Inspection

I took advantage of the slightly improved weather to inspect the hives. Temperature ~23degrees and sunny. Lots of bees out flying and crowding the reduced entrance spaces. The main aim was to check the stores, since I'm aiming to feed the bees after the Apiguard treatment is over (next week). Also, I wanted to check the varroa floors to see how the Apiguard is working.

Hive 1 is the big one on the right in the picture. Stores: 12 super faces, ie18lb, 7.5 brood faces, ie18lb, total 36lb (bit less than last time). So still lots of stores, particularly in the super. However, VERY few larvae or eggs! I did see a smattering of capped and uncapped larvae on that centre most same frame, but no eggs until I pulled out that frame again on a second pass in desperation, and not many of those either. I did not see the queen but those few eggs put my mind to rest slightly. Also, hive1 was (and in fact always is) very calm during the inspection. It's a worry that laying has virtually stopped. Having said that it may well just be a feature of the season. Or . . . (see below).

Hive2 is the shorter one on the left in the picture. Stores: 1.5 super faces, ie 2lb 7 brood faces, ie 17lb, total 19lb (bit more than last time). Lots of capped brood, but no eggs or uncapped larvae, though I could have missed any eggs since they are hard to see since the positioning of the hive2 gives dingy conditions from behind. This is not ideal, and I may have to address it with a small move. Also, I am ever so slightly suspicious of all that capped brood. Am I imagining it or has that capped brood be there all the time since the colony was first given to me!? Worth bearing in mind in future inspections.

There's a crack in hive 2 between brood and super in one corner which I need to seal up. I stuffed it with twigs for now and see what the join looks like when I switch over the brood and super (to put the latter below) in a few weeks time.

The Apiguard in both hives is now down to one quarter left in sachets. There was a strong smell of thyme in both hives when I opened up.

And now, the varroa count....
Well, when I pulled out the varroa floor of hive2 things did not seem too bad. There was a fair smattering of varroa, and I estimated about 350 on the board. Given 9 days since the last inspection, that's a daily drop rate of nearly 40. This is not typical drop, of course: it's drop in the presence of Apiguard which is supposed to result in lots of varroa falling through the hive. However, when I took a look at hive1 there was a somewhat starker result. Huge numbers of varroa. I marked out a small square and counted hundreds. Scaling this count to the size of the whole board indicated that I was probably looking at a couple of thousand little dead, red mites! Was it really only 9 days since the last inspection? Had I turned the varroa board over at that stage to get a clean count as I had thought I had? Does this indicate something good, in that there are lots of DEAD varroa? It's definitely one for reference to a more experienced keeper. I suspect I'll need to initiate some other treatment now or soon. I was planning to whack on some oxalic acid in December anyway, but perhaps this result dictates that I'll need to do something before then. Having said that, the colony seemed really healthy (apart from the very low brood count): there were loads of bees and the stores looked good. Curious. I feel somehow confident that hive1 will come through fine, but am well aware that this could just be mindless beginner's optimism. Off to the Apiray to ask the experts tomorrow . . .