These honey bees never fail to surprise me. As of March 15th, I had a beehive that was queenless. The sun was shining this afternoon and temperatures around 65 degrees - the perfect conditions for a beehive inspection (and Big Stinky Dog Bath). Both hives had queens today, evidenced by capped brood, larvae, and eggs. I did not see the queens, but I did not need to find them to be confident one was in each hive. One hive was so jam-packed full with brood that I added a honey super (above a queen excluder) to give them some room to grow. I could have split these two into four today, but opted to wait a bit longer. Seven hives going into winter and seven hives coming out! I have never started a season with hives this strong. I plan to look into more of the hives tomorrow and also begin setting up another fenced in apiary on the property. It is an expansion year.
Front of beehive
Honey bee with pollen on the hive frame
Honey Bee larvae in the comb cells
Hive frame with capped honey and fresh nectar being stored up
Closer look at fresh nectar and pollen
A hive frame full of capped brood
One Big Stinky Dog who is now clean