Just before Spring Break I reduced my hives to single deeps and today I went around my hives to check on progress. It was a mixed bag but quite interesting all the same.
At home the hive I had combined with another remained weak. There was some brood in it and I saw some bees hatching, but there was no sign of eggs or larvae and I couldn't find a Queen. That said, I thought I saw a very small queen. Could it have been a virgin queen? I don't know but what I saw was very small and it had a pointed abdomen. So it looked like a miniature queen. I will check in a week to see what changes there have been in the hive but I suspect this hive will have to get a new queen in a couple of weeks time.
The hive in Diane's yard is roaring with life! Before Spring Break this had brood in the super that was under the deep. Today when I checked the super, this still had some brood in it, and there were five or six frames of solid capped brood in the deep. I added a second deep, and put the super above this. I suspect this hive may be a candidate for a future split.
In Ladue the weak hive there had some small amount of brood. The queen is present and laying, but slowly. Perhaps she will be replaced by one of the new queens when they arrive! The other two hives are doing well and will likely need second deeps sometime towards the end of this week. Currently they have three or four frames of capped brood.
The hive in the botanical gardens is similar to Diane's. Plenty of frames of capped brood and buzzing! I added a second deep. most of the new deep is just foundation and will have to be drawn out so I will persist in feeding it for the time being.
Overall it seems I have four really strong hives that will probably be split and two hives that may need new queens. I have four queens arriving in mid April; two will be used in the weak hives and two will be used to split the strong hives. I am encouraged there will be a lot of bees around for the spring! Lets hope the nectar flow is strong!
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