Downsizing

I had replaced one drone frame with another about a month ago as part of the integrated pest strategy of removing drone larvae to remove mites. Ideally, the frames should come out every 21 days in order to keep the drones from hatching and releasing even more mites into your hive. During my last inspection I had peeked at the drone frame and they had not drawn it out much besides some bracing comb which I removed. So, I was only slightly nervous when I was not able to get up to the hive the weekend of 9/11-12 since I figured that they bees were taking their time building the new cells and then setting up shop for the drone larvae.

When I visited my hives with my sister this last Sunday (9/19) we were planning on removing the top box from the combined stack, removing some undrawn frames from the hive and replacing them with whatever frames in the removed box looked good, remove the drone frame, and perhaps do a sugar dusting.

Initial forager counting indicated only 78 bees returning per minute. Lower than I was expecting. However, later in the afternoon after the following inspection and when the sun had come out, I counted 150 returning bees! Now that is more like it!

The top box removal went well. They had about three frames with significant comb and honey. Two of which were able to be added back into the hive. The other frames were left in their box next to the hive to be robbed out by the bees. Hopefully this will allow the bees to top off the frames to the outside that the bees often leave empty if they have other options. Getting a colony through winter is more than just having enough honey in the hive, the bees also have to be able to access it when its very cold and they can't travel more than a few inches from the cluster.

The bees had completely removed the newspaper that had been used to buffer the two joined hives while they got to know each other. Only a fringe pinched between the wood was left. The queen excluder was removed.

The drone frame was fully drawn out. However, instead of drone larvae, it was filled with honey. Apparently the hive has decided that no more worthless loafers are needed this year. That would agree with our observations of the outside where there were a good number of drones hanging out outside the hive... perhaps they had been given the boot?

The bees were starting to get agitated so we did not poke around int he bottom box. We did a quick sugar dust to the top of the hive before closing up.

This inspection was the first use of coffee been bag strips to fuel the smoker. Once lit it worked like a charm, producing a steady smoke for a very long time. We also did not have to do the frantic puffing to keep it going like we had to do with straw... so less smoke induced headaches!

Soon winterizing will begin in earnest with a hole being cut in the back of the inner lid to improve ventilation (as recommended by Bill Mares in the bee workshop), trying to confirm that they have enough honey, inserting a front entrance barrier (to keep out the varmints), and to then wrap the hive. Also, I am still dithering about medications.

My mother will be feeding them 2:1 sugar water again as we work to try to get them as much food as possible.