Equalizing The Colonies

Many of you may remember my brother, Brian from previous posts. Brian has been stung every time he's helped me in the beeyard. I felt guilty after last week's episode and ordered him a better hat, veil and some leather gloves. Brian stopped by today to help me change the position of my hives. I have two very strong hives, one medium & one weak. When the foragers were out during the middle of the day we swapped the order of the hives. The thought is that bees from a strong colony leave to forage, we swap hive positions with a weaker hive and when they return this helps equalize the population of the colonies. We swapped hives 1 & 3 and 2 & 4. I've also been feeding 1:1 sugar water with Honey B Healthy to all four colonies. This will ensure they get through the nectar dearth and are strong for the anticipated Fall honey flow. As a side note.....Brian managed a "sting free" visit today. It really helps to have someone assist me with labor in the yard. Brian is also interested in beekeeping, so he's tagging along and I'm sharing as much information as I can with him. In the Spring, I'll make a couple of splits to get him started with his own colonies.