The Art in Beekeeping

I finally got in my bees today.  It is staying warm enough to break the propolis seals and the bees will be fine.  Working from nicest to meanest in my Langstroth colonies, I started with a colony that was in one deep when winter began.  I had added a super of honey for them from another colony, and a riser with sugar on newspaper, the "mountain camp method".  On these bees, I had been able to see mites last summer, so expected a very high mite count when I did powdered sugar rolls.  In Sept., the count was 1 mite per 300 bees, consistent with counts all summer, thus I did not treat them for mites.  They lost a lot of bees over the winter, and are now a cluster the size of a softball.  They had open and capped brood, and of course, plenty of honey.  Instead of moving honey away from them, as one would usually do in spring to keep the queen from becoming honey bound, I moved honey towards the brood chamber, still giving them a frame on each side of the ones they are using for brood. It is supposed to be cold one or two days each week, so I want to help this tiny colony reach food. I removed the sugar and pollen patty that I had added 3 weeks ago, since they haven't touched it nor the full honey super above them. I left the honey super. This is the art of beekeeping, when the state of your bees requires you to actually do the opposite of what is usually called for at the time of year.  The art of beekeeping is listening to your bees, and anticipating their needs, rather than following the usual "rules" of management. 
    The other two Langstroth colonies were busting at the seams with bees. I should have reversed their hive bodies, but they were very defensive, more than usual for their personalities, so I chose to leave them alone for the time I am in Texas.  I'll be down there making queens with my commercial beekeeping friends again.  Enjoy!  T