Still Catching Up!

Another pretty damned fine day today. I think it got a little warmer than the weather guessers were predicting because it wasn't as cloudy as they thought but it was still cool enough that I did not wilt in my suit.

I had about 2 months of neglect to catch up on for my poor bee hives. Luckily they are pretty resilient and self sufficient creatures by nature so I don't think I did them any lasting harm.

I figure at this point I have lost about 15 gallons of honey though. Five or so of the hives I should have put another surplus super on about a month ago are now back filling and need some more attention. At least another 3 or 4 hives that needed a new brood chamber or their first honey super swarmed on me so they will take the rest of the season to build back up and the 3 hives over at the orchard are looking pretty light on bees too. I suspect they also swarmed on me but since I haven't cracked them open in over 2 months I am just happy they are still going.

I added a new brood chamber to 2 of the hives and was going to add a third when I discovered I had left my smoker up at the garden hives. I briefly entertained just doing the add without smoke until I cracked the middle and bees came streaming out for the kill. I decided to wait on them since I really didn't want to get them too riled up.

I also switched out four hives from regular telescoping tops to the migratory top entrance covers I like to use.

Here's a pretty good look at one on a bottom I made last year. I place these over the inner cover to give the girls a little air flow and a top entrance so I don't need to clear snow off the hives all Winter. I typically only switch them out to these covers when the hives reach two full brood chambers in size as I think it gives a little too much air flow for the smaller hives.

Some of the hives use em a lot,some of them don't. I assume it depends on whether the girls are filling the lower or upper reaches of the hives at the time. I typically get at least five years of good use out of one of these covers so cost-wise they really are more economical than buying the metal covered ones.

All in all things are returning to normal and I am getting caught back up though. I may even attempt a honey pull in the next week or so and the rain we have gotten is making it look like another hay baling session is fast approaching too. Speaking of rain however the weather guessers are saying rain for the next 3 or 5 days so I may not get much done this holiday weekend.

Can't win em all I guess.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!