Starting with Hive 2, everything went according to plan. The ladies were very relaxed. The main cluster was in the top left when viewed from the rear (never work your bees from the front as you are standing in the flight path and more likely to receive a dose of apitherapy). Inspecting the top deep revealed lots-o-bees, some spotty brood pattern spread over a couple of frames (something to watch..) and at least 4 frames of honey remaining from last fall. Somehow, they are starting to bring in some pollen. It has to be from trees as nothing is even close to blooming yet. The bottom deep was similar with the empty comb directly under the cluster on the top deep and honey in the frames to the right. I took both deeps off the bottom board and cleaned out several handfuls of winter kill. After reversing the order of the deeps, putting the top on the bottom and the bottom on top, I put on a top feeder and poured in 1/2 gal of syrup, forgetting it was 2:1 from last winter. This morning, it was already gone and I added a fresh gallon of 1:1 with Honey-B-Healthy (essential oils). There were lots of bees feeding so I'll check them tomorrow afternoon. I opened the vent hole in the top deep and reduced the bottom entrance by 1/2 until they really get going.
The surprise was waiting in Hive 1. This hive consists of 2 deeps with a medium on top. The bees were in the same position as in Hive 2 (fig 1) but there were fewer of them. Still 4 frames of honey in the top. The bees were relaxed and as my smoker was almost dead, I kept going without it. (fig 2) The queen is definitely doing her job as evidenced by the amount of capped brood, larvae and eggs on 2 frames.
After taking off the medium, the top deep s
tarted me wondering. There were several hundred dead bees in the middle of the deep. Again, lots of honey remained in frame 7-10. Most of the rest of the honey was gone. Closer inspection showed many of the bees starved! Another hundred bees died head first in the comb trying to get the last bit of nourishment from the cells (fig 3). Oddly, bees were dead at one end of the frame with honey remaining at the other end! There was also a lot of small wax particles spread throughout the hive, tho' I am unsure of the significance of this. If any readers happen to know about this, please comment...
After removing the bottom deep, I dumped the winter kill off the bottom board and reversed the order putting the medium on the bottom. There was only 1 bee at the feeder this morning and less than a dozen when I added the fresh syrup this afternoon. I reduced the bottom entrance by half and opened the ventilation hole in the top deep.
Hive Notes:
Many believe there is no benefit to reversing the hive order in Spring, while others like to start with the queen in the bottom box as she has a tendency to move up. It is incredibly time consuming. If I had more than 3 or 4 hives, I doubt I'd do it.
Also, with all of the honey in each hive, you may wonder why I was intent on feeding syrup. Excellent question! As I do not treat with chemicals, I'm really trying to get some of the essential oils to the bees–the thought being spearmint and lemon grass oils help improve the bees' immune system and reduce the prevalence of nosema and chalk brood while helping to stimulate the queen.
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