I went in to see how the hives were progressing and discovered something that I did not expect. The productive hive only has a small amount of stores in the top deep. The queen is still laying full frames of brood. The stores are very limited. There seems to be a bit more to one side of the box than the other. They still have a super on them that is 85% full and capped, so I am guessing any fall flow will have to be put into the second deep. I will be watching them to make sure that they have enough.
Hive two has about 4 frames of fully capped honey in the second deep. and the remaining 6 frames have a good rim of honey across the top and on each side. Again, I did not go into the bottom deep, but it appears that they have in the neighborhood of 40-45 Lbs of stores and the fall flow is yet to come.
All in all, I am going to consider this first year a big success. I looked at the brood real close, as well as the bees themselves, and did not see any sign of a heavy mite problem. They seem to be very clean, and they are strong in population.
Many thanks to Wally for all his help.
Winter preperation
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Locust&Honey
What do we need to be looking for in our hives to know that they are prepared for winter?? I will admit that I had been caught up in looking for honey,honey,honey but have been reading that a strong hive needs about 4 frames of pollen to be ready for spring rearing. That seems like quite alot to me but that is why I am asking the question. And is there anything else we need to look for??