Two Become One ~ Mother's Day Hive put together again :)

This Summer 2010 I split my Mother's Day Hive into two hives. Both hives did well through the Summer and into the Fall. In November I noticed the numbers decreasing dramatically in my Mother's Day Hive and did a quick check inside to see if there was a queen and brood... we couldn't find the queen, there were no eggs or brood and the bees seemed very disorganized ~ always a sign that there isn't a queen running the hive. So I waited until the evening and my friend Lizzie came over and we put my Mother's Day Hive #1 on top of Mother's Day Hive #2, with just a piece of newspaper in between them... sprinkled some vanilla water on the newspaper and within a day or so the bees had joined together and two hives became one :) A couple of weeks later, they are bringing in pollen, which is a sure sign that there is a queen and she is laying.

My Mother's Day Hive is the one on the far right, with the gray deep on top. This deep hold the jar of sugar syrup that I am using to feed this hive.

2010 ~ A New Year !

In November my San Francisco Hive decided to move on to greener pastures... It is sad because when a hive leaves their safe, warm home in the early Winter they are leaving behind all their honey stores and they probably won't survive.

My Mother's Day Hive is strong and starting to bust at the seams. My Spring Hive is a bit smaller but still healthy enough to make it thru the Winter. Both hives are bringing in nectar and pollen.

In the Spring I plan to split both hives ~ in essence taking half the bees and putting them in another hive ~ in an effort to avoid them swarming in the Spring. We'll keep our fingers crossed!