On Sunday we did an inspection and treatment of the beehives.

Here Jenn is pulling out a frame from the yellow beehive; notice the white rack that holds a frame, to make space to pull others out more easily:

We checked for mites via a sugar shake test, where powdered sugar is added to a jar of bees, shaken, water added, then mites counted:

The bees are unharmed by this; they are returned to the hive, where others will clean them off (tasty sugar!):

Adding an oxalic acid sugar water mix, that should kill mites without harming the bees:

A frame with some honey on the left, and capped brood (baby bees) on the right:

Lots of honey (or sugar water from the feeder):

A couple of hive boxes; the bees had very little activity in the bottom box, so we swapped them; they tend to want to move upwards, so would continue to ignore the bottom box if left there:

Some closeups of bees:

We spotted the queen in the Flow hive; I’ve circled her here:

A classic beehive frame, with capped brood in the center:

A bunch of bees hanging out at the entrance:

The Flow beehive:

The yellow beehive: