Happy Harvest Blog
bees snugged II
The bees are all wrapped now, after getting their insulation. This time I tried to wrap the tar paper so that it was sealed and went up under the flange of the beehive lid, so in theory the water sheds over the tar paper wrap, but I can still get the lid off anytime. We’ll see. I put a piece of tape on the corner before doing the fold so the paper doesn’t tear- that worked well. Like gift wrapping. The paper is all folded down tight and taped to the eke.
Bees Snugged I
The bees are almost wrapped. They have their foam on, and I think I’ve really sorted out my wrapping method this year. The hives each get foam on three sides plus tar paper, that wraps the front of the hive too and absorbs heat. The foam I’ve figured out how to get it on quick and easy. First, the three-sided “box” is made. Look at my fancy two-step carving- a nice seal. Foam is so easy to carve. Then I tape that together with Tuck tape, including a strip up the whole seam.
Bee day
I was reducing the hives to get ready for winter (taking supers off for their more efficient winter accommodation, which usually means taking honey off too. However, Sunflower is the hive that split, and they did not have as much honey as I hoped. I'm not entirely sure they have enough for themselves for the winter, and I debated bringing them down to one super, but I left them in two. Pansy, the new hive, had the tidiest little house. Just perfectly arranged, no burr comb.
...with songs they have sung, for 1000 years
My bees are alive!(with the sound of buzz-ing)We had an extreme cold snap (relative, very relative) here with a -20C night. I didn't think they'd made it. I kind of had a feeling. I'm really on the fence whether this hive will make it through their first winter. Neither death nor survival will surprise me.
Insulating the hive
As I worked, a few sentry bees came rocketing out, angry. It was cold though, so these were suicide missions. They would come out, buzz around angrily, then land on something, and be too cold to get back into the hive. I picked one still bee body up off where it was clinging to a branch and placed it on the upper hive doorstep. Within a second, pffft! The bees threw the body back out. I guess that one was dead. I put another motionless bee on the doorstep. They pulled it into the hive! Maybe for a little bee cpr.
Instagram.
I may not make a blog post every day, but at least I Insta.
Bite size.
