All four hives are regularly active when the sun shines on them this month with clouds of bees practicing flying in front of them and a few foragers in evidence. I am seeing orange pollen with some pale greyish-yellow as well.
Glancing through the clear crown boards Hives 1, 2, and 3 seem strongest with 5/6 seams of bees and their fondant blocks nibbled only a little. Hive 4 (the WBC) is not so strong with only 4 seams and their fondant heavily eaten. This was the late swarm and with hindsight it may have been wiser to unite it with one of the others. Conversely it may be due to the 1" thick EPS insulated overjackets I made and used with the 14 x 12 hives, leaving the WBC to rely on the double wall plus an EPS top sheet over the clear crownboard. I have entrance restrictors in place on all the hives and have reduced the WBC even more to just a couple of bee spaces to help the weaker colony defend against robbers if the other colonies find them.
Sitting tight now and waiting for Tempus to Fugit while I carry on making up frames and boxes!
Glancing through the clear crown boards Hives 1, 2, and 3 seem strongest with 5/6 seams of bees and their fondant blocks nibbled only a little. Hive 4 (the WBC) is not so strong with only 4 seams and their fondant heavily eaten. This was the late swarm and with hindsight it may have been wiser to unite it with one of the others. Conversely it may be due to the 1" thick EPS insulated overjackets I made and used with the 14 x 12 hives, leaving the WBC to rely on the double wall plus an EPS top sheet over the clear crownboard. I have entrance restrictors in place on all the hives and have reduced the WBC even more to just a couple of bee spaces to help the weaker colony defend against robbers if the other colonies find them.
Sitting tight now and waiting for Tempus to Fugit while I carry on making up frames and boxes!
