First indepth inspection

[asprince]

Temperatures here in central Georgia are now averaging 60-70F. The nights rarely get into the 30's. With all the rain and warm temperatures, stuff is starting to bloom at the tree farm where my hives are located. On warm afternoons, my hives have a "cloud" of bees around each one. They are covering up these trees with Pink blooms. I don't know what they are, but they are covered with honey bees. Mine I hope.
I decided that today would be a good day for a deep inspection.
Hive #1. Two deeps. No hive beatles! Saw no mites. Lots of bees in both boxes. 5-6 frames of brood....lots of drone brood. Lots of queen cups. Very little honey stores. No brood in the lower box.....empty except for bees.
Hive #2. One deep. No hive beatles! Saw no mites. Lots and lots of bees. I don't think another bee would fit in the hive! They were boiling out! 4-5 frames of brood with drone cells. No queen cups. Very little honey stores. I added another deep hive body.
Hive #3. One deep. No hive Beatles! Saw no mites. Not as many bees. 2-3 frames of brood...some drone brood. No queen cups. Very little stores.

Do I need to feed? Do I need to swap the boxes on hive #1? Do I need to do anything else?

I have never been among sooooo many bees. It was very intimidating! I only got stung once on the back of my neck. They seem to have survived the winter well and love their new home.

I welcome and await your advice.

Steve

[watercarving]

Awesome report! When is your first nectar flow?

[asprince]

I don't know.........I guess it is just starting now?

Steve

[Brian D. Bray]

That 1st hive is going to swarm early with little stores which will leave it with even less.  I would take the frame with the most queen cells, another frame of drone comb, and several frames from hive #2 and make a split.  Put the bees from each hive so that there is foundation, drawn comb, or honey between the frames of bees from the 2 different hives.  This well prevent fighting until the odors mingle. 

Replace the frames of bees and brood from each hive with drawn or undrawn comb.  Hive #1 will procede with a supercedure, Hive 2 will not swarm because of the increased space and bee depopluation relief ( unless it is already in swarm mode) and Hive 3 just needs some TLC.  You did good by giving hive #2 more room.

[JP]

To add to what Brian stated, you need to offer them some feed to get them through to the next round. They won't take it with a flow on but as you mentioned their stores are low, so feed them, or they will become stressed. Make that split now!

....JP

[reinbeau]

Steve, I've just got to ask you, was it John, Paul, George or Ringo you saw in your hives?  :evil:

[Scadsobees]

Queen cups are fairly common in a hive, they seem to keep them on hand in case the feeling hits them... 

If they have larvae in them or if they are sealed, well, then the feeling has already hit them and they are preparing to swarm. 

If they only have one box of brood, I'd hesitate to think that they are commencing a swarm.

Swapping boxes is a fairly contentious issue, the bees will move down eventially.  In my opinion, as long as you aren't splitting up the broodnest, go ahead and swap boxes.  It gives the bees the impression of emptiness up above, and that means they have work to do before they can swarm (such as filling that up!)

Beetles and mites...you probably won't see too many of them yet.  They hide really really well, and it only takes 2 or 3 beetles to kick off a problem.  But I think it is a bit cool yet for them.  You will see very few mites unless you do a sugar roll or something like that.

Pink flower trees?  That sounds like redbud trees (google came up with some good images!).  Those are fairly early in the season here in MI before any significant honeyflow.  They are typically one of the "marker" trees that define the season no matter where you are, as well as apple and cherry trees, and dandelions.  If redbud is what they are.

If they are low on stores, you may want to do a little bit of feeding.  I'm thinking that you aren't quite yet into any real honeyflow and it would help them out if you gave them some 1:1.

Rick

Caveat: I'm in Michigan and not terribly familiar with your environment.  I'm guessing a bit based on what you said.

[asprince]

Ann, like I said, I got stung on the back of the neck. That's my story and I am sticking to it!

Steve