The good and the bad on the bee front

Today in Connecticut we had close to 60 degree days, so it was time to get outside and take a look at the hives! As I suspected Hive 3 was a die out. There were small clusters of bees which looked like they stupidly clustered, exhausted food in those areas and died. The bottom box was full of honey while the center medium was empty but the top medium was also full of honey. I hate when bees are just stupid.

These were the small clusters of bees I found, many of them throughout.

Hive 4 was buzzing about with bees. This was a hive that went into fall with what I thought was weak but I guess not. 

Frames pulled out of Hive 3 looked like this which were moved over to Hive 4 in hopes they do well and get through winter. Starvation is one their number one causes of death as well as mites. These hive were aggressively treated in the fall and I saw no visible signs upon inspection.

Rest well Hive 4 until Spring!