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I've been keeping this blog for all of my beekeeping years and I am beginning my 19th year of beekeeping in April 2024. Now there are more than 1300 posts on this blog. Please use the search bar below to search the blog for other posts on a subject in which you are interested. You can also click on the "label" at the end of a post and all posts with that label will show up. At the very bottom of this page is a list of all the labels I've used.

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I began this blog to chronicle my beekeeping experiences. I have read lots of beekeeping books, but nothing takes the place of either hands-on experience with an experienced beekeeper or good pictures of the process. I want people to have a clearer picture of what to expect in their beekeeping so I post pictures and write about my beekeeping saga here.Master Beekeeper Enjoy with me as I learn and grow as a beekeeper.

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Monday, November 08, 2010

New Topper for Topsy

When I arrived at Valerie's house today, it was 64 and the bees were flying in and out of Topsy. I saw one bee with pollen on her legs. I don't know what the others were doing. With the severe cold nights over the weekend, I imagine there is no more aster nectar.

You can see the bees at the entry in the photo below (if you can't, I put a red arrow pointing to them). There was a constant entry and exit at that end of the hive the whole time I was there.



Both jars of syrup were empty. Since we are having flying temperatures every afternoon this week, the bees are likely to be able to use this syrup, so I replaced both jars.

As a nod to the colder weather, I moved the follower board closer to the actual hive to help shrink their hive space. I didn't get it as close as I'd like but I'll get that done next week.



I traded out the wavy plastic cover for this newly constructed hive top. It was awkward and a little heavy, not like the wavy plastic. I may not like having this on top of the hive. When I tried to put it on the first time, I knocked against one of the top bars at the unused end of the hive and the bar dropped into the hive, necessitating my removing the top, replacing the top bar and essentially starting over again.

Doesn't it look more effective, though, than the white plastic one?



Here's a side view so you can see the supports and the amount of air space between the top and the top bars. I hope this helps the bees stay warmer than that flimsy plastic.



Tomorrow I'm checking on Blue Heron.
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