Mild Weather Inspection and Feeding of BreadForTheCity and Arcadia Hives

I hit these two hive locations this morning, trying to get a little insurance on their surviving the winter.  These hives, above, are at Bread, and the hive on the left is dead.  This was not surprising, we had little hope for this hive the last time we looked, it had been struggling all season.  We will repopulate it in the spring.

The hive on the left, however, was doing very well:

Here is a close-up of the cluster:

We fed this hive, using our 2-gallon frame feeder, with 2:1 syrup.  This should definitely hold them for the next 45 days until the blooming season begins.  then it's honey-time!

Arcadia was in a similar situation, although there was snow remaining on the ground from yesterdays flurries.

The two hives in the middle, with the bottles on them, are dead-outs that will need to be replaced with bees this spring.

The hive on the left had a nice but small cluster that was in both boxes.  The two hives on the right were in better shape:

That black thing on the right is a beetle blaster.  It is a trap that helps control hive beetles.

We fed these three hives as well, and they should now be in good shape for the early blooms.  Next step here is to visit in late Feb, add pollen patties, and monitor brood development.

We should see plenty of honey from these three hives in Spring.  We will need to repopulate the other two and there is a chance they will also get up and running quickly with an early installation.