I am not certain that I know, but I will tell you what I saw today and what I think it means.
After I added two more angle braces to the hive stand legs, I decided to take a look into #1. It has been two weeks since one of the hives cast a swarm and I wanted to see if both #1&2 were queen-right. Even though it is an overcast day the thermometer is over 60 degrees.
In the top box are 8 frames full of capped honey so it seems the feeding was successful and it was okay that I stopped. There was one small patch of capped drone cells, about a dozen, in one of the frames.
In the bottom box I saw plenty of capped brood and larvae of various ages, including less than a week old. Even though I could not see eggs and did not spot the queen, I knew she was in there doing her duty. So I conclude that #1 is doing well.
I then reassembled the hive (lifting again the very heavy top box). Then I looked at the front of the hive and saw that the entrance reducer had been pushed back, far enough that bees were able to go in and out at one end. I tried prying the reducer back into place with the hive tool, but this only succeeded in aggravating a few soldier bees. Then I tried prying up the bottom box, but it was all too heavy. Off went the 40+ pound top box. I was then able to lift the bottom box but unable to move the entrance reducer. This attempt stirred up even more bees. I needed another tool to lift the bottom box so I could use my hive tool to move the reducer. I got my
pry bar which has a flat, sort of thin end. By first using my hive tool to lift the box a bit, I was able to insert the pry bar and lift the bottom box higher. Of course, not only did the box move sideways, but also even more soldier bees were recruited. I tried to shift the reducer, but there was too much propolis and after several attempts I abandoned that plan.
By this time there were bees flying all over the place with many landing on the netting of my bee suit. Even though Ultra Breeze does not claim that their suit is sting-proof, I think I truly put it to the test today.
I finally just tipped the bottom box on end and moved the reducer by hand. Then, nearly deafened by the high-pitched buzz of attacking bees, I put the hive back together (lots of heavy lifting).
I took the empty top feeders out of all the hives. Angry bees followed me back to the shed where I used my Honey-B-Healthy spray on them.
After this overcast, possibly rainy weather passes, I will take a look into #2.
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