The end of summer - it went so quickly! My supers were pulled 3 weeks ago, and have yet to been extracted, I've just been too busy with work to get to them- very different from past years, where I'd have extracted in July, and be extracting knotweed now. But this year- though I hear from others its a record year for them- it's not been for me. And though the knotweed, even as we are nearing October, still seems fully in flower (white, and not browning at all), I don't see supers of it. Supers I put on in August remain light, though any nectar they have is of course like transmission fluid (ie, knotweed). Strong hives have likely place that below (#3 in a Western system).
So- no knotweed to sell this year, no Maple, and only Blackberry, of which I am guessing I have 50 gallons only. Half a normal year
Much left to do- I am feeding them now 2:1, a little late, and about to do a round of OAV to check mite numbers. It seems- anecdotal as this is- that for some reason mite numbers are way down, with little effort on my part. Unbelievable hot weather? Or? Or I'm wrong and about to be shocked
Below is a phenomena I've seen in a number of hives lately. I use foil faced styrafoam in the winter, and kept it on during the summer- thinking it would help temper the hive environment, and lessed the effect of our 110F temps. Plenty of hives do this- they cut through the foil, and start mining out the foam. For what purpose? I have no idea.
Below, my trusty old Miller feeders in place- hand made, but functional. Feeder on one end, so easy to shim up the hive to be sure the bees get every drop.
Black mold happens- but I add a strong Thymol dose to the 2:1, and it totally kills black mold. I can have syrup in a bucket forever with Thymol, and not a strand of mold shows up. For the feeders, I will bleach them- but I don't know if it hurts the bees to have this mold.
Below, a new sort of entry configuration I like, and that is simple. No landing board, , and a hole drilled right below the flat part of the slatted bottom rack. Some bees use the lower entry, but many the hole, and it's much more direct to the hive when you use slatted racks. Also- in this case- a bee-legible blue marking to indicate the hive (per my bee friend, Rebecca). Not having a landing board saves wear and tear on a hive, but seems to be more defensible too- as is the hole. In Spring, I'll block of the slat. The hole is a very easy to read entry, and easy to defend.
The last of the beans, a local pollinator box ( I don't say Mason Bee, as there are all sorts that use these), and a beat up old garden wind mill- just seems like end of summer here:
And the drive out to the street- along my apple trees, and looking west to Seattle. Why a two wheeled gravel road with grass in the middle brings such satisfaction to one's soul, I don't know. It just feels friendly, not to hard on the earth, and tactile. Irregular, messy, something one need to take care of. But very transient- would be gone in a few years if we weren't here. And- as humans go- relatable-it reflects the bi-pedal nature of our most ancient technologies, the wagon, the travois- etc.
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