Inspection on a cold day

On thanksgiving day I looked under the lid of #3 and saw no bees in neither the Vivaldi box nor on the visible frames.  This was the hive that had the pile of wax moth droppings in the tray.  I was concerned about its declining population so I knew I had to take a look.  
Yesterday afternoon the temperature reached 59, and even though I prefer it over 60, I felt the situation demanded an inspection,so with Seth's good help we took a look.

Photo from Maidi's iPhone

There were only a handful of bees in the top box, and after lifting it and its pounds of honey,
we searched for the brood. We tried taking the frames from one side of the hive but there was so much propolis that despite much prying we were unsuccessful.  I figure that in the cold the propolis is too hard.
We were able to get a frame loose on the other side with only minor damage to the box itself.
We looked at enough frames to find a hand-sized patch brood that looked pretty good.  It did have more empty cells than usual, but not too many.  
Since the population had decreased I wanted to decrease the hive to one box.  That way the bees would be able to keep warm and patrol for wax moths more easily.
We replaced 3 empty in the bottom box with 3 frames full of honey from the top box.
There were still a few frames of honey left so we cut one into comb honey.

 I will allow the bees to take some of the honey from the other frames then freeze them all (to kill any mites or wax moth eggs) and then use them in the hives next spring.

Giving back to the bees

 

Olea's hive is probably in trouble

Over the past couple of weeks I have noticed by looking through the observation window that the number of bees in Olea's hive seemed to be decreasing.  Today the apiary thermometer hit 62, so I was able to take a look.
There still is plenty of honey and pollen.  The brood pattern, however, did not look good.  Brood was present only in small areas on a few frames and it was spotty with lots of empty cells and scattered larvae.  I did spot the queen and saw a mite on one worker.
The most common cause of a poor brood pattern is a failing queen.  Disease such as chalkbrood or foul brood can also be a cause.  I did not see any sign of disease.
The remedy for a failing queen is to replace her but it is too late in the year for me to do so.  If the colony does not improve come spring, and they are still around, I will replace her then.  Or.... I could take the queen from my nuc and put her in the top bar hive.  I will have to think about that.

Rest assured, #2 is queenright

The thermometer hit 62 this afternoon, so I thought it would be ok to take a look into #2 in order to see if it was truly queenright.  A couple of weeks ago I had seen no larvae and no queen, but I was certain I had seen an egg, albeit only one.
The bees of both #1 & 2 were just finishing their orientation flights (as pictured above).  The top box was still pretty heavy, but I did not look into it.  In the bottom box I saw capped brood and larvae of various ages.  So even though I did not see the queen, I know she is in there doing her job.
I then took a look into the tray and it had many wax moth larvae in it.  After I cleaned out the disgusting creatures, I checked the two other trays and there were no wax moth larvae.  However, in #3 there was a pile of wax moth droppings piled up against one side like snow drifts.  So I took a quick look into just the top box and it was clear.  I figure the moths are in the bottom box and the bees know how to take care of them, I hope.