WINTER is Cometh!

Well...ready or not, winter is just around the corner.  Up here in the North Country the nights are in the 30's with snow predicted in the mountains.  Great for the snow lovers, but not "The Girls!".

We need to check often for moisture in the hives.

The bees have been busy cleaning out the dead bees.

We will keep an eye on the hives, maybe putting straw inside the top cover.  We will keep you posted!

Bundle up and keep warm -- your bees and yourself!

HARVESTING LIQUID GOLD!!!

Putting Labor Day to good use with a labor of love!  

Mid August to September is generally set aside for checking the hives and deciding how many frames and/or supers will be harvested for the honey and what should be left for the bees to over winter with.

We had all ready planned to check Hive 1 and leave all their honey for their winter use.  Hive 1 consists of 2 deep supers and one medium super filled with honey.  Hive 2 we will check for honey flow and hopefully have some honey for us to over winter with!

Hive 2:  The top medium super had capped honey on the frames:

Frame by frame, we took went through the super, smoking the bees, then shaking the frame knocking the bees off, and then brushing the remaining bees off.  The frames went into an empty super in the garage. Frame by frame we repeated this process.

On to the second super.  It was full of capped honey!  We were so excited.  Repeating the above process, we went through the 10 frames.  Then we brought the supers into the kitchen.

We had rented an extractor.  The extractor handled three frames at a time and was hand cranked.  We had a LONG afternoon!  

A hot knife helped uncap the honey.

SUCCESS!!!  Look at our beautiful honey!

Bee Bearding

Hot weather and afternoon and/or evening thunderstorms have been the norm for the last few days. checking the hives early am, Dad Boss notice Bee Bearding!

Bee bearding refers to the clustering or hanging of older bees outside the front face of the hive during hot weather, giving the impression of a " beard"!

Bee beard forms any time bees need to cool the inside of the hive.  When summer is in full swing, the colony populations are nearing their peak and combs are filled with open brood ~ the act of bringing in water Blythe forager bees to cool down the hive may not be sufficient.  Therefore, a a number of adult bees vacate the inside portion of the hive and move outside.

BUSY as a BEE!

Sunny days bring out Dad Boss with the lawn mower and A LOT of BUSY BEES!

A Bee's (and Beekeeper's) Work is Never Done!

We are trying to keep one step ahead of "The Girls" so decided to check on them when the rain (as in days of rain!) stopped and the sun came out.

To prepare in advance for the hive exploration, we waxed frames for the MEDIUM SUPER.  The medium super is 6 5/8 inches (16.8 cm).  Again, 10 frames in each super.

The bees have been hard at work so we decided to add another super to each hive.  We want them to have enough room to grow.  Hopefully we aren't giving them too much room!

3 Supers deep!  2 deep and one medium! Now to celebrate Father's Day 2013!  

3 Weeks and Going Strong!

Hello!
We have had the bees for 3 weeks now.  A couple of days ago very warm weather moved in--like mid 80's--and the bees were very, very active.  Taking advantage of them all out working, we dressed up and got the smoker going for a "grand inspection!"

The Rule of Thumb:  when the bees start working on frame 8, add the next super.

We waxed the next 20 frames and got 2 deep supers ready for the hives.  The next day, (when the bees were out working and which happens to fit our lunch time!), we added a deep super to each hive.  We are also slowing down the sugar syrup feeding as the bees are finding food on their own, which is a good thing!

Two supers deep -- all done for the day!

2 Weeks Old!

Dear Followers!
We have had a lot of rain, so have left the bees to themselves, just lifting the cover on the feeder to add more sugar syrup.  We enjoy watching the bees wake up in the am and start to get to work, as well as lunchtime, when the bees are very active, coming in and out.

Finally a couple days of nice weather, so opened the hive to take a peak!

The bees looked pretty happy and busy.  Have yet to spot either hive's Queen Bee!