We took advantage of a nice sunny day to have a look at the new colonies and do a hive inspection in the apiary. The Small Swarm and the School Yard Bees seem to be doing well. Lot's of activity.
The Big Hive that we split a few months ago looks like it either is making a new queen for itself or is getting ready to swarm or both. (Or already did....possible origin of Small Swarm.) We found this perfect queen cell in the middle of the frame with some bees tending to it. Or tearing it down. It is so hard sometimes to tell what phase the bees are in. We tried to look inside but could not see if there was a queen larvae in there or not.
On the bottom of the frames we also found many many swarm cells. Again, it was hard to tell if they were being built or had already hatched.
The Split we made from the Big Hive somehow has foulbrood. It was doing so well I am not sure how this happened. We put them in new and clean boxes with brand new frames. I suppose some could have come over with the frames we split of from the Big Hive but it does not have foulbrood. So question mark, question mark. This disease is very irritating. I am not sure how to fully eradicate it from our apiary.
I have the antibiotics so we gave the Split its first dose today and will do the second one as recommended.
Lots of pollen of all different colors and textures. Four of the hives are doing well. Hopefully the Split will bounce back. Now that the weather has cleared up a bit they will be flying and building up their field forces for collecting nectar and pollen.
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