I realized I didn't have any pictures of the Sophia hive posted yet. This was my first hive, populated with a package of bees purchased from Vancouver Island, and installed on May 4, 2009.
I found a neighbor who's back yard was filled with vegetable plots, surrounded by fruit trees and bushes. I thought it would be a perfect spot for a bee hive. As the summer progressed, the garden thrived into a lush green jungle, blossoms and flowers decorated with bright color, and my neighbor harvested food for his dinner table. However, the bees didn't fare so well.
I still don't know exactly why the bees didn't thrive earlier in the summer, but each weekend I checked on them, their numbers were smaller, and they just didn't seem as vibrant as compared to my other hive. I conferred with other beekeepers who advised that they wre probably starving! In the middle of a thriving garden! Who would have thought? Anyways, I started feeding them sugar syrup and pollen patties mid-summer, came back a couple of weeks later, and BOOM! suddenly the population had exploded! Lesson learned - the bees will let you know what's wrong - don't assume they will eat what I think is a nectar flow.
By the time the bees had recovered enough to put on a honey super, it was late in the season. They started to fill a fresh box of frames with comb and nectar, but very little of it got capped over. We took only two frames off to extract, and got a really dark, coffee colored honey. It had a richer taste than the honey from my other hive, but a thinner consistancy. Here is a picture of the Sophia honey next to the Belle honey:
The hive is doing very well now. It has a strong population, no diseases, and no varroa mites. I have finished all my fall management treatments, and can only hope that they are healthy enough to survive the winter.
