October Hive Inspections, Arizona Beekeeping.
We did our fall hive inspection today! If you've been following along, you know this is our second year beekeeping after losing our hive our first year. We started over with three packages this spring. They arrived in April, and we're doing okay. Two of the three hives made it through this brutal 2026 summer. Honestly, I'm thinking about giving up this desert living, but that's a story for another day.
We named our hives Herb (green), Iris (purple), and Wildflower (blue).
I researched and studied for four years before buying bees. I've learned some lessons from others and a whole lot through trial and error. One of the biggest lessons from my first year of beekeeping: with new packages, you need to be more hands-off that first year.
I ordered our packages from Mann Lake Bees, and they arrived beautifully, full of brand-new bees and their queen. We did lose one hive this year, and I'm still not sure exactly what happened. The queen made it out of her cage but failed in some way. Maybe the bees just didn't take to her, or maybe I accidentally killed her when we inspected at day 10 to make sure she'd been released. We took the surviving frames from Wildflower and split them between Herb and Iris.
The following pictures are all of Herb from our October 4th hive inspection. This was our first hive inspection since June because Arizona has been brutally hot this year. And dry. Oh, so dry. Arizona beekeeping is no joke. So dry, in fact, that we added a mister in front of the hives and a 70% shade cloth.
We found healthy eggs, larvae, and even stored honey going into fall. As you can see, Herb is a little light heading into fall and winter, so we'll supplement her feed when the time comes.
We've chosen treatment-free beekeeping. It's simply a choice I'm making because I believe nature knows more than we do. That may change next year, or it may not. I make my decisions based on my hives, not on current trends or scare tactics.
Iris is so strong that we didn't dig very deep into her boxes. She was full of bees! I'll do another hive inspection in November, and if Herb needs it, I may give her some of Iris's resources. We'll see how it all goes.
We don't beekeep by the book. Arizona beekeeping has taught us we have to write our own book and let each hive teach us about themselves.
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This is Iris, and as you can tell, she's absolutely brimming with bees. She has a wonderful queen, but her girls are a little feisty. If they stay this feisty, we may requeen her in the spring. Living in Arizona, there's always a chance they're Africanized, but they aren't that aggressive. So we shall see.
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