Sunday May 7th 2023

Went through the entire yard Saturday which proved to be a huge job

Made 12 Splits from The 22 Colonies that survived the damp wet spring.

Here is one of the Kona Queens that has been placed in the split 24hrs later as the split bees realize they do not have their old queen they will begin getting used to the pheromones of the new queen. They eat the candy from the cage and free the queen and attendants. I will be checking for acceptance in a week or two.

Caged Kona Queen with attendants

A hive full of Bees I was surprised to see how strong the colonies are so early this spring with pollen and nectar available intermittently when weather permitted the girls have built up nicely.

Pollen coming in so fast its falling off of their over loaded legs as they navigate the reduced entrance I have removed wraps and reducers are removed from strong hives weak or new splits will still enjoy a reduced entrance for a couple weeks.

Taking Splits now minimizes the desire to swarm in most hives however the instinct to swarm is still there I will be setting up a couple swarm traps this year. There are plenty of drones I will be letting 2 of the strong hives raise their own queen and mate locally to see how they turn out while the old queen starts a new hive.