Hives at campus were visually inspected. Immediately noticed that another hive has been exposed to pesticides in the local environment. Thousands of dead bees were seen at the entrance of one hive in particular. Opening the hive showed the telltale sign of poisoned bees at the top of the boxes; twitching and uncontrolled movements.
The other 2 hives which suffered a poisoning event earlier in the summer have had mixed outcomes. The commercial hive which had the most number of bees, has recovered and should make the winter months. The other hive which was a swarm from the Wild17 genetics has mostly failed (center). The queen bee is still alive but the number of worker bees is at most only a handful. I gathered a brood frame from a strong hive and placed it with this weakened colony. Maybe we can save this queen.
