Finally, a warm(ish) sunny day with no wind has arrived after a particularly cold early spring. I pulled apart the hive to see how the bees survived the winter. Well, there seems to be plenty of bees. Both brood boxes are full of bees. The top box is also still full of honey, and the bottom box is full of empty cells. There is some uncapped brood visible and a spotty pattern of capped brood. There is a little capped honey and some pollen around the brood as well. I did not spot the queen which is nothing new as I haven't seen her since I put her cage in the hive last June. I didn't spot any eggs but I don't know if it's my bad eyes or not. I'll look more carefully for eggs next time.
I decided not to switch brood boxes as there seemed to be no point as the top is full of honey and brood rearing has begun in the lower box. The bottom board didn't look too dirty, but then again it's only a year old. I decided not to scrape it clean.
Medication: Placed two Apistan strips in the lower brood box. They can be removed on May 28th. I put two tablespoons of Tetra Bee around the edge of the lower box as well. I need to treat again on April 21 and April 26. It will be safe to put honey supers on the hive on June 7 which is a year to the day I hived these bees.
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