February 24, 2016 Still humming away

both hives appear strong, buzzing away.
a couple of dead bees at the front and a couple live ones moving slowly on the outer walls - I guess they've been banished.
See the bee crawling around?

 My small hive:

 My strong/big hive:

Check out the coyotes on the land!

Put more fondant on

I got the smoker going, donned my veil and went to the small hive while it was sunny, albeit only 32 degrees though. I peeled back the top cloth and bees were moving around slowly - there is still plenty of fondant but I placed some right in the middle where there was a bare spot.
covered it up quickly - didn't need the smoker or the veil, it turns out.

I thought I lost a hive

On Thursday, I listened at 6am and thought the small hive was silent though the big hive was buzzing away.
So I went out today, Saturday, Feb 13 and they are both buzzing.
It is supposed to warm up next week and I will put more fondant on the small hive to help them get through this.
I'm still hopeful.

Is this the last cold snap?

Saturday, February 6, 2016
both hives still buzzing...evidence of cleansing flights outside the hives (yellow spots) and a few dead bees lying in front of the hives.
if they make it through this next week.....

February 2, 2016 - Still buzzing

There is a blizzard storming and both hives are buzzing.
If I get them through February, we may be looking at winter survival.

Sunday Jan 24, 2016 Fed the weak hive

I listened over the escape holes on both hives and can hear buzzing. I then tried to listen over each box to see which box the bees are in (if they are in the top box, then they are running out of honey).

Strong hive (5 boxes): I can hear buzzing through the walls of the middle 3 boxes, so they have not moved to the top box yet - at least I think not. It's really not easy to hear through the wooden walls.

Weak hive (3 boxes): I can hear buzzing through the wall of the top box, so I decided to put fondant on top. I took off the roof, then the quilt box. I pulled the top cloth back part way from 3 different edges and slid some fondant under the top cloth. Then I used an old top cloth (the one I use for feeding the bees that has the hole in it) to fill in the gaps created by the bulk of the fondant blocks so there is cloth to the edges. A couple of bees escaped, one landed on my shoulder but didn't sting me. I put the quilt box back on, hoping it is sealed enough and then the roof.

Here's hoping!!

Frigid Weather Update Jan 11-18

So it's been -16 degrees F but both hives have been humming when I've checked them.
I'd really like to get some candy (fondant) on Hive b (weak hive) but it's just too cold. If they make it through this cold snap, I'll try to put some under the top cloth.