you're gonna be a beekeeper? why??

He already is, jesus read the thread

I've not updated the thread much as really nothing is happening.
The pretty hive is thriving like a demon and is almost full. The week before last they exploded in number going from 11 frame sides to 17 (out of 20) in just one week. But they have yet to store any honey for me, the one that gave them a beautiful home.

The ugly hive appears to be struggling, they're still only occupying less than half the brood box, just 8 frame sides and haven't increased in number at all in 3 weeks or more. The mites are probably causing them reproductive stresses.
I've got this microscope thing and I have made video of a live mite. I will try to upload something after I re-re-re-re-learn video fuckabout encoding.

If that hive ends the season without expansion, they will likely not survive winter anyway. So they will be gassed and the hive scorched so it's sterilised for next year when I will split the pretty thriving hive into it and go again from scratch.

No I don't know how to do that, but I do need to learn how to.

how do you feed your bees?

serves tiny plates at the entrance of the Hive then rings a bell

Sugar solution, either in a frame sized bucket inside the brood box, or an upturned bucket at the hive top. It doesn't pour out, the bucket has a fine gauze mesh, air pressure amazingly holds it in. I might video that too because it defies logic frankly.

I thought Bees went out 2 get flower nectar, what ur doing has a name and its called CHEATING.

Yeah that was the look on my mother's face when I told her on the phone.
I don't like it either, but they are not expanding. This is the height of the season, if they cannot breed up numbers now, they're not going to manage it next year.

M8 m8, you only feed when there is no food for them to forage for.
At the end of season (september end) if they have honey stored, they use it to make it through winter.
BUT I WILL STEAL IT!
I replace it with sugar solution feed.

If I feed them now they will simply not forage up any honey, but they hilariously will store sugar solution in comb as though it was honey.