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So, I checked my hive last week and all looked well. I cut out some queen cells, and moved some frames around. Lots of capped brood, eggs, and I found the queen. There were several partially or fully capped deep frames of honey as well. I had a super on the hive, with 10 undrawn waxed frames that the bees were just absolutely covering. I assumed they were drawing out the super frames.
Yesterday, I opened the hive and there were still tons of bees in the 2 deep boxes and the super. I did not see my queen, there were some frames of capped brood but I didn't find any eggs. I pulled 5 deep frames of honey and put them in the freezer to feed back to the bees (I had placed apivar strips in the 2 deep boxes about 6-8 weeks ago). I replaced the 5 frames of honey, with the only 5 fully drawn frames of comb I have. I wish I had some more drawn frames, but I don't. It appeared the hive is close to becoming honey bound. There were several full frames of bee bread and nectar in both deep boxes, and a lot of bees with pollen on their legs.
What else can I do? I've read that splits this late don't have that good of a chance. We have cold wet winters here. Our first average frost isn't for another 2 months, but who knows with how the weather has been going. I'm hoping the 5 frames will give the queen (if she is still in there) room to lay before they fill it up with honey.
Yesterday, I opened the hive and there were still tons of bees in the 2 deep boxes and the super. I did not see my queen, there were some frames of capped brood but I didn't find any eggs. I pulled 5 deep frames of honey and put them in the freezer to feed back to the bees (I had placed apivar strips in the 2 deep boxes about 6-8 weeks ago). I replaced the 5 frames of honey, with the only 5 fully drawn frames of comb I have. I wish I had some more drawn frames, but I don't. It appeared the hive is close to becoming honey bound. There were several full frames of bee bread and nectar in both deep boxes, and a lot of bees with pollen on their legs.
What else can I do? I've read that splits this late don't have that good of a chance. We have cold wet winters here. Our first average frost isn't for another 2 months, but who knows with how the weather has been going. I'm hoping the 5 frames will give the queen (if she is still in there) room to lay before they fill it up with honey.