Well, I finally made it back into the
beeyard.
Alistair is doing very well. Both boxes
are well-filled with bees, and there are some honey stores.
Polly is considerably smaller in size,
nowhere close to filling the second box. However, the bottom box is
full of bees. and there is also a small amount of honey.
Deanne is the smallest of the three,
and the comb is spotty. Not sure why this is so, as the new queen
seemed to be doing well last month. I found her and she looks small,
but since this is my first time seeing her, I can’t compare her
appearance now to what she looked like previously. There is no honey
in this hive and the bees are quiet – almost sombre. I wonder if
this hive should be requeened? It definitely needs some syrup
immediately.
I also wonder if Deanne should be
combined with Polly to build a strong second hive. I think Alistair
is okay. I will need to talk to some other beekeepers about this, but
if they are to be strong enough to resist mites, it might have to
happen.
I prepared sticky boards for all three
hives, even though they were tested in the summer. In light of recent
findings of mites in the Thunder Bay area, I would feel better
knowing they were done again.
I prepared disposable sticky boards as
follows (x3).
I photocopied a 9”x12” grid pattern
from a craft mat onto regular 8½” x 11” paper. I cut a piece of
cardboard to roughly the same size, then stapled the gridded sheet to
it. I attached a pull handle (not sure if it will be needed) to the
narrow end of the cardboard piece using masking tape. I brushed a
generous amount of Crisco/petroleum jelly (equal amounts) onto the
grid. Covered it with an 8”x10” piece of hardware cloth (8
sq/in), and slid one into the front entrance of each hive, leaving
the ‘handle’ exposed. We will look at them in 48 hours.
I also notched the inner cover of
Polly, and applied a piece of hardware screen (8sq/in) to the opening
in the cover, as indicated in the previous bee blog.
The next step will be to start feeding
2:1 syrup as soon as the sticky boards are removed and the hives have
been united – if that is to be done. We will need to build two (or
three) hive top feeders asap for this.
We also need to decide how to protect
the bees during the winter. Again, I will speak with some other
beekeepers.
Let’s see how Sunday’s sticky board
results are first.
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