Warm Day, Great For Flying!

[jdmidwest]

Clouds and fog burned off around noon and we warmed up into the upper 70's with some sunshine. The girls are taking advantage of the nice weather and are packing it in for the winter. Lots of pollen. I pulled out the Pentax and took some photos.

This might be the last time I open the hive and check in on them. Don't need to bother them if the temps are in the 60's, they get a little grumpy. Today things looked good. Still quite a bit of capped brood and young ones, most frames filled with raw honey and pollen. Many more bees inside than I had at the end of the dry spell in late Aug. They are alot more vigorous too. None of the pests that I had to deal with in the first month.

Last weekend I went out and bought a table saw and some cordless tools. I build a Nuc Box which is a smaller 5 frame hive to start a new batch this spring. I have also picked up some cedar boards and am going to make a cedar hive for the spring. Just something nicer than a white box sitting out in the yard. Later this winter, we are having some logs sawed and will make a few boxes out of catalpa and maybe a walnut one. Going to seal the boxes with clear satin polyurethane and keep the natural wood.

Next summer I hope to build up to 5 hives total.

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

Neat stuff

[Justin Spencer]

Very cool, what plans are you using to build your hives?

[jdmidwest]

Just standard Langstroth hive plans. Not really making anything out of the norm as far as design. I have been playing with bottom boards and top cover ideas. I have built one complete NUC to start a hive next spring or catch a swarm with.

Here is a good site with plans.

http://www.beesource.com/build-it-yourself/5-frame-nucleus-beehives/

[Al Agnew]

A friend of ours brought two of his hives out to our house here in Montana this summer, and a few days ago he came to "put them to bed". They hadn't produced a lot of honey, and one of the hives didn't have a lot of bees. Maybe too hot and dry out here this summer. Anyway, Mary wanted to help him check the hives and sprinkle powdered sugar on the bees to kill mites, so he brought her a bee suit. My assigned job was to photograph them while they were doing it, but since I didn't have a suit, I was staying about 20-30 feet away. Once in a while one would buzz me, but I wasn't worried...until one extra grumpy bee flew directly into my right ear and stung the crap out of the inside of my ear! I was extra grumpy after that.

[patfish]

A friend of ours brought two of his hives out to our house here in Montana this summer, and a few days ago he came to "put them to bed". They hadn't produced a lot of honey, and one of the hives didn't have a lot of bees. Maybe too hot and dry out here this summer. Anyway, Mary wanted to help him check the hives and sprinkle powdered sugar on the bees to kill mites, so he brought her a bee suit. My assigned job was to photograph them while they were doing it, but since I didn't have a suit, I was staying about 20-30 feet away. Once in a while one would buzz me, but I wasn't worried...until one extra grumpy bee flew directly into my right ear and stung the crap out of the inside of my ear! I was extra grumpy after that.

GIRL!

[jdmidwest]

They like the eyes too. They usually bump you a few times before they sting. The main thing you need to protect is the head, I use a simple bug net from Wally World in the camping gear and a ball cap. I don't have one of them fancy bee suits yet.

Did he find many mites?