More Supers

The supers I added last week aren't full yet, but we're going on vacation (yahoo!) so I put one more on each hive do they won't run out of room before we get back. 9 total! That should be enough, right?? The clover is petering out but the bees are loving my oregano right now. The knapweed is starting to bloom too. After that my cimicifuga and eupatorium will blooming and I always see bees on those...

Unbeelievable!

I checked Cam's hive today and all three supers were totally full, most were capped. I added a fourth super (probably could have done that last week!) and pulled another frame of honey for the honey bank. I could have pulled two but I'm not sure if I'll need it. The stack is so tall now that I had to have Jon help me! Those supers are so heavy; I think they're about 40lbs each. I can't imagine how heavy they'd be if I had 10-frame hives. I rotated out the drone frames but didn't see any mites. Overall the bees seemed very vigorous and healthy; no need to rearrange any frames. I didn't see the queen but eggs were there which was nice to see.

Got Honey?

It's been about a week and a half since I checked on the hives since it's been so hot (90s+!) and holy cow, the hives are exploding with bees, honey, brood, everything! I added a third super on Toby's hive and Cam's hive is ready for a fourth. That meant another trip to Tate's for more supers. I got three this time, wonder if it'll be enough? I pulled a frame of capped drone comb for the second time from Toby's hive and stuck it in the freezer.
Next on my to-do list is inspection of Cam's hive and addition of another super but it'll be too tall to reach! That means Jon needs to give me a hand. I need to figure out how I'm goingto harvest this honey: when? Where? How?
Stay tuned!

Milk and Honey?

Holy cow, we're up to three supers on Cam's hive and two on Toby's. I was able to pull a full frame of honey from Cam's hive to put in the 'honey bank' for later in the fall or winter if they get hungry. I think there's a lot of flowers here on the south hill for them to forage. The weather finally got really hot this past weekend so the honey production may slow down. I'll see the next time I check them but I'm dreading suiting up in the 90+ degree temps! Plus, it's getting harder and harder to work the hives as they get heavier and taller. I guess that's a good problem to have though! I'll have to recruit Jon to give me a hand.