2013-08-25: *Time Machine Post* Goldenrod

Satellite yard:  Goldenrod "funk" could be smelled even outside the fence perimeter.

Hodgepodge:  Removed the medium super above excluder since it was just bare foundation.  I transferred the small frames that had mistakenly been placed in a medium super into a small super.  Some of the frames were mostly filled with honey while others were nearly empty.
    -Drone frame had uncapped larvae, I need to remove it next week.
    -Other frames in top brood box appear to be largely honey.
    -Weight from the back was 43.5 lbs which means that the brood boxes and contents roughly weigh 86 lbs.
    -Sugar dusted the hive.

Here are pictures of how I weigh the hives using a electronic baggage scale:

   

*Interesting note, here is a picture of what appears to be a bee in the process of extruding the wax scales used to build comb.

Goldenrod:  Many more bees outside of Goldenrod then Hodgepodge.  Foragers were bring in bright orange pollen.
    -One medium super on top of a queen excluder, bare foundation.  I decided that I just was going to remove this whole super since they were not going to do much with it before the end of the season.  So I put a bee excluder (one way exit) board underneath it and plugged the entrance hole of the box.  Next week I should be able to remove it without having any bees at all on it.
    -I moved the HP partly filled shallow super over to Goldenrod.  I felt that Goldenrod with its large work force would do a better job finishing it off by the end of the season.  And this way Hodgepodge could just fill in its stores and have a better shot at surviving the winter.
    -Drone frame was rebuilt and being filled with honey.
    -The 2 brood boxes weighed 38.2 lbs from the back, for a guestimate total of 76.4 lbs.
    -Sugar dusted.

  

 

Home yard:

Aubergine:  Some honey in supers confined mostly to the frames in the middle.
    -Drone frame, uncapped larvae, cut next week.
    -The 2 brood boxes and bottom board (which did not want to be separated) weighed 54.7 lbs from the back, for a guestimate total of 109.4 lbs.
    -Dusted.

Sage: Dusted, forgot to weigh.  Shallow super partially filled, shuffled the frames around to put the nearly filled frames at the sides and the unfilled in the middle where the bees are more likely to fill them. 
    -Removed the drone frame, partially hatched out -> new eggs.  Replaced with regular frame of foundation.
Holly: Drone frame, capped workers!  Left it in place.  Supers empty.

2013-08-16: *Time Machine Post*

Sattelite yard:

Goldenrod:  Pollen being carried in, brood in medium super.
    -Cut out the capped drone brood.  Noted nectar dripping out.  Also noted that it was filled with mites!  Possibly because drone laying restored so would be very attractive to the mites, but still this is a sign that this hive should be medicated.

    -Other Medium was bare foundation.
    -Placed a Queen excluder underneath the bare super to keep the queen from laying up there as well.  Next week make sure the Queen is gone from the supers and move the excluder down underneath the other super (the one with brood) as well to prevent the queen from laying additional eggs in the supers.  The existing brood should hopefully be hatched by the time of extraction.

Hodgepodge: Nothing to report.

2013-08-13: *Posted after just a few months delay*

Satellite:   Slight bearding, foraging bees and a few of those have pollen

Hodgepodge: I realized that the super I had put into the hive is a Medium sized but the frames are shallow, thus leaving a gap. I could not tell if any of them had more honey (about 2/3rd full).
    -Drone frame, honey, no drones.
    -Sugar roll a sample of bees for a mite count
    -Sugar dusted the hive.

Goldenrod: Not much seems to be going into the supers.  One is about half full and the other is still foundation.
    -Drone has brood, should be pulled next week.
    -Had spotty brood on other frames, but perhaps a consequence of honey in many of the cells.
    -Did the sugar roll to count mites.
    -Sugar dusted.

Home yard:
    -Added the frames from Green Nuc to Yellow.  Yellow nuc had bees and brood.  Don't seem to be exploding yet.