Well I finally made it home and got settled enough to go check my hives.
I discovered a few things. One thing I found was that aggressive hive I thought I would have trouble finding, that wasn't as much of an issue as I thought it would be. Locating that hive was easy when you take 20 stings just opening the top, that pretty much is what the FBI would call a clue. I just closed them back up to stop the onslaught. So I will look to replace your highness soon, she's out I like feisty girls I think it helps them defend themselves against other pest. But she has to go.
Also I had 4 more hives that are full of Honey 4 mediums on top of two deeps. All had eggs so I completed the inspections after seeing that. My father was sort of looking after my hives while I was away he knew to add supers, but much past that, not much more. Plus it started to really heat up here and he cannot handle the heat very well.
My last hive I checked was a mess. I have never seen wax moths but that changed this hive was infested with them. Also the SHB was in full force and had invaded, this hive is doomed. The cause I am guessing is they had too much space to defend, and were overwhelmed. I took a deep off of them and pulled off he supers and reduced them to one deep. I did notice eggs in the lower box but did not see the queen. It was just a nasty mess from the SHB. I installed AJ's BT but I think we are past that. The wax moth larvae infested frames were laid in the road in front of my hives a house wren was already working the frames when I was leaving. All in all it was about what I would expect.
The grass needs cutting it was 6 feet in front of the hives in some spots but really hard to walk around in and hard for the girls to get through. Plus it was casting shadows causing the area to remain a little wet. We have had a very wet last two weeks. Also on some hives I noticed fire ants never saw that from ants before maybe from the water it had them in the hives. All in all it wasn't to bad
Keith
Great to hear that you are home. Are you here for good or how long?
welcome home!!
Welcome home and THANK YOU !!!! for your service. It sounds like you have some work cut out for you but at least it is not a loss.
Welcome home Keith! I hope the acclimation back to a comfortable world sits right by you. It sounds like you've already hit the ground running with your bees...good luck getting them all back in order. Once again...welcome home!
Scott
Welcome home,thanks for all you have done
Ditto all the above.......
Welcome home Keith and thank you for your service!!
Welcome home Keith. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Welcome home, hope you're stateside for a while. Where is home?
Welcome Home! Glad you're back safe! Sorry about the stings, hope they were to your suit!
Semper Fi Soldier!! Thank You for all that you do!
And here you thought you were going to get to talk about bees. :-D Welcome home and thanks for your service.
Leave the mean hive alone... as long as they don't start shooting at you it's really a nothing deal compared to what you're used to. :-P
Welcome home and thanks, you might want to consider splitting that hive. reducing their numbers will calm em down much, plus if the new queen dont take you still go the original (much calmed down) and if she is accepted with no problems ,,,,,, Hey! you got two!
Thanks for the welcomes home I wasnt expecting that. It means a lot guys it really does mean a lot.
Keith