Little Earth

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, especially on Little Earth.

Little Earth has been very noisy, not exactly sure why. I have an idea, I believe all the bees are collecting in the upper box and are crowding themselves. On the next sunny calm day I will get in there. I think if they are too full I will give them some extra space, if not I may just switch the bottom with the top box and keep feeding. We still have a few more weeks of decent weather for them to collect and store food.

Also got a candy board and shaving insulation. I checked the colony and there are plenty of bees within both boxes. They may just cluster in the upper box. The lower sensor has the audio. They are more active around that sensor. This may be why they are noisier. The basic sensor is in the middle of the cluster.

Was noisy, there were bits of the Varroxsan strips on the bottom board. They are busy chewing it up and trying to get rid of it.. this may be why the sound frequency has changed. Doing well.

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

Little Earth was loud yesterday - the top Hz line was flared up so something was going on. I believe it was because I had the sensor too high above the ball in the colony. When I gave them a jar of 2:1 sugar water, there was more action than normal as they were feeding on the sugar.

Doing great.

*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.

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.]

[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.

Looks a little questionable, need to check when I get back in town. [The beekeeper is out of town]

I don’t like how low their temp is and the humidity is creeping up as well. Could be a couple reasons: Either the colony is shrinking and can’t keep it warm; The sensor is no longer within the core, because the colony has moved up higher. [The beekeeper is out of town]

Has elevated humidity. I need to check their honey stores. I’m also not sure why their temperature is kind of low at 85* on both sensors. [Tennessee is still experiencing lots of rain due to hurricane Helene]

Consistent and doing well. [Middle TN has been experiencing rain due to hurricane Helene]

Doing well - no changes.

Very robust hive. Sound scale shows a spike while I was inside today switching out sensors. Bees don't like a full check, but calm down fast.

Readings: Look good - calm, not a lot happening