This week was the end of the backyard colony. Battered by soaking rains, then raided by yellowjackets, they were down to their last 10 bees. Seen here is the queen and her remaining crew of workers, before they were run out of the hive in the next wave of yellowjacket attacks.
This crew had a tough year, from the May swarm, the June hive split, the rainy weather during mating season then the yellowjacket raid. And lets not forget that they had a rookie beekeeper overseeing the operation.
The one good part of their year was the long dry fall, that allowed accumulation of a lot of late season honey stores. Those frames have been moved to the basement away from the raiders, and are being fed to the 15th Ave colony, which is itself undersized and underprepared for winter.
