Hive Inspection: From Queenless to Thriving | Two Hives Finally Making a Comeback!
3 B'ees Flower Farm
382 views
After a rough summer in the bee yard, these two colonies are finally headed in the right direction.
Both hives went through a mess this season — queenless colonies, poor-performing queens, multiple attempts at requeening, and eventually combining colonies just to keep them alive. In this hive inspection, I’m opening both hives to see whether all that work finally paid off.
And thankfully, it looks like it did.
Both colonies now have eggs, larvae, and solid brood patterns, which tells me the queens are laying and the colonies are moving in the right direction. After everything these bees went through this summer, seeing good brood was exactly what I wanted to find.
There was also a little honey stored in the hives, but definitely not enough for a honey harvest. At this point, the priority isn’t taking honey — it’s making sure these colonies have enough resources to continue raising brood, drawing comb, storing food, and getting themselves into good shape.
That means it’s time to start feeding.
With two functional queens and healthy brood developing, supplemental feeding should help give these colonies the resources they need to continue building comb and putting away stores.
Sometimes beekeeping isn’t about harvesting buckets of honey. Sometimes the win is simply opening a hive that looked terrible a few months ago and finding eggs, larvae, and a healthy brood pattern.
That’s where we are with these two.
🐝 BEEKEEPING GEAR & SUPPLIES
Magnolia Bee & Supply
Magnolia Bee & Supply
Shamrock Electric Bee Smoker
Shamrock Electric Bee Smoker
Apis Tactical Beekeeping Gloves
Apis Tactical Beekeeping Gloves
ANEL Insulated Beehives
ANEL Insulated Hive Information — Magnolia Bee & Supply
🐝 ABOUT 3 B’EES FLOWER FARM
Follow along as we work through real-world beekeeping — good inspections, bad queens, swarm management, hive equipment, honey production, feeding, Varroa management, mistakes, experiments, and everything else that comes with keeping bees.
If you enjoy practical beekeeping without pretending every hive inspection goes perfectly, subscribe and follow the apiary.
#Beekeeping #HiveInspection #HoneyBees #TexasBeekeeping #BackyardBeekeeping #QueenBee #Requeening #BeeHive #HoneyBeeColony #FallBeekeeping #FeedingBees #BroodPattern #ANELHive #ElectricBeeSmoker #3BeesFlowerFarm
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Hive Inspection: From Queenless to Thriving | Two Hives Finally Making a Comeback!
3 B'ees Flower Farm
382 views
After a rough summer in the bee yard, these two colonies are finally headed in the right direction.
Both hives went through a mess this season — queenless colonies, poor-performing queens, multiple attempts at requeening, and eventually combining colonies just to keep them alive. In this hive inspection, I’m opening both hives to see whether all that work finally paid off.
And thankfully, it looks like it did.
Both colonies now have eggs, larvae, and solid brood patterns, which tells me the queens are laying and the colonies are moving in the right direction. After everything these bees went through this summer, seeing good brood was exactly what I wanted to find.
There was also a little honey stored in the hives, but definitely not enough for a honey harvest. At this point, the priority isn’t taking honey — it’s making sure these colonies have enough resources to continue raising brood, drawing comb, storing food, and getting themselves into good shape.
That means it’s time to start feeding.
With two functional queens and healthy brood developing, supplemental feeding should help give these colonies the resources they need to continue building comb and putting away stores.
Sometimes beekeeping isn’t about harvesting buckets of honey. Sometimes the win is simply opening a hive that looked terrible a few months ago and finding eggs, larvae, and a healthy brood pattern.
That’s where we are with these two.
🐝 BEEKEEPING GEAR & SUPPLIES
Magnolia Bee & Supply
Magnolia Bee & Supply
Shamrock Electric Bee Smoker
Shamrock Electric Bee Smoker
Apis Tactical Beekeeping Gloves
Apis Tactical Beekeeping Gloves
ANEL Insulated Beehives
ANEL Insulated Hive Information — Magnolia Bee & Supply
🐝 ABOUT 3 B’EES FLOWER FARM
Follow along as we work through real-world beekeeping — good inspections, bad queens, swarm management, hive equipment, honey production, feeding, Varroa management, mistakes, experiments, and everything else that comes with keeping bees.
If you enjoy practical beekeeping without pretending every hive inspection goes perfectly, subscribe and follow the apiary.
#Beekeeping #HiveInspection #HoneyBees #TexasBeekeeping #BackyardBeekeeping #QueenBee #Requeening #BeeHive #HoneyBeeColony #FallBeekeeping #FeedingBees #BroodPattern #ANELHive #ElectricBeeSmoker #3BeesFlowerFarm
Earlier this summer, both colonies were dealing with queen problems, failed requeening attempts, and eventually had to be combined just to give them a fighting chance. This inspection was the first time in a while I came away feeling really good about both hives.
I didn’t actually see either queen, but I found exactly what I wanted to see: fresh eggs, larvae, and solid brood patterns in both colonies. That’s plenty of proof for me that the queens are there and doing their job.
There’s some honey in the hives, but not enough to take. The next move is feeding so they can keep drawing comb, raising brood, and putting away resources.
What would you do next — start feeding heavy now, or let them work what’s still available first?
🐝 If you’ve ever brought a rough hive back from the edge, drop your story below.