More bee blogging

As there seems to be a dearth of nectar at the moment, I decided to feed the colonies.  The 1st year colony I call Venice looks like it slowed down a bit. right after I added the 2nd super.  I admit, I am a bit worried Milano will get into that capped honey in the super I am taking.  Conflict: If they take it -  it means they need it and I probably shouldn't take it....  I figure I'll take it and feed the rest of the season.

My pride and joy - the colony I call Sicily - is doing well despite my many mistakes.  I moved two frames of brood with queen cells into a new hive.  It was VERY, VERY slow going.  With only nurse bees and no foragers as well as un-emerged queens, it took a long time for this to get going - but it's going fine now.  I fed them pollen patties and sugar water.  Being weak as long as it was created my first ever look at hive beetles.  Yuck!  I dispatched a few and cleaned out my top feeder and fed them  They are now 5 full frames plus two other half frames - and, finally, show a defense when I inspect (I used to be able to inspect them without any gear).  If they winter, I am going to try to get them in place to harvest the peach orchard nectar and fill a Ross Rounds super.  Specialty comb honey!  Can't wait.

Is this okay?

What is the deal with the sugar water lately?! They are sucking down a liter in a single evening. If I put it out after work, it is gone when I get up in the morning. They are also a bit more hostel. I feel the need to gear up to simply change the sugar water. Today, it has been 6 days since I added the new hive body IN BETWEEN the old hive body and honey super. I checked the new hive body. There was a decent amount of bees on it but they weren't doing anything with it. No comb buildup and certainly no eggs or larvae. You might guess they were simply traversing it to cap the honey in the super I moved it (as it was mostly capped).

I didn't get into the main hive body as I was trying not to disturb them too much. OKAY, it did do one thing: I robbed on half of a frame of the capped honey. We just got a taste of it last time and were left wanting! This time, I got plenty! We ate until we were sick of it (which didn't take as long as we thought it would). This was the good peach orchard honey! Anyone know if this is considered MUCH worse than pulling the supers at harvest time? I scrapped one side of a super frame with my hive tool and put it back dripping honey. I also sprinkled powered sugar on the new hive body hoping to attract them into that section more as well as pay them back for the honey (no hard feelings?)

Inspected Hive - Lookin' Good!

I have been trying NOT to bother them. I thought that was what caused them to swarm last year. Now I believe it was the feeder. This year I had TWO hives. The old hive had the old feeder and it failed. The new hive had a new feeder and it kept me running out there daily with a liter of sugar water and it thrived.

Anyway, it looked great (to me)! Bees completely filled the super frames and the center frames were full of honey. I will get a honey crop this year!

P.S. This doesn't fit well with the other stuff on this blog. It is perhaps too eclectic. I need a bee blog.