Starting with the hives up by the sugar house which were wintering at my parents' rather than at the farm down the road where they had spent the Summer. Almost all of my hives went into the winter with two deeps and a medium, with the latter on top. The total weights had been between 140-180 lbs when I brought the farm hives back and weighed them, which I guestimate as being at least 90 lbs of honey. Before inspecting, I took off the tar paper Winter wrap. I also removed the top box I had placed on all of them above the inner cover that I had filled with insulating wool as I figured its not needed anymore as its warming up.
Blue was dead, which I had suspected earlier from reports from my Mother. Interestingly, when I checked my notes I found that this was one of my strongest hives last Summer. Inside I found the medium on top full of honey, and as was the deep below it. The deep on the bottom was more empty of honey, but also of bees. I did not have the time to do a full post-mortem, but I did not find a cluster of dead bees which makes me wonder if the population died off in the Fall... which sounds like mites.
Rose was alive and had a ring of bees on top medium that I believe sort of defines the upper end of the cluster. I added half a pollen patty to it to tied them over until the willow and red maple start producing pollen. If they eat it all when I check on them next week its easy enough to add more.
Holly was noticeably stronger than Rose. Not a boiling mass of bees like Mike Palmer's bees, but respectable. Again, I added half a pollen patty. The bees found it very quickly.
Gold was very similar in strength to Rose. Pollen added.
Now I went to the cellar hole that had Plumb, a hive that had been kept at my parents' house since I got it several years ago. I would not be surprised if the queen had been superceded at some point, but the hive remained strong the last few years and I have used as a source for brood to make nucs and I believe some splits over the years. Plumb had gone into the Winter with two mediums on top of two deep boxes as I had put some not fully drawn out supers on it at the end of the season. As the few frames I pulled from the top medium was fully capped it looked like they had not needed it. I did not see many bees on the top of the medium, but then it had that extra medium. I left it alone besides giving it some pollen patty.
Sage had been meant to be a nuc last Summer, but it had built up well as a result of a gap allowing the bees to communicate in the double nuc box that I had tried to make two splits in and instead I got just one hive, not two, and I had to move it into a deep with a medium of honey on top to go into the Winter. It was alive and I fed it some pollen.
I did have two nucs in a double box. I had made them triple deckers as I had the spare equipment in the Fall. The insulation box I had neglected to add wool to as I later discovered. My mother had previously reported that the front entrance had bees going in and out, but the nuc with the entrance in the back had no obvious bee activity. When I had peaked over the edge of the cellar wall earlier in the day I had also seen no activity, so I was expecting just one of the two nucs to be alive. I took the top off and looked at the font facing entrance nuc and it had bees and I fed it some pollen patty. I then looked at the rear entrance nuc, there were a few bees near that rear entrance but could have been robbers. Taking the inner cover off I saw that the top box (out of the three) was missing a few frames, evidently I had run out. Looking down the gap I saw an obvious cluster of bees. So it was still alive! I decided to grab two medium frames of honey from Plumb to add to the gap to give them something to eat in addition to the pollen patty.
So, seven out of eight colonies still alive in early March. Very good. Though I am not out of the woods yet. But much better than the year where I had lost all of my hives. Next week I will be moving five of the hives to the farm down the road. That will leave Plumb and probably Sage (the two nucs are easier to move) at my parents. If time permits I should do the post mortem on Blue, distribute its honey reserves across the other hives, and start cleaning/prepping equipment. Specifically I should check to see if I have enough supers to cover all seven hives if I decide to keep them all.
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