The first failures at the new apiary

The new beekeeping season has not yet begun, and I have already managed to face the first difficulties in my new apiary. The fact is that among the beehives I got, 3 were made of foam. I haven't had time to evaluate their advantages yet, but I have already felt the disadvantages to the full.

These holes are the result of the work of titmouses. They easily break through such hives and get bees out of them. I noticed it late and the titmouses had already made holes in all three hives. And in one, they even gnawed out the notch so that they could crawl through there entirely.

I had to fix the situation urgently. I plugged the holes with improvised materials. Packages, different packaging were used. And in order to protect hives from birds, I had to wrap the hives with a net.

It turned out like this.

But this is not all failures. When I came to the apiary, I found that one of the hives was lying on the ground. Apparently heavy snowfall and wind have done their job.

I immediately put the hive in place, but it turned out that it was already too late. Looking inside, I found that the bee family that lived in it had already died.

Well, I'll have a lesson. We need to visit the apiary more often and speed up the work on its reform and fix all the stands for beehives. I hope the weather will allow it. Snowfall and frost gave way to a sharp thaw and rains. Will see.