Hive Activity 5/19/10

Bravo post swarm:
after 3 swarms this hive still looks very strong, lots of bees sitting on the landing board, and lots leaving every minute, looks like a strong hive in summer. Not sure what the number of bees were in the swarms, both were pretty large as we caught 2 of the 3 swarms. Still not sure if the hive has a queen even as the weather has been dismal and not have an opportunity to get into any of them. They are bringing in pollen, lots of it, so unless we have a laying worker, it may mean that we are queen right. So lots of activity at this stage.

Charlie:
package put in this year, they are very aggressive (Russian) they will sting at any attempt to enter the box, hoping that her brood is more docile, will wait and re queen in the fall if necessary. Otherwise they appear to be doing well. Building up well and as they were placed on drawn comb, the queen went straight to laying brood.

Nuc 1:
swarm that was captured from Bravo, all looks good at the entrance, pollen being brought in and lots of activity.

Nuc 2:
swarm that was captured from Bravo, all looks good at the entrance, pollen being brought in and lots of activity.
Speculating as to combine both the swarm nucs into a top bar hive that i have built and ready to use.

Overall the weather has been dismal, lots of rain and cool temps for the past week or so, getting into the hives have been impossible due to the rain, odd side note some of the girls have been landing in the mud in packs and are gathering something though i do not know what.