I gave my bees some heavy (2:1) sugar syrup to boost their stores for the winter. I think I will keep the feeders on until I wrap the hives for the winter.
Also, I put the entrance reducers in the main entrances to keep out any mice looking for a cozy home for the winter. The drawers for the screened bottom boards also went in today, to keep out any cold drafts.
I feel like I have been neglecting my bees recently. Since my promotion at work, I have been working a lot, and have little time to tend to my honey bees. In fact, I have had little time to tend to any other responsibilities.
I will get some honey this year. The trick right now is finding the time to extract it and fill some jars. There will be gifts of honey.
My reactions to honey bee stings are becoming less severe. During my last trip to my apiary, I was stung five times. The swelling was much less than the last stinging incident, and the itching and irritation went away sooner.
The viticulturist who works in the vineyards near my bees has informed me that honey bees have been feeding on damaged grapes. Of course, this irritates the harvesters, since they don't want to be stung. But this is fascinating to me, since I wonder if I could get grape juice in honey. Would I get purple honey?
Treated the bees for the second time with Sucrocide. The operation proceeded much more smoothly this time. It was faster, and the bees were less irritated.
Unfortunately, I think I initiated some robbing of A hive by B hive. I reduced the entrance to the hive with some sticks and hoped for the best. Fortunately, it was late in the day and there was not much time left before nightfall. I don't know if it will be wise to continue with the third treatment, if I am risking a similar situation.
I received a promotion at work. Now I work a lot more and make a little bit more money.
I sprayed both hives with Sucrocide to treat for mites. Hive B was treated on Saturday, 3 September. I succesfully treated the top two hive bodies, but by the time I got to the bottom hive body, the bees were very agitated, and I called it a day. Hopefully, next time I will be practiced enough to get all three done before the bees get so agitated.
I treated A hive on Monday, Labor Day. I got all but the last three frames done. I stopped at that point owing to the presence of the queen. I am still worried about smooshing the queen, so I stopped after I found her.
I will return and treat both hives next Monday.
With the goldenrod flow on, both hive entrances are crowded with foraging bees coming and going. To me, the level of activity is awesome, and I love to sit and watch the activities at the entrances.