Oct 30th inspection of the Palo Alto Cowper hive did not show much progress from our new Queen. The colony population is small, maybe TOO small to survive the Winter, but with some TLC I’m sure they will make it. As with the other hives, the Cowper colony is bringing in a good amount of honey and pollen. They are packing it in but at a slower rate due to less foragers.
Here’s the Queen. She didn’t grow in size, still small. Perhaps it’s Winter and she will plump up in the Spring. She is still laying though but only enough for the cluster to nurse.