I’ve had my bees now for 21 days. The brood emerging now was from eggs that the queen produced on the day that I received the nucs.
I have been feeding the bees 50/50 sugar and water in the top feeders and a front feeder. My Connie hive takes as much as a quart a day from the top feeder. My Ethel hive doesn’t seem to use the top feeder, but takes about 3/4 quart a day from the front feeder.
On good days the workers have been returning from the field so laden with pollen that they could hardly fly. Everything was blooming last week. On several days it hit 90 degrees and the bees seemed to be very very active.
For the last week, however, it has been rainy and cold. The temperature goes up to the mid 50s during the days and on a few nights it has gone down into the upper 30s. Tomorrow it will be a warmer day with scattered showers. The temperature will be in the high 60s and I hope that the rain will hold off for at least part of the day. Saturday looks better and starting next Monday there should be good spring/summer weather.
I am worried about the new brood. They need protein as well as sugar. I hope that the workers found enough pollen. I bought pollen patties to feed the bees, but I have not opened up the hives much so I have not put them in. I am not sure where to put them, anyway.
I think that the colonies are healthy, at least they bees are very busy doing their bee things. I did not search for the queen or check for brood on the ten day inspection. I did not want to bother them. I think that this weekend I might do an inspection. I hope that the queens are OK and producing brood.
I will not receive the medium frames this week. Brushy Mountain is still two to three weeks behind in shipping. As soon as I get the frames I will pill up the supers and hope that the hives start making lots of honey. I want the sun to shine and my bees to be happy.
