Apiary Ready for Winter

Left to Right: Sasha, Dmitry and OV Hives

I have been worried about the status of all the hives going into fall but especially the Dmitry hive, the newest one in the center. This queen has just not taken up house very well, keeping to just a few preferred frames to lay her eggs. I've been feeding syrup heartily since Labor Day and the Dmitry hive, more than the other two, were gobbling it up which is always a good sign... and reinforced by the many bees taking orientation flights these past few warm days so I was hopeful the queen was finally branching out.

But today's inspection shattered my hopes... Dmitry has zero stores (no pollen or honey anywhere) and so few cells of brood that I'm contemplating combining the hive into another to get them through the winter. Have they only been eating the syrup instead of making honey? When I last inspected this hives late October I noticed this queen is a bit smaller than the others... perhaps that is contributing to her lack of filling this hive? They've never really recovered from the loss of most of the bees to pesticides this summer.

I had super'd up OV hive to six boxes and they did exactly what I wanted them to do by drawing out comb and making enough frames of honey to supplement the Dmitry hive. Even though I lost the OV queen in July and let the hive make another, it certainly stands true that a strong hive makes a strong queen. This OV hive has never let me down! I was able to add four frames of honey to each box in the Dmitry hive as well as replacing the undrawn frames with empty frames of comb. All Dmitry has to do now is fill the cells with honey! They don't have to waste time doing anything else this time of year. The top feeder is on and I've also begun to feed them back some of their honey using an entrance feeder. I'm giving them every opportunity to make it and if our weather stays mild they have a chance...

All the hives are now set for winter, being set up three medium supers on each. Sasha is doing outstanding with six frames of honey in the top box. The OV hive has four but I'm confident they'll make up for the frames I moved. I didn't take apart the Sasha or OV below the top boxes as they have everything all glued tight for winter with propolis and I don't need them to spend the energy doing so again had I opened them all up. I'm confident there's enough honey in each lower box by the weight of them and that they're doing what bees should be doing this time of year.

I'll leave the top feeders on all the hives as long as I can while I explore options for the Dmitry hive should they just not get their little bee-act together. I know I'm taking a chance with the overnight temps this coming week forecasted at temperatures well below that recommended for feeding syrup. Hopefully, they'll store up the syrup I'm feeding them and my worries will pass...