A late fall hive check after all...

Mild, overcast day, slight breeze, 55° and bees are flying more than they have in the past week. Probably cleansing flights, although there are blossoms in the yard and nectar/pollen to be had; this is not the time. They should be in their hibernation mode by now.

Opened the end of the hive to see if comb on B14 was empty and I could remove the bar to show Ken how bees were attaching comb to the wider V on the bar. B14 was empty on the left side but had capped honey filling almost half the comb on the right side. Good news, actually, that they are not decimating their winter food supply as I thought might be happening when I last observed the combs on Oct 19 and found the left side of B14 empty. B13 left side also had a good amount of capped honey remaining. So, B14 left in place and top of hive closed.

B14 right side

B13 left side

Then I unfastened the securing straps of the bottom board, which had been put in place last week to keep the board tight against the hive for winter, and removed the bottom board for a look there.

Lots of debris on the board: bits of casing, bee carcasses and bits, and mites—yes, mites have now been seen. Will have to keep an eye on the number. By the nature of the natural comb cell size in the TBH (top bar hive) the mites are supposed to be scraped off the backs of the bees as they move into the cells…we shall see.  It appears the bees are not able to remove dead bees and other debris from the bottom board as easily as they did when board was not sealed. While I had the top space open two bees came out through the opening each with a dead bee in tow; maybe the bottom board should not be sealed—our winters are temperate, Phil Chandler in England (http://www.biobees.com/index.php) has mesh bottoms in his TBHs, and bees like a clean environment so dead bees and debris might be a stressor for them. Jody and I plan to attend a beekeeping class Monday evening—that will be a good question to explore with Jacqueline (http://www.friendlyhaven.com/classes.html).

Not being sure about the best way to handle the bottom board, I returned it to the closed position. No detectable moisture in the hive at this time; that is another concern I have because of our wet winters here and the fact that mildew was in the hive last May. Lots of questions to be addressed during this first year of beekeeping…fortunately there are people who willingly share their experiences.