Hives #1 and #2 holding their own, as well

A couple of days before Thanksgiving I looked into hives #1 and #2.  #1 seems to be the strongest of all with lots of bees.  There is even some nectar in the cells in the super.  The queen was seen in the top brood box with some brood.  The bottom brood box is mostly empty comb.  As I recall, the queen has always been spotted in the top brood box, although I have seen brood in the bottom box before.  Since this hive is so strong, I'll take brood from it (in the spring) if #3 needs help.  I'm also planning on trying to raise a queen, and I'll use #1 for stock.
#2 seems stable with a modestly sized colony.  I spotted the queen in the bottom box.
I put entrance reducers into both hives.

Hey! What happened to our door?

Hive #3 seems to be holding its own

I took a look into #3 a few days ago.  There was clear nectar in some frames in the top box, presumably from the sugar syrup.  In the bottom box were smallish patches of brood on two frames, much as I had seen on previous inspections.   There was a good amount of beebread.  I saw the queen, again.  The population seems about the same size, which is better than declining.  I hope that in the spring the size of the colony will rapidly grow.  If it doesn't, I'll probably transplant a couple of frames from the stronger hives.
After we had returned from our trip, I scraped out the honey that remained in the extractor.  I left the barrel out for the bees to clean up.  The girls didn't find it until the second day, which was warmer than the day before.  Perhaps the warmth let the honey aroma spread.

Lots of bees visiting the barrel

Lined up around the pool of honey

Same view as above, 1/2 hour later.

Back from abroad and some bad news

So there we were, at the top of Sacre Coeur on Montmartre in Paris, enjoying the view.  And there on the roof top below us....bee hives.
The day before we left, I noticed that there was decreased activity around Olea's hive.  I peeked through the window, and, yes, not many bees.  I then did a thorough search.  There were very few bees, spotty brood and dead pupae.

Dead pupae from Olea's hive

There was no bad smell and no goopy larvae.  Even though I was concerned that this might be foulbrood or some other contagious disease.  I did spot the queen after I nearly lost her by nearly dropping the frame she was on.  Since we were leaving the next morning, there was nothing I could do.  I did email Kathy Niven and got a response from her in Paris.  She didn't think it was foulbrood, so I was reassured even though I knew the colony was doomed.  Upon our return, I took a look at the hive.  On the porch was lots of debris.

Debris on the porch

Inside all the honey had been robbed, as anticipated.  The debris, which was also inside, is the chewed off caps of the honey.  The hive was otherwise empty except for two dead bees and a couple of robbers still looking around.  There was some (presumably) dead brood and lots of beebread.

Spotty capped brood

Beebread

Close-up of bee bread

I emailed Eric Mussen at Davis asking if he could identify the cause of death from my picture and description.  Of course he couldn't be positive but he suspected it may be chilled brood.  I can't explain what caused the drop in population that led to the death, but at least I won't need to sanitize the hive.
I tried to remove the beebread but it was just too tedious.  I do have a small amount;  it tastes somewhat sour and grassy with sweet overtones.  I will process all the wax.
I did use the honey extractor before we left.  It's not as easy to use I had hoped.  The problem is balancing the frames;  when it is off balance, the whole thing wobbles crazily.  We did get a few pounds of honey.  Yum!