Darron

Yesterday was the first sunny day in a while. Not particularly warm, but nicely sunny and the bees were happy. I put candy boards and insulation on all the hives. Some were more excited than others for the yummy sugar patties. Little Earth and Darron in particular were very “buzzy”.

I did not delve into the frames and look for brood or anything. It wasn’t warm enough to do that. The bees should settle down in a day or two.

It’s been drizzly and overcast for a couple days now. I fed the bees today so they’re pretty excited about it. I believe that is why the 210-250 frequencies are a bit larger than normal.

I am impressed with the colony. They are doing well, storing the 2:1 sugar water I’m giving them in prep for winter.

Doing well.

Doing well. Soon I will switch from liquid feed to sugar bricks.

Removed a medium box, merged the frames into a smaller space. Doing well.

*Gave all a dose of Pro-Bios (probiotics).
*Noticed a few dead mites on the bottom boards from where I installed Varroxsan strips not long ago.

Has been quiet and lovely the past week. I feel like their stress of not having enough stores is going away with the jars of sugar water and the smaller entrance. This is good.

I am so glad I made note of where the sensors are located because several are lower in the hive box than I first thought. I will adjust where the sensors are next time I check.

Hives are looking great, no major concerns at this time.

Chilly temperatures outside. Several dormant bees out and about who got caught in the brief sun before the weather really turned yuck this afternoon.

I also added the location of the particular sensors within the titles of each on the app. This will help me get an idea of where the bees are located within the box.

Yesterday I spun some leftover honey that I had from a separate location where I keep bees. I set out the equipment after I spend the honey, and it caused a crazy frenzy amongst my bees. My colonies in the front yard were covered with bees they look like they were being robbed, but there wasn’t any fighting going on. I think they were just happy about the extra Honey that was available to be had.

I was curious to see if there was a difference in the sound level of the hives during all of this external activity. But all of the hives with internal sound sensors did not show any kind of increase remarkable increase in sound.

Is stable. Good to see and less to worry about for now.

[We have a cold front with cold temperatures in the 30s at night. The bees can sense this, I believe a lot of the noise leading up to the most recent days is due to them prepping for the change because of the barometric pressure shift.]

[Started feeding sugar water.] Darron is finally stable now that they have a surplus of food within the cells.

[General apiary notes] Colonies are very happy and noisy after giving them sugar water. Switching to a thicker sugar water today so they can store it better for winter. This past week I treated all colonies with mite strips. Beetle populations have decreased substantially. Bees appear to be doing better. Not much brood, a lot of bees, very few eggs. Calm demeanors.

The hive is stable and happy at the moment.

Lots of bees, didn’t look for brood was getting dark outside, some honey stores. Gave them more bee juice. Treated with Varrox strips.

Was noisy yesterday, but temps and humidity have stayed solid.

Always quite noisy... humidity is going down, so maybe they are working on food stores and winter prep. Hopefully. Temps look more consistent than in the past.

Gave the bees some bee juice*. They seemed to be ok with lots of bees. Didn’t look much further than the top bit.

*Bee juice is 1:1 sugar water with honey bee healthy supplement and some apple cider vinegar.

The hive is stable and doing great. The bees are all quiet and snuggled up. [Tennessee is still experiencing lots of rain due to hurricane Helene]

The hive is just noisy and, after putting food in there, the humidity was dropping and now it’s creeping back up. Hmmm? [Middle TN has been experiencing rain due to hurricane Helene]

Added a medium with honey and drawn frames - helping to lower humidity.

Newer-rescued colony with a history of SHB and aggression. Today they are calm, lots of bees and few beetles. They are being fed sugar water because they don't have honey stored. Small colony of two medium supers only.

Results: Reading for sound is very large. A noisy hive! Probably curious about the new sensor. The majority of the reading shows a stable colony.