Three Hives, Two big stings.

Drone larvae.

Frames LOADED with brood and new honey!

See her legs loaded with orange pollen!

Today was hive cleaning day. It is about 60 degrees with no breeze. A good day for opening hives. I lost hive number one this winter but hives two and three were still alive 3 weeks ago. Today's hive opening was where I would really find out what may have killed hive one. There is mold in the hive so, I think it was moisture. All three hives were covered with snow this winter and I left the snow all around them thinking it would insulate the hives. Maybe it did, but it also may have created too much moisture for the bees.

Hive one: died

Hive two: weak

Hive three (Celitics): Alive and STRONG

I really spent quite a bit of time on my Celtics hive (3). It is super busy, with tons of brood (see photo above). Honestly my bee mentors feel as if there is a possibility of a swarm. They were very patient the whole time, until they weren't and I was stung twice in my neck (unpleasant). What we decided to do was to take two frames loaded with brood from the Celtics hive and put it into the weaker hive. Then tomorrow I will go back to put a honey super and queen excluder on the Celtics hive. I may be harvesting my first honey in a few weeks!