Strong Hives, Finally

Suddenly I seem to have more bees than probably should be here. During the day, it seems like this huge spiral of bees heading up and down in a spirally cloud, like some wierd tornado centered on my postage stamp of a property. This seems, and maybe its just me forgetting, like a quantum change from past years. I have 2 more hives right now than usual, but they are all larger than ever.

When I first started out, it seemed like I'd get frames of brood, but nothing outrageous, sometimes, disappointing. But I didn't really know any different. Now I am finding hives full of brood- up throught the 4th super. And each frame with brood, like some giant amount of bees is about to happen here. Which, being that i live in a small town, is sort of a concern. Its not every hive- some are new, some are not that great- but even the not great ones, it seems like when i open to look, there is more than I'd expect happening.

Why is this? I speculate here:

1,) The weather and the flowers and the timing of the environment this year has been right. Is that possible? I dont really think its any different than before- maybe worse- rain, cold. But still- this seems likely.
2.) The biggest hives are at their prime, for the most part, in their life. Last year, just getting going, this year at their height- which is, I guess, normal. I don't know- this might be right, but I have had a lot of hives, and this seems different.
3.) I did something right (finally). I am hoping, really, that this is the main reason- because in fact, I did put a lot more effort than normal, and I tried a number of new things, and was (sort of), consistent about it. Of course, thinking that I finally figured something out about bees has historically ended up being false hope- I never seem to do. But maybe this time? Here is what I think helped me

• I really think the best thing I did was to make the vented, insulated boxes for tops. No dampness, warmth, and I know in the past that hives get wet and moldy in side, and none of that happened. 
• I did a full api-life var treatment in fall, which seemed to work very well. There are plenty of mites still, but this seems to be a big problem, and hard to imagine that a hive could survive mites like I see sometimes. In the past, i have been sporadic with treatment.
• I fed them white sugar in the winter, from December on. Even so, one hive died from starvation, even with sugar. Still- they went through their stores very well.
• I am paying more attention to keeping the brood boxes open. I add empty drawn frames. A hive I went through today, which I had done this to, was amazing to me- like nothing I had seen before. Others, maybe not so much, but I have this feeling this is a good thing.
• I use screened boards- though I have done this for year. I don't know on this one. Seems good.
• I have eliminated almost all of my foundation older than three years, and half is less than two years. I am cycling out all the wax foundation. If its true that wax in commercial foundation is poison, this might be a factor.
• I requeened a lot last year, because queens kept dying. Not sure why, or if the strong hives have young queens, but I havnt made this a practice before, and maybe this is a big factor.
• I look more often- though not enough- to make sure that hives have food, and eggs. I miss this, and need a better way to flag and schedule checks, but in that past, i was less careful, and likely lost hives do to not making time to look.

And of course, it might be all luck, and not the result of any of the above. But at least I am, after all this time, thinking i have sort of a method, which i really did not before.

And of course, I dont doubt that there are still hives that will swarm, and hives that will get weak and die. Hopefully though, not most of them. It feels like a promising year- that the brood is timed right for blackberry, and i better have supers ready!