Okay. That's it. The season is over for me. I went into the hive this afternoon to remove the apiguard strips.
The drone green frames are empty of brood but the rest of the frames...if there is capped brood at all, it is drone brood. Most of the honey seems to be gone except in the bottom deep.
I didn't even bother to add the sugar syrup I had for them. I give up. They are going to eat what is left and then all die before the winter because there's not going to be enough brood (or a real queen) to keep the hive going, as I had hoped.
What a bummer. I am just going to leave them alone and not use my time and energy for the rest of the year. I'll think about next year.
Right now I probably have enough honey to last me years so maybe I should sell my gear and let someone else try.
No decisions will be made today. I just feel bad. I try so hard to make a good habitat for the bees; I just hate to fail them.
