Ready for the Honey Flow

Inspected both hives and rotated boxes today in preparation for the major honey flow. By now the hives have been increasing in population and bringing in lots of pollen.

OV Queen & Nice Brood Pattern

I began with the OV hive and found the top box so full of bees, with the same amount for the second and third as well as the bottom box, which I had expected to be empty as bees move up come spring and why boxes need to be rotated this time of year. Instead, I found the bottom box to be as full as every other box. While it is good to have a strong and thriving hive, having an overpopulated hive can be a problem that leads to a swarm, and we all know a swarm leaves behind a weakened hive.

I know the Dmitry hive is not thriving as there have been very few bees flying. While inspecting I found very little brood in the very middle of the second box with the bottom box empty as expected. I rotated the boxes and added five frames of brood and bees from the OV hive to give the Dmitry hive a boost.

Dmitry Queen With Very Little Brood

In order to move bees from one hive to another without risking chaos I gave the frames and bees a good spray of sugar water mixed with Honey-B-Healthy, which is an essential oil made from spearmint and lemongrass, among other things. It masks the scent of the other hive and by the time the bees clean off the spray, they are all nice and friendly with one another.

Accobee Apiary

Common beekeeping sense says knows that the Dmitry queen is probably not a good queen. She was doing great initially when first installed last spring, but then her brood patterns became inconsistent  I'll keep an eye on her over the summer and may requeen her come fall.

I will be replacing the Sasha hive with a new package ordered with a Russian queen, which is due any time now.  There is no telling at this point if that will end up being a strong or a weak hive. Dmitry is definitely a weak hive at the moment and OV has been going strong with their third queen since installed in 2010. I've said it before but it's worth noting again, a strong queen makes for a strong hive which makes their own strong queens.