glad i fed sunday.

[10framer]

saturday i went through a couple of hives and found a lot of nectar.  i had planned on feeding sunday evening and started second guessing myself.  between the rain and the chilly weather the last couple of days i think feeding was the right call.  my strong hives have about 7 deep frames of brood and a couple have about as many medium frames on top of that.  the hives are getting crowded and i don't expect a good flow before the 1st of april.  i think the main flows are going to be stacked on each other and intense this year. i think i'll feed again this weekend unless i start seeing new wax.  the weather and the lack of drones kind of has me off my plan.  i had drones in late january last year and thought i'd have them by now a few weeks ago. 

[ChrisT]

10framer, I had lots of nectar in mine too this past weekend when i checked.
I have drone brood but none have hatched yet.
I also had a tiny amount of new wax being drawn.

I had wondered if I should pull off some of the honey from winter they didnt use but decided to leave it on and maybe checkerboard that level next weekend. Currently they have 1 and 1/2 mediums of honey still left

[10framer]

chris a couple of weeks ago i thought i'd be pulling a super that is now 2/3 brood.  they burn through it fast this time of year.  keep a close eye on them for the next couple of weeks.

[ChrisT]

i just checked today and after a week that medium that i had above the deep was full of brood. so they are going thru the stored honey that i was worried about like gangbusters. Just FYI. I expect they will go thru that second medium of honey that they didnt touch in winter here in the next 2 weeks. glad i didnt remove any of the honey that i thought was excess.