Due to various complications, I hadn’t been able to get up to the apiary to begin the spring feeding until today. Since the weather was also good I decided to have my first post-winter inspection.
All 3 hives had bees in, though with different strengths:
Tess is still strong, with eggs and brood across multiple frames, and a reasonable amount of stores, though they were tucking into the sugar bags. I left some 1:1 syrup - 2kg of sugar to 2 litres of water.
Sarah was a bit weaker, but still happy enough, with brood, though some unused outer frames. I didn’t have the right feed equipment with me, so they’ll get fed on Monday, weather permitting.
Rebecca however appeared queenless - no sign of eggs or brood with a moderately strong colony of calm black bees, tightly bundled, and tons of stores left - an ideal candidate for breeding! There’s a slim chance there’s still a queen in there, but to check this I put in a half-frame of eggs from Tess. I’ll check back next week - if they’re building queen cells then I’ll probably knock them down and merge with Sarah to make a stronger hive. If not, then I’ll just have to wait for this elusive queen to start laying.
