Memorial Day, Monday 25th

Went out to the beeyard to check the status of our 5 hives. The 3 hives on the west end of the yard were totally empty. No bees and no bee husks. Very minimal wax moth which was interesting. There was a mouse nest in the furthest west hive which indicates that it was probably empty going into winter. The frames were completely empty so I guess they were starved out and had emptied the honey, unless the bees left and robber bees cleaned out the frames. Starvation would be surprising because I left a full super of honey on each hive....but it was a much longer and colder winter than usual. It's a shame because I had buckets of corn syrup to feed with, but I just didn't get it out there. I've got to check on them more frequently. The two remaining hives are strong, especially the multistoried one. I put a honey super on each and will go out and check again in two weeks. The Indian Blanket is going strong and we are still getting rain, so we should have a great honey flow.