September 7 Bee Yard Visit

Mark and I have been so busy that we've hardly had a chance to take a break and visit the bee yard.  We did make it out on September 7, but I am just now getting time to make this post.

As of early September, there were several acres of dried grassy pastures around our hives, and flowers were hard to find.  We brought sugar water with us to help supplement the bee's diets. (Click on photos to enlarge).

It's been rather dry and hot in our part of Texas.

Hive 01 still has a super on it.  There's no honey in it, but the bees roam around on the empty comb, so we think it is giving them extra space they need.  This hive has a lot of bees.  We knew we were going to have a quick visit, so we didn't open the deep hive boxes to check down below.  We noticed the bees returning with a good amount of pollen.

Hive 01 is doing well.

Hive 02 was a little bit aggressive.  They went after us a bit, but we didn't light our smoker so we had to endure their feistiness for awhile.  We saw our queen in this hive and she is managing only two frames of bees.  They had no honey, so we were glad we brought along the sugar water for them.

Hive 02 is a very small colony, but hanging in there.

Hive 02 queen with the red dot on her thorax.

Hive 03 is nearly identical to hive 01, as is hive 05.

Hive 05 just before inspection.

Hive 06 is our most interesting hive.  We saw our queen and the bees are doing a great job taking care of the 5 frames.  This hive box had some honey and a little brood.

Hive 06 is one deep hive box. There are only 5 frames in this hive.

Instead of adding 5 more empty frames, we think it is best that
these bees work with what they have.  Adding more empty frames
means more surface area for them to care for, and more surface area for pests
like the small hive beetle and the wax moth.

Hive 06 queen just to the right of center.

Hive 07 was dead when we arrived.  This wasn't too much of a surprise, as last time we didn't see our queen and the hives seemed short on honey.  We were disappointed that this colony didn't make it, as they had worked so hard for a long time.

Hive 07 only has robber bees, cleaning up what little remains.

Hive 08 is doing well.  There were a lot of bees and activity in this colony.

Hive 08 is a strong colony.

We filled our sugar water jars to the top and sat them atop each of the hives.  The water will drip out slowly and help to give the bees much needed food.

Here, we're pouring sugar water into several jars to place
on top of the hives.

Sugar water jar on hive 01

Hives at the end of the visit.