Backyard Apiary

It’s been over a week since last hive inspection and I was anxious to see if Antheia’s queen had started to lay; she is laying. Both hives are doing very well and producing a lot of brood. It doesn’t seem like there will be much honey for me this year, but I will be happy as long as they survive the winter.

I gave Antheia a third box because the hive has gotten much stronger and filled out most of the frames. There is still plenty of room, but I want to make sure they still have plenty of room when I check the hive in a few weeks.

Hegemone is as strong as ever. Many frames of capped brood, which has produced lots of new workers. It’s been hot and humid as usual for the area this time of year and the hive has been having a social outside almost every night. This hints at a heating problem. This prompted me to replace the inner and outer covers and use the old solid bottom board as the new cover. This provides them with a top entrance and a lot more ventilation. After the switch, the amount of bearding on the front of the hive has drastically reduced. It is also a little creepy looking in to the top entrance and seeing hundreds of bees lined up and looking back at me. I’m a bit worried that they will start making burr comb along the top since it provides more than bee space from the top of the frames. They’ll probably draw out the rest of the frames in the third box first.