Package DOA

Today while feeding the hives I found the first hive dead out.  The queen must have gotten the Nosema and never rebounded.  Only a few bees left.  Thank you Hudson Valley Bee Supply for all your support.  Oh, that's right, you said tough shit.

2nd inspection after queen cell replacement

Yesterday I checked to see if the queens were bred and found that both were and were laying nice patterns.  No 1 hive seems to have no queen and is failing.  Hope it can survive until I can add a frame or catch a swarm.  Fed all the bees.

1st Inspection of the AZ hive.

Today I went north to feed the bees and remove the queen cell caps and check for progress. The new cells just opened on Friday so its to soon to check on them, but the No.1 hive could have had some progress.  To my dismay, it was lagging behind the others so I took out the frames and placed them in the upper box as I had done with the other 2.  We'll see how that goes.  Anxious about working the bees inside the house, because of the closeness and not knowing what the bees would do and if they came out, how to get them back.  But a few whiffs of smoke and they were as gentle as could be and no bees came out.  The ones that road out the frames and fell off just walked back into the hive.  I'm liken it.

The big mess from the Nosema seems to have subsided as no bees were seen on the ground and the fronts of the hives were clean.  Glad that mess is over for now, as if Hudson Valley Bee Supply could care.  Still not a lot of bees in any of the hives, hope they can last out until the Carniolan queens get here.