Newspaper in the hives, and THIEVES!

Well, an awful lot has happened since the last post, so I'm going to dive right in.

First off, as we discussed in "Ruthless Virgins!", Nucleus #1 failed to raise a queen, and Nucleus #2 was successful at doing so.  You'll be glad to learn that she was in fact successfully mated, and has been laying eggs like crazy that have begun hatching, and the population has just exploded.  About a week and a half ago, I combined the two Nucs back together into one hive, using the "newspaper method."

Using this method, I place the bees and frames from Nucleus #1 in the bottom box, and the bees and frames from Nuc #2 in the top box, seperated by a piece of newspaper.  As the bees would attempt to kill each other if they were just introduced into the same box together, they need to be kept apart for a few days.  The newspaper divider keeps them apart while they get accustomed to the smell and sound of the other bees.  When they chew their way through the newspaper after 2-3 days, they have become accustomed to each other and can live and work together in the same hive again. 

The left side is a picture taken the day I combined them, and on the right, you can see the girls have done exactly what they were supposed to do, and have opened up both "floors" of the hive.  Hopefully, they'll continue to do well, they won't supercede their queen again, and they will have time to build up and make it through the winter.  Moving on!

We had a slight issue at hive #1 (the recently combined hive,) when we went out to inspect.  We discovered these nasty buggers hanging around the entrance, along with about 6 of their buddies.  They are bald faced wasps, and they had seemingly discovered the sugar syrup being fed to hive #1, and were looking for a free meal.  They mostly crawled around the front of the hive, looking for an entrance that wasn't being guarded.  Before we left, I decided to squish them, to relieve my girls of the burden.  After the first 3 or so, the wasps got rather agitated (I wonder why?), and they began diving in towards the entrance and stinging my bees as they came back with their pollen. It took awhile, but I killed all but one, and that one eventually "bugged out."  Robbing attacks like this are not uncommon, but a strong hive has no trouble defending itself.  I put an entrance reducer back on, to minimize the space my girls will have to defend if the wasps come back. 

Enough about hive #1, let's talk about #2!

This beauty to my right is what you want to see in any honey super.  The entire frame is honey, it's beautifully capped, and that frame weighs probably 9-10 pounds, most of which is honey weight.  The bad news?  That particular frame is in the brood box, meaning it's not for me.  Everything in the brood chamber must be left for the bees so that they can make it through the winter.  The good news?  The girls are coming along rather well in the honey super, with most of the frames having at least a softball sized block of drawn comb that is full of uncapped honey.  With plenty of time left before the cold sets in, we may just get lucky and have a nice, long, late bloom that will net us at least a small honey crop this fall.  And, speaking of the honey,

Erin and I both sampled some honey direct from the hive, (although she declined to be photographed) and it is the absolute best honey I've ever had in my life.  So, I guess there were 8 small thieves, and two really big ones. :D

I've discovered that there are more things I want to cover each time I write than I really can, while still keeping it interesting.  So, I'm saving some pictures and topics each time that I'll share in a few posts over the winter, or during some slow times in the blog.  Until next time, enjoy this final picture of the girls lining up at the "watering hole," (some spilled honey on the inside of the inner cover.)