Spring is Finally Here! Well...not officially, but it sure feels like it...

This is our favorite time of year as beekeepers!  It's when many fun beekeeping activities take place.  Green grass is sprouting and tiny rain lilies have peeped up around the countryside.  On Friday, March 9, Mark and I visited our bees to get them ready for the spring nectar flow.   We removed the Apivar strips from each of the hive boxes and checked the colonies for healthy egg-laying queens.  Click on photos to enlarge.

While we were at the bee yard, we were reminded to be watchful of creatures that call the property their home.

This venomous pygmy rattlesnake was hanging out close by.

Our hives upon arrival at the bee yard.

Rain lilies popping up.

Here's a frame from hive 01.  This hive had one deep hive box, but the bees were doing so well that we added a second one during our visit.  The colony had tons of capped brood and we're expecting the population to grow quickly.

Hive 01 frame of brood and uncapped larvae.

Hive 01 capped brood.

Hive 02 also had one deep hive box.  While we did see a good amount of brood, there wasn't enough population to add a second deep hive box.  We're expecting that when we visit next time, in a couple of weeks, that the population will be at a level to add another box.

Hive 02 bees and some brood.
Look closely near the center to see the queen!

Our hive 03 was in fantastic shape.  It had two deep hive boxes and plenty of bees, so we added a super.  We're crossing our fingers that this colony continues to do well, so that we can collect some honey from the super for ourselves.  

In hive 03, we had to remove the Apivar strips from the bottom deep hive box and to do so, we lifted the top deep hive box to get access to the strips.  Notice in the photo below that when we separated the boxes, we disrupted some brood.  The bees had built comb between the boxes and the queen placed her eggs in those cells, which grew into pupae.  Perhaps we had too much bee space in this particular part of the hive and the bees felt a need to fill it with comb.  It is a sad ending when we inadvertently destroy the pupae, but the comb should not be there in the first place.  

Hive 03 bottom deep hive box is exposed. 

  

Hive 03 close up of comb between the deep hive boxes.
The white pupae is exposed and will not survive.
Notice tiny eggs in some open cells.
These eggs were laid by the queen within the past couple of days.

It is typical that some hives may not make it through the winter months because of cold temperatures, lack of food stores, or loss of a queen.  We're heartbroken that hive 04 didn't make it through the winter, but we are grateful that we still have seven healthy colonies.

Hive 05 had two deep hive boxes and the colony is thriving.  We saw our queen and she looked busy!  There was a ton of capped brood and we're expecting the population to soar quickly.  Mark and I added a super to this colony.

Hive 05 queen near center of photo.

Hive 05 capped brood.

Hive 05 capped brood.

Our hive 06 is in trouble.  We noticed there were no eggs or brood, which is the first sign that there may be no queen.  The second sign is the appearance of queen cells.  The bees in this colony realize they are without a queen and they are desperately trying to create a new one for the survival of the colony.  We counted 7 queen cells on this frame.  Mark and I were torn; should we let the colony continue down this path on their own, or should we intervene and purchase a new queen for them?  They'll stand a much better chance if we intervene.

Notice hive 06 queen cells on this side of the frame.

Here are more queen cells on the hive 06 frame.  The bees
are protective of the queen cells, making them hard to see in this photo.

As with the other healthy hives, hive 07 had lots of brood.  There's not yet enough population to add a second deep hive box...perhaps during our next visit.

Hive 07 brood.

For the past several months, hive 08 has been outstanding.  Last year, this queen stopped laying eggs and Mark and I talked about replacing her.  We didn't have the heart to do it and we're happy that we didn't.  She rebounded and now has a great colony.  We added a second deep hive box and just in time.  The population is booming and there's no doubt they needed the extra space.

Hive 08 bees and brood.

Mark and I rearranged a lot of boxes during this visit.  We have high hopes that we will have some honey from this spring's nectar flow!

Our hives at the end of our bee yard visit.