Update: On the Wax Moth front, someone on a forum advised me to look for Hive Beetles. He seemed fairly certain that this was more likely my problem.

So, this afternoon, after a stint at the Henrico County Gardening Helpline, I went out to have a brief look. No smoke this time (smoke sets them back and I am not using it again until I am stung), but I did not look into the frames.

I was able to get the feeder and the top deep hive off and finally replaced the bottom board with a screened bottom board. Bees were all over the place, but no one got real cranky and stung me. The hive looked great, with lots of bees on 8 of the frames (I didn’t pull them out, but could see them milling about.) They have not moved to the second deep, which is fine by me, as they are still working on the bottom one.

I did kill a handful of bees, but I hope to reduce this when I get my bee brush in the mail shortly. The little suckers love to run over to the spots where they will get crushed. I am now confident that anyone starting a new hive should feed from the start and put up a robber screen too. This is how a hive can get the best chance of knocking the ball out of the park when it is just getting started.

Tomorrow, we look at Hive 2! David Stover of the ERBA is coming to have a look with me.

It’s been two weeks since the last inspection, so I had to have a look at Hive 2 today, to see how it was faring. I have no idea how much the Robber Screen and sugar syrup feeding played a role, but the hive was looking much better. I found the queen and the bees are clearly working on 5 frames now. They also have been looking much more active at the front of the hive as well, with bees coming and going on a regular basis.

I checked the hive around 2 pm on a sunny day around 85 degrees F. Although I definitely found capped honey, I was unable to be sure about brood because I did not go very far into the hive (once I saw the queen, I closed her back up.) I also realized that there is very little chance that I will be able to see eggs or larva in the cells while I have the cap on. I will have to brave a ‘no hood’ inspection soon, so that I can start to check this out.

I also briefly checked Hive 1 and there was little to say. No work on the new brood chamber yet, but they looked very healthy, still working on 7 frames. I might have jumped the gun with these guys. We shall see.