The bees looked good this morning and I went ahead and put the entrance reducer on the weaker hive (Hive 2). I also checked the feeder and they were working on it pretty good. At last they are eating, which should mean some good results in a couple of weeks if it bears out like Hive 1. Of note, I was not able to get the entrance reducer in the hole, so I placed it flush with the opening. This afternoon, a bunch of the bees seemed to be busy propolizing the narrow crack between the reducer and the brood body. There was no apparent fighting, so I am hopeful.

On the ‘fighting’ note, I read an article by Michael Bush (http://www.bushfarms.com/beesrobbing.htm) that spoke about robbing (and how to not mistake it for an Orientation Flight). One of the comments by Mr. Bush was that you may not see any fighting if the robbers have already killed the guards. This is a bit concerning. Regardless, I will definitely keep the entrance reducer on these boys until the next Nectar flow begins.