[Gypsi]

I am so happy. We had rain all the way up thru June. After years of drought alternated with years of flood, this has been a good year.

(I did feed the nucs when I installed the queens, and am still having to feed the one whose queen I had to free, she got a late start)

I robbed very lightly, one medium from my 3 box hive, one medium from the hot hive, and let them keep some honey. I did 2 splits from the hot hive with purchased queens, both those queens are laying. Now a 3 box 10 frame hive for me, is huge - I've never had enough flow to have to stack to 4 unless it was during a merge and then it's get them together and get that extra box off. I keep my hive stand elevated due to skunks, so going tall would take a ladder and an assistant, or maybe a lift.

Went through the bees yesterday and they are cheerfully putting on goldenrod and ragweed honey. I oiled the sticky boards so I could get a mite count. Except the nuc with the solid bottom board, I'm probably just going to treat them all. I'm not happy that they all have brood already, but I suspect we didn't have a broodless period this summer. So it will take more than one mite treatment.

still 94 here tomorrow, so it will be OAV one evening I'd imagine

 

[Gypsi]

Got 13 pounds of fall honey today, fair amount of ragweed and goldenrod should be in it, nice and dark. Now I can treat my bees mites. Also much of the brood had hatched, but I think that will be fall workers here, not overwinter brood. and They are backfilling frames in the top box that once had brood.