Hive 1:
This hive is doing well. I was surprised to see a single swarm cell. I removed it, and added some space to the front for the queen to lay. She already seemed to have plenty of empty cells, but a blank bar was moved to the front. I will keep an eye on the spacing. This colony has enough pollen and honey stores for this winter.
Hive 2:
This queen is laying an excellent brood pattern. They have a decent amount of honey stored. Craig has continued to treat this hive with oxalic acid vapor when he is treating his. This was the only hive that was not treated with formic pro. It has a mite load of 6% and then a 4% mite load after the first oxalic treatment. It should continue to go down. 3 bars of brood were taken from this colony and given to Hive 3 to help it along. 3 bars of honey/empty comb were taken from Hive 3 and given to this colony for safekeeping (Hive 3 has very small numbers now, and a lot of comb where wax moths are proliferating).
Hive 3:
This hive has changed dramatically since the inspection I did two weeks ago. Their numbers were on the lower side then, and they have continued to dwindle. The colony had a few bars of capped worker brood, but I noticed that there was a bar of brood where the queen had laid unfertilized eggs (drones) in worker cells. She may be failing. Due to their low numbers, there is a large amount of unattended comb and the wax moths have been able to proliferate. This is the first time I have seen a wax moth trail under brood. Such a bummer, but I was glad I was able to recognize what was going on.
This hives queen was replaced with a queen from Megan Mahoney’s black line. Unfortunately, it may need to be requeened again. I confirmed that the queen is still in the hive and laying (I saw her and eggs). *Besides this queen, Megan’s queens have been excellent.
Hive 4:
This hive is the healthiest right now. They are still bringing in nectar, are drawing some comb, and have plenty of stores for winter.
