8-6-13 Visit

Took 3 more honey frames from the Vineyard hive, only a few more and i'll have another 50 lbs. Pretty good year since these are all new colonies. Orchard hive North is still struggling. No sign of new queen nor her offspring. Placed a small sampling of brood from Orchard South so they can continue to keep numbers but I'm afraid unless the new queen shows with eggs, it will most likely parish.
Microtel hive continues to grow stronger but not as fast as I'd like it. Therefore I gave them a half frame of brood from Vineyard hive. Vineyard hive is strong and I hope it will still be fine after losing some of their own to help another. Guess we will find out.

Here's an image I took at home on one of our butterfly bushes. This bush is nearly 10' tall and covers a 1/4 of our south elevation of our house. I think it's about 6 years old now.