#apiary2016

P: Same - all well, working, doing their things, but not expanding or making/finishing honey. Saw q1.

GBF: Slow to build and fill top boxes. Q cell in 2 but also eggs in decent pattern. Maybe they’re feeling crowded, but they need to build as they have plenty of space, just not comb. Left it alone - maybe they know better than me. 3 wall to wall brood in box 2, not much in box 3 but I couldn’t move a frame up to encourage without also encouraging “excess” brood there. 

I used to/learned to always go for as large a population as possible, to make more honey and get through those long cold Illinois winters. I’m trying a different thing this year, hopefully more suited to this climate and turn of seasons, where I don’t do anything to try to get them to raise brood beyond the second deep/third medium. Smaller population but still sizeable, eats less through the dearth, doesn’t need to be huge with our mild winters anyway - so goes the theory. We’ll see.

GBF: 3 is coming along well. Moved two brood frames up to encourage. Eggs, larvae, nice pattern. 1 was testy - possibly because I just mowed around them all yesterday, though the other two were calmer - and not expanding as I’d like. Supered anyway. Bad idea? 2 is having a queen issue. She’s there, as I saw both her and some eggs, but she’s not laying well. Could she be new/a recent replacement? A quick look at previous notes suggests...maybe? Which would be a decent excuse for laying inexpertly. Also starting to get ants under the lid, so I took the empty feeder box off. Weak or not, I’m not feeding them during the tulip poplar flow. I made a note that says “Reinspect midweek and decide” but I can’t do that.

I’d hoped to super 1 & 2 today, but alas, it was not to be. I may actually have to combine them if I don’t see improvement soon. Wish I could check again in <week, but I’ll be out of town, so unless I wanted to take quick action on Tuesday, which I don’t, the next inspection on this uncertain situation will have to wait until Sunday the 8th.

Installed 5 packages 3/23/16 - three at the plantation, 2 at GBF. Mid afternoon. All queens healthy and active, none marked. Minimal dead bees in packages, all cages had candy. From TF in Liberty. Fed each 2 quart bags of 1:1 sugar, plus what was left in the can. Entrance reducers. Some telescoping covers, some new migratory tops.

P hives are all mediums, all drawn comb. 2 meds each to start, plus feeder space. P2 still has 1/4″ hardware cloth bottom board, P1 & P3 have new 1/8″ bottoms.