New Deep Hive Box Installation

On February 20, Mark and I made the trek to check on our two hives and to install new deep hive boxes on the other six foundations.  We found both hives in relatively the same condition as our last visit.  Hive 02’s population was still low, but hanging in there just fine.  There was not a lot of movement in the hive because the weather was still a little cool in the 60s.  We saw our Russian-Italian hybrid queen and she was busy laying.  The photo below captures her in the process.  We are still so proud of her!

The queen is in the center of the photo with white paint on her thorax as a
marker to spot her easily.  Notice her abdomen tucked into a cell. 
She is laying an egg (click on photos to enlarge).

We have struggled for a long time with hive 02 and the bees tendency to drown in the sugar water.  We continue to be stumped as to why this happens in this hive and not in hive 04.  Hive 04 finishes the entire gallon of sugar water every time and there are no drowned bees in their hive.  I have come up with a theory that because the population in hive 02 is smaller than in hive 04, they do not have the ability to finish the full frame feeder of sugar water before it begins to sour.  I am thinking that the sour water is causing the bees to get sick and trapped in the frame feeder and die.  Mark and I have talked about feeding this hive a smaller amount of sugar water to see if this might fix the problem.

Several bees had drowned in the sour sugar water.

Although hive 02's population is low, they are doing a great job of producing new comb and staying busy.  Here is a photo of some of their capped honey stores.

Capped honey stores for the bees' use through the winter months.

Hive 04 is in great shape with nearly all of their frames full of honey, pollen and brood.  This frame is very heavy at around five pounds of honey.

A full frame of honey and pollen.  Look closely to see the pink pollen
in the cells in the center of the frame.  We think that this pollen is
possibly collected from cedar trees in our area.

Our last event for the trip was to place our six new empty hive boxes on our foundations to prepare for the new bee arrival during our next visit.  We were so excited about the upcoming bee pick up day!

Two hives with bees and six without.  New bees will be installed during our next visit.