Since I received my bee suit, we decided to do a hive inspection last week as well. When we opened up the hive, my heart sank. A month or so ago, we added frames to the fourth box on the hive and took out the feeder. My husband talked about getting another empty box to put on top so that we could add the feeder back because we only bought the four boxes so far this year. We fed the bees a mixture of white sugar and water, mostly because we were told that the bees needed an extra supply of food because they were starting their hive from scratch. However, I have been doing some reading, and natural and organic beekeepers do not feed sugar water. I talked to my husband and he said that he would leave the decision on sugar water up to me, and I decided to let the bees forage for all of their food instead of providing the sugar water. When we opened the box, the frames were empty. No honey. No comb. (Sigh.) I immediately had the "Oh, crap!" feeling. Had I made a mistake in wanting to go more natural?
My husband has reassured me that these empty frames should not be a problem for the bees. We kept a queen excluder (a metal grate that keeps the queen in the bottom boxes to prevent her from laying eggs in the top box) on top of the third box, because this ensures that only honey is made in the top box since the top box is usually extra honey and where a beekeeper will harvest from. Okay. I felt better. We were only missing "extra" honey and we aren't going to harvest this year anyway.
You can see here that they have not built any comb on the frame. You can also see the metal queen excluder.

The queen is too large to fit through the excluder so the beekeeper doesn't jeopardize any brood when harvesting honey.

The top portion with all of the bees on it is honey and the bottom portion that is an opaque yellow is made up of brood cells.
Hopefully, my husband is right and the lack of honey and comb in the top box doesn't mean disaster for our bees this winter. I think we will do at least one more check before winter, and hopefully we'll see some change in that top box then.
I have been feeding all summer and right now when it is so dry it is crucial to feed. There in not enough pollen or nectar for them to make honey naturally. My bees can’t wait for me to fill the feeder.
We have friends who had a very disappointing bee year last year (it was their first attempt), but they learned a lot and this year they have TONS of honey!! Also, these pictures are gorgeous!
We are currently exploring feeding options beyond sugar water. While after discussing feeding this week with others, we all have to realize that feeding doesn’t guarantee winter survival. I definitely see another post soon about our decision…whenever we make one. And thanks on the picture compliment!
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