Well, the combo hive swarmed and now they are starting over again. When I arrived today, the usually bustling hive was trickling bees in and out, and when I opened it up, bees scantly covered only about 6 of the 12 filled out frames. Everyone was a little touchy too.
I found a queen on about the fifth frame. She looks nice and fat, and I hope she will get down to laying soon and preferably not exhibit the swarminess of her mother. Time will tell. I don't think we will be getting much honey from this hive, but hopefully they will be able to build up enough to make it through the winter.
I think the split from the combo hive ended up with the old queen because there was never a break in the brood cycle. I'm wondering if we should re-queen to prevent massive swarming in the future. While those of you who know me know I'm not in this thing for the honey, it would still be nice to get a little bit to share with friends and family instead of more bees, which I really don't need or have room for. Tricky!
The TBH is building like crazy. I added two more frames this week. The brood is still patchy, but the bees seem to be okay with that--there are no signs of supercedure--so I'm okay with that. They have loads of pollen stored but still not much honey.
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