Discouraging

Very little build up in any of the six hives. Talked with Graham yesterday and he said that he's having the same problem/issue...bees not pulling comb which means that there's no honey flow. This is probably due to the extensive rains that we had for a three week, non-stop period. We have missed the early honey flow and are now keeping fingers crossed for mid to late July.

Clem emailed me yesterday and said that he has one hive that has already produced 1.5 supers full of honey! What a difference a few miles makes because Mollie is experiencing the same thing we are.

Have begun feeding again with a 1 part sugar to 2 parts water syrup. Five of the six hives are drinking over a pint a day. I noticed yesterday that my first nuc hive has not touched the syrup.

Hive Check

Opened up all six hives.

#1 - no work being done on super. Very little work on upper brood box. Lower brood box very full so I switched three frames between the two brood boxes.

#2 - Packaged bees - very little progress. I see some brood and eggs and larvae on just two frames.

$3 - First Nuc from Mark - lower brood bos full of bees so switched out three frames with upper brood which had some activity. Still nothing going on in the super.

#4 - Nuc from Mark - Brood box full so I put another brood box on top along with a super.

#5 - Nuc from Mark - repeated as with #4

#6. - Swarm from CHS - brood box active but only about 2/3 full. Did not add anything else to this hive.

Hive Check

The bees are extremely active around all hives. I opened each hive and pulled a few frames to see how things are progressing. This journal shows that by this time last year, we were pulling honey. Currently, the upper brood boxes are empty and have not been worked much. Will check again in a few days and will rotate boxes if necessary.

BTW, the unpainted nuc box in the picture is from a swarm Molly and I captured in a tree at CHS. That was pretty cool!