By way of introduction, I am rather new to beekeeping. And I am so glad that there is this ACTIVE site on beekeeping. :)
A couple of years ago, I went to a Washington's beekeepers meeting. There, they auctioned off various things, of which were 2 styrofoam single story hives, with bottom boards 10 plastic frames and top covers which came home with me. I learned alot that day and it was fun.
2 years and one move later, I went to california and took those hives and got 2 nucs of bees and brought them home in the trunk of my car. Now, we closed off the hives entrances with duck tape. But with one of the hives, suffice it to say, some of the bees got out. [I nearly scared the gas attendant to death when she saw some of the bees in the tail lights] Me, OTOH, only had 6 or 7 bees flying in the back window, but I had a loss of about 50 bees from one hive. [For simplicity purposes, I will call this hive #2, and it seems to be very actives.]
After a 8 hr drive home, I placed the bees in between my shed and fence, and gave them 1 quart each of combined honey and sugar water mix. [The honey had crystillzed and I warmed it up to liquidfy it, and then added a 1:1 sugar solution to each of the quarts. ]
After 4 days, I coulden't wait any longer but had to lookin each of the hives. Hive #1, is very calm, and not too active. By that, I mean I do not see a lot of bees coming in and out of the hive. And they are using the solution at a MUCH slower pace. The quart of honey/water is about 1/4 used up. A quick look at the hive showed some propollis being put on the top hive cover.
Hive #2 seem to be much more active and I can see bees coming out of the hive and guarding it. This hive faces the sun also. The quart jar of honey/sugar solution is nearly gone as I write this. These bees seem more active than the other.
Question: Am I just paranoid about hive #1 or does it seem that I need to get into the hive and see if the queen is laying egg? Or do I have an aggressive hive in #2 and even possilby a quiet strain of africanized bees??? [said with tongue firmly planted in cheek].
Thanks for the advice ahead of time....I wil be checking here often and hopefully contribute what I get to observe from my very different hives....