I went and saw Ken Hays this morning. I asked him about the cluster of bees at the hive entrance (see photo at right taken last night) and it was just as we suspected — the girls are HOT!
He said to totally remove the entrance blocker (duct tape), so I took care of that this afternoon. They are still a little corn-fused and not ready to use this new available space, but I think they’ll slowly get used to it (and they’ll certainly enjoy the fresh air!)
I also took the frames that they had not touched and interspersed them with ones they had already drawn out. When we closed up the hive we offset the lid so that there was a tiny crack to ensure air circulation throughout the hive.
I also made some simple syrup and put three jars of it in the top hive box. I’ll peek in there tomorrow to see how much they’ve consumed and I will start feeding them regularly. They will need lots of their own honey for the winter and I want to make sure they are totally prepared. We went to Wild Oats and ordered a 25-pound back of organic sugar…we’ll see how long that lasts.
Until later!
