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New beek here. Have three hives started from packages in early May and not sure what to do to manage them correctly.
Hive 1= two deeps and medium super. The deep in the middle seems very full of brood with maybe 60% full of eggs, capped and emerging brood. There is not much honey and pollen in it. The bottom deep, where they started the year seems to not as much brood and more open space. Both deeps are very full of bees. The top medium supper is not being used.
Hive 2 = two deeps. Bottom deep has brood and some honey and pollen. Top deep only has activity in three frames of honey on the outside area that I previously moved up and to make room for 3 new frames and foundation. (I did that about 3 weeks ago because they didn't seem to like the frames that were there and things were spotty.)
Hive 3 = two deeps and a medium. This hive was going like gangbusters up until about 2 weeks ago when it seemed like there was a reduction in activity. The middle deep is about 40% capped honey, 30% uncapped and 30% nothing. The bottom deep is where the bees are. There seems to less f them and I see only a patch of brood about two inches square. I do no find eggs. I did not look for the queen. I am thinking they swarmed and are now queenless or the new queen has not yet begun laying. This hive is very aggressive. They attack me when I am in there.
It seems like I should make a split with hive 1 to deal with the overpopulation there but I am not sure. With Hive 2, I think I should leave it alone as it seems to be coming along much better than it was earlier in the year. With hive 3 I don't know what to do.
Advice?
Hive 1= two deeps and medium super. The deep in the middle seems very full of brood with maybe 60% full of eggs, capped and emerging brood. There is not much honey and pollen in it. The bottom deep, where they started the year seems to not as much brood and more open space. Both deeps are very full of bees. The top medium supper is not being used.
Hive 2 = two deeps. Bottom deep has brood and some honey and pollen. Top deep only has activity in three frames of honey on the outside area that I previously moved up and to make room for 3 new frames and foundation. (I did that about 3 weeks ago because they didn't seem to like the frames that were there and things were spotty.)
Hive 3 = two deeps and a medium. This hive was going like gangbusters up until about 2 weeks ago when it seemed like there was a reduction in activity. The middle deep is about 40% capped honey, 30% uncapped and 30% nothing. The bottom deep is where the bees are. There seems to less f them and I see only a patch of brood about two inches square. I do no find eggs. I did not look for the queen. I am thinking they swarmed and are now queenless or the new queen has not yet begun laying. This hive is very aggressive. They attack me when I am in there.
It seems like I should make a split with hive 1 to deal with the overpopulation there but I am not sure. With Hive 2, I think I should leave it alone as it seems to be coming along much better than it was earlier in the year. With hive 3 I don't know what to do.
Advice?