Today I checked on the possible swarm in Hive 3 … darn. Either it was robbing activity all along, or the swarm moved on. Maybe they did, since there was a swarm hign in an oak tree nearby that caught my attention when I was walking down the street! My neighbor also mentioned honeybees that have taken up residence in a tree stump on a nearby hiking trail in the other direction, so it seems that the local bees are doing well right now. We’ve had 3 days of 90s weather this week, however, and I worry about their food supply.
Hive 1: still poking along.
Hive 2: The package bees in my yard still doing well. I have 2 deeps on them and plan to check asap now that the weather has cooled off a bit.
Hive 4: You go girls! I have 2 supers on them and maybe can do a third, depending on the weather. Finally success at my down-the-street neighbor’s excellent location.
See “Give bees a chance” link at right to view a nice story, and illustrations by John Blanchard in Sunday’s paper … also posted on SFGate.com. There are good plant references included. We need all the help we can get!