It is May 21^st, and Worth and I drive out to the Ranch.  There is activity in both hives.  We take the lid off the AWOL hive.  There are bees inside – not many, but enough.  I do not want to disturb them any further.  I see some of the worker bees carrying pollen into the hive.  We are encouraged as this could be a sign that the queen is indeed alive.  We did not do a hive inspection partly because I wanted to cling on to the hope that the queen was alive and well.  We would find out soon enough if the queen was dead.  Our hives are weak and at this point I hope they will create enough stores to make it through the winter.  We top up the feeders in both hives with sugar water and leave.

Bees carrying pollen back to the hive… not exactly through the right entrance.

Adding sugar water.