honey fall 2014

2nd Austin - Le Tour De Hives

Successful day.
Before people started arriving I did a quick inspection of Hive2 layer 2. Looking better, for the rearranging of frames and comb. But low on nectar. Will continue feeding them. Also fixed the drooping comb from my mangling of the deep to medium transition.

I also went into hive1. They're getting a bit hot again. But only 5-10%. Much less than last fall.
I put layer 3 on top. Separated from the hive by a triangle escape and I closed off the roof. I took 1 "superwide" frame of honey. From the 4 there, for my crush and strain demo.

I had about 10 groups come through. Half new to beekeeping this year and half looking to start in the spring. Everyone was excited to see the crush and strain method in action and to taste the raw honey.

In the afternoon, I flitched the other 3 "super wide" frames from hive1. The triangle escape had removed some but not all off the bees.
I left hive1 with;
Layer 4 (previously layer 5) 8 full honey frames.
Layer 3 some built out comb ready to fill (added in june)
queen excluder
Layer 1 and 2; brood, honey and pollen I assume.

Nectar flow

We had some big rain at the start of the week and some cooler days. Flowers are starting to bloom again and apparently the bees my hives noticed too.

Feeding and quick check.

Hive2.
I made up 4 mason jars of 2:1 sugar solution. They went through the first jar overnight. The next 2 disappeared within 48 hours. I just gave them the last jar during a quick check today. I also gave them 1/2 a pollen patty. I killed 7 or 8 SHBs too, in an effort to prevent them breeding in the patty. I looked to see if the "burr" comb had been stabilized: One frame had several columns of comb rising up to the top bar. The other had drooped and was partially attached to the next (empty) frame. I used the hive tool to break and recenter this comb to vertical.

Must recheck in a week or so.

Hive Check

Hive2 is in a sorry state. There is lots of bees but mostly empty frames except for ~2-3 frames of brood.
Layer 2 (medium) is mostly still empty frames with a bit of comb here or there.
Layer 1 (deep) no honey or nectar some brood.

I swapped out the last 2 mediums frames in the deep.  Putting in 2 empty frames and moving the medium into layer 2. I carefully broke the "extra" ~3 inches of comb from the bottom of these two frames and fitted each "burr" comb into an empty frame and put them in layer 2 also.
Must take action and feed this hive up.

Hive1 looks much as I left it in late July.
Layer 5 - honey FULL - 8 frames
Layer 4 - mostly empty, some comb built out and a little honey stored on 1/2 a frame.
Layer 3 - honey FULL - 4 very full and 3 still effectively empty.
By the point the bees got aggressive and I called it quits. I assume they are doing well judging by the bearding I see on most nights.
Layer 1 and 2 - brood?
The hive often looks very active in the cooler morning hours.