December Hive Check

For anyone following along, you'll remember that the last time I was in my hives, I discovered a huge varroa mite problem my girls were struggling with (I've since found out it's been a bad year for varroa, and there's actually been a state-wide survey showing we've spiked higher than average). 

Once I figured out how high my mite loads were, I treated with formic acid and have been feeding my girls like crazy (they didn't make a honey crop this year, probably due in part to being crippled by pests). This past weekend, when the weather went back up into the mid-70's, I took the opportunity to check on my girls.

I was so happy with what I found.

Despite the natural decline in population due to the weather, all three hives were wonderfully full, had stores of both sugar water and some honey, and didn't show any signs of SHB's or wax moths. I didn't dig into the brood boxes to see if there was any remaining brood, but I'm assuming it would have been minimal at best. All the drones were gone.

I cannot begin to explain what a relief it was to see all three of them still... well, there. I was sure I'd doomed them with my failure to treat for varroa last year.

I still plan on doing an oxalic acid treatment in January with the help of a more experienced beekeeper, but until then the plan is just to keep feeding them... and to stop worrying quite as much about them.