We weren't able to winter over the one hive that survived until fall. Lots of honey for a hive that was just packaged the same year on new frames. I was sad that they gave us so much and then perished. We sent a specimen to the the Bee Research Laboratory. The diagnosis was varroa mite infestation. The counted 105 mites in the sample I sent them. No tracheal mites, no nosema.
So, we start our second year of beekeeping with 2 new packages that were installed today. We picked them up at Honey Glow Farms in Owen, WI. The truck from California doesn't come until tomorrow. The bees we got are from their own bee yard. One package of Italians and one of Carniolans.
The installations went amazingly well compared to last year. They had sprayed them with sugar water prior to us picking them up. I think that helped. The temp was in the low 40's and cloudy. A bit breezy also. They were clustered pretty tight. Too cold for them to be flying around. Amazing how much warmth they produce. The cans of syrup from the packages were very warm. It took me a moment to figure out why they felt so warm when I picked them up.
Both queens were alive and moving around ALOT. I think they are ready to get out and get busy! Hopefully the workers will figure out how get the candy out of the hole so they can get to her. I will check back in a couple of days to make sure they did.
Both packages have quite a bit of drawn out frames and honey. A few didn't have foundation. I am interested to see how fast they build up since they don't have to start from scratch like the ones last year did. It is nice that even though the hive last year didn't make it, at least they left something behind that will be helpful to another hive.
A pollen patty on each of them and 2 buckets of sugar water. Used real cane sugar and added Honey Bee Healthy. I thought about using fumagillin, but decided not to in the end.
The hive on the left is the Carnolians, the one on the right is Italians.
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