The population of the weak hive that I combined with a stronger one looks good; the major issue at this point is that they have no honey or pollen stored and will be fully dependent on the strong hive below them. I went out today to add winter pollen patties to the hives as added insurance. The patties contain Megabee and Honey-B-Healthy, with 2.5% protein (which is supposedly relatively low and will not stimulate brood rearing - good for winter). I've used pollen patties in the past without a shim between the patty and the inner cover and it causes everything to stick together with little room for the bees to move around. This time, I added shims to provide adequate space for the patty.
The bees looked happy and were incredibly calm. SO much improved from their mood when they were being robbed two weeks earlier. I was thrilled to see pollen still coming into both hives. I also witnessed (for the first time in person) workers actively removing drones from the hive! It was incredible to watch three or four strong ladies dragging the poor fellas to the edge of the bottom board and pushing them off. One gentleman attempted to return four times while I was watching! How persistent! In the video below, you can see the girls chasing him. They start in the middle of the video frame and end in the bottom center where the entrance reducer meets the side of the bottom board.
The bees looked happy and were incredibly calm. SO much improved from their mood when they were being robbed two weeks earlier. I was thrilled to see pollen still coming into both hives. I also witnessed (for the first time in person) workers actively removing drones from the hive! It was incredible to watch three or four strong ladies dragging the poor fellas to the edge of the bottom board and pushing them off. One gentleman attempted to return four times while I was watching! How persistent! In the video below, you can see the girls chasing him. They start in the middle of the video frame and end in the bottom center where the entrance reducer meets the side of the bottom board.