Woolsey Hive 1

This hive was the strongest in this yard, but now has no brood.  Could not find the queen.  This has really not been my year for queens – although I’ve heard that package queens are frequently superceded.  I’m hoping things will settle down and the girls can get to work.  Pulled a frame of eggs and brood from Woolsey Hive 3 in the hopes that they will raise another queen.  Oi.

Woolsey Hive 2

Not many bees – only 3 or 4 frames, but it seems that they’ve raised a new queen since the last inspection and she is laying like crazy.  With a little luck this one will recover quickly.

Woolsey Hive 3

This hive is doing as well as can be expected considering I pull brood frames out nearly every time I open it.  The queen looks good and what brood frames were left housed copious amounts of brood and eggs. 

Synopsys

These three hives have been pretty high maintenance, leaving me to almost wonder if there is some other factor at play – pesticides, etc.  No way to really know for sure.  The new homebrew hive beetle traps seem to be working extremely well.  Each one had a few beetles, but none were spotted in the hives.