box, inner cover, 10 frames, bottom board and entrance reducer.  I expect I'll need to buy another deep hive over the winter for spring...if the new hive survives.

I'm excited because for the past 2-3 years, I've been trying to increase the number of hives with no success.  This year, I purchased two nucs so I could switch around frames and use them to shore up the weaker hives.

• Hive 1 is the tallest.  I need to pull off some honey from that hive soon.  One super is just about full.
• Hive 2 is the second tallest.  I added more sugar syrup to that one this week since many of the frames are not drawn out and I saw a lot of uncapped honey.  I also added a super in case they needed room for eggs.
• Hive 3 is the pink one which is now half full, with plenty of brood and seemingly very active.
• Nuc is on the far right.  I added some frames in there in case something should happen with them but don't expect much.  I saw little activity in there yet had bees going in and out so I'll watch that one for a bit.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the progress this year.

I'm beginning to think about medications for the fall and insulation.  I remembered that I have a bunch of bubble pack type insulation in the shed that I used to use in the greenhouse.  I don't know why that wouldn't be good for insulating the hives.  Wrap that around the hives and secure with  bungie cords.  

In the past I've used bales of hay but thought I'd try this other method...but will run the idea by some other beekeepers to make sure this is a good idea.

Now we need lots of sun to get more flowers.  I know golden rod is coming but this year's rain has cut down on flowers I think.  I notice it in the vegetable garden too.

Hive check 7/8/17

In today's hive check, here are some of my observations.

1) Nuc has survived and I saw lots of comb building, larvae and enough capped and uncapped honey so I added half a sugar/crisco patty to the top and closed it back up.

2)

• Hive #1 continues to show lots of activity including many queen cells which I removed except for one frame that had a beautiful queen cell that I moved into another Nuc along with a few frames of capped and uncapped honey and some brood.  Just three frames into the new Nuc.  I just needed to remove some of the uncapped honey thinking this deep was low on space to lay eggs.
• The upper deep where I moved out frames last week is getting filled so all I did was remove extra comb and moved out one uncapped honey frame to the new Nuc.
• The lower deep showed larvae, capped and uncapped honey, capped brood, very little drone cells. Again I didn't need to do anything other than remove some extra comb and queen cells. The lower deep is very heavy so they are gathering enough honey to get them through the winter.
• I also checked the two supers...one is very heavy with honey but as I looked at a few frames in there, some was still uncapped so I left it all in there and think that in a few weeks, I can take honey out of this hive.
• The top super is being worked on but there's still plenty of space for them to store more honey

3) Hive #2 continues to build...the poor thing got such a slow start.  But I've watched the activity and lots of pollen is going in and comb is being built and eggs are being laid so I have a queen.  It looks like I have three queens  - one per hive - which is awesome...and maybe a fourth on the way in that new Nuc.

• I don't expect any honey out of this hive this year. If I can build up the population though, and keep it going through the winter, I would have a good start for next year.
• This might be a good hive to top with the first Nuc to winter over and it will help to keep the Nuc warm.

I'm going to order another hive kit to give me a complete set, hoping to put the Nuc into the new hive soon and hopefully giving it time to grow before the winter.  Once done, this will become Hive 3...hopefully!