Joe did. He asked a great question:

"Jeff, should we be concerned if one hive is consuming two or three times the sugar water as the other hive? So far, one hive has just about finished their jars, while the other hive has barely touched it. Joe”

As long as both hives have open and capped brood there’s nothing to be concerned about. Hives will take varying amounts of feed.

This is a great example of why two hives is a good idea.

A healthy have has these three types of brood:

Capped. That's the top part of the picture.

Open. That's the bottom, left side.

Eggs. That's the bottom, right side. They can be hard to see. It easiest for me if the day is sunny and I can angle the frame just right. But if you find eggs, the hive is most likely queen-right meaning the hive has a good laying queen.

One of our mentors, John Hinchman, suggested that we get 'The Life Cycle of the Honey Bee' poster. We did. It is a great resource to which we still refer. In order to be a successful beekeeper, you need to know the bee. Richard and I used to spend a lot of time looking into our hives in the beginning. One would ask the other, 'What do you think…?' And the response would inevitably be, 'I don't know. What do you think?' We'd take pictures. Research. Read. Ask other beekeepers.

There's no shortcut to learning beekeeping. But it is a fun and fascinating learning.