Bonus!

With the sun out today it was actually quite pleasant in the beehouse.  BONUS! 7 out of 8 alive! Actually popped the tops today... Everyone but one was right at the inner cover.  (Remember for me that means they're through 2 deeps and one supper).

So... Out with the emergency feeding!  Most of the colonies were right under the inner cover hole. In these cases I take scoops of their own crystallized honey which I saved from last fall... place it on a paper plate... And place it near the hole.. And put some in and around the hole.  Then I put on a super box with no frames to create a space, then outer cover. They were very anxious to have it... every one was feeding.

There were two colonies that were off to the side.  For these I put the paper plate and honey right on top of the frames and put a 1" spacer, then the inner cover and outer cover. I did that to get the food closer.

After honey harvest... I take all the very waxy cleanup honey and reserve a bucket of it for just this reason.

Of coarse I didn't pull any frames. Even though I see bees, it doesn't mean they are viable colonies.  No queen.. No hive.  Won't know that until I get my first inspection...