Moving Day

I moved the hives this morn to their new BEE HOUSE. The girls were well behaved on this cool morning. These are (2) 3 high hives (3 deeps). HOLY (*&%#^!!!) - the top box was HEAVY! It's full of honey - it's not only liquid gold only because of it's color and value - but it's WEIGHT too! I guess spring will tell if this experiment is going to work - more honey for them left in fall - less sugar-syrup feeding for me in the spring!?

The boxes are FULL of bees - all three levels - looks like the population is strong. I use SCREENED BOTTOM BOARDS with REMOVABLE STICKY BOARDS under....the mite situation was "worse" in one than then other. I scraped and "re-sticky'd" the board with vaseline....and used my new POWDERED SUGAR BLOWER to give them a dusting to encite grooming behavior. They don't particularly LIKE being powdered - (note to beekeeper) - save "powdering" as the LAST thing you do to the hives....

I'll powder again in a week, and again in a week. This will be my new "organic" method of mite control. Try to get rid of as many mites as possible for the winter months.

The beehouse is going to be nice to work in - plenty of room for the beekeeper. A nice height for the bees to coming flying in - fully loaded. So of course - the reason behind this maddness is....I don't have to WRAP HIVES this winter! I'll just slide the side panels on....then - i can still "mess around" with the variable height of the front canvas - until it's time to completely shut them down. there's lots of ventilation and i'm expecting a dusting of snow inside - but it will keep the MAJORITY of winter off of them.

ONE of the beebooks that I'll be enjoying over our vaca....INCREASE ESSENTIALS, by Lawrence John Connor. So far - a peek at the first 3 chapters is EXACTLY the information I'll be looking for this spring....to fill up the rest of the spots in the beehouse with MORE HIVES.