Going into winter I had three hives. If you recall from my post last fall, I was hopeful, but they were all in different stages and there are so many factors that come into play over our long winter months here in Minnesota.
Throughout late fall and early winter I would go up the hill at least once a month to just check and see if there was any signs of activity at the entrances. In February, I was very surprised to find Alveare (left) the shortest of the three still alive. I peeked inside Panj as well. Both hive's bee cluster were in their top box, which generally means they ate all their stores already. I set up mountain camp feeding on Alveare and Panj since they were the lowest on food. I left Kosnica knowing they should have had tons of food. They were active out front but I did not see bees on the top of the hive.
Going into March I checked Panj and Alveare two more times on how the feeding was going and if there was need for more. I added to Panj as they were eating it up really fast. They were definitely more active outdoors even when it was colder than the other hives. They would be flying outside even when I saw nothing with the others. Must be the Russian bloodlines. We had some up and down weather and checking the outside of the hives it appeared that Kosnica was most likely dead. I peeked inside and saw no movement. Late March I suspected that a cold snap may had also taken Alveare as I saw no movement and heard nothing when I knocked outside. Today I went in to look....
You can see Alveare (left) is shorter than the other hives. They had only two boxes going into winter and they were not full. It should have been a recipe for disaster. Upon opening them up today, they still had lots of feed on top and were very much alive! They are raising brood (babies) and taking in beautiful yellow pollen. My weakest hive going into winter made it!!! I am amazed at their resiliency.
On the other hand my Russians, Panj (middle) had eaten all the feed I had given them. More than twice as much as Alveare. They were raising brood and filling in the extra space for more! In the picture below is some of the burr comb I removed that they were building. It had eggs in it. You can see the little white dots. Those are bee eggs. Another thing to note is their hive was so clean. When I went to clean the bottom board there was barely anything there to clean up. These bees are really good bees.
Kosnica (farthest away, on the right) had a third deep box FULL of honey going into winter. They should have had enough food to last them until March/April easily. There was activity outside the hive but from my recent visits and outside observations, I was suspecting it was bees from other hives robbing the honey from inside. Upon opening the hive there was virtually no bees inside. The top box still was full of honey, easily eighty to one hundred pounds. It was tough to lift. I checked all the way down. No cluster. They were dead. Most of the bees were on the bottom board. I am suspecting moisture as a reason they may have perished. I had the bottom entrance open to the smallest opening and it should have been the three inch opening. They most likely did not get the ventilation they needed to be able to remove the moisture even with the moisture board on top.
It is sad to loose a hive but I am super happy to have the other two doing so well. I will be dividing the colonies in about a month from two to four. This will be a new venture and I will be happy to share when it happens.
That's the buzz!
Blessings!
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