Top Bar Beekeeping in Arlington Heights

Major beards the past few days which were in the record breaking 90's, but back to normal yesterday and last night (48F).  Barely any outside activity. All looks well.  Goldenrod smell has dissipated for the most part.

And got stung once, even with smoke.  Not happy about me taking that out apparently.  They were noticeably carrying bits of the fondant around the hive in their mouths, and all the edges were well chewed away.  Are they trying to dispose of it or use it?  They have plenty of honey, is this expected?  At the rate they were going, this bar would be gone in about a week.

Took out bar I had previously harvested completely -- they have no intention of building comb on it at this time. Cut a bulge out of the last honey bar, slid it over, and added the bar of fondant I made.  Basically the hive should be ready for winter now. As best I can tell they have at least 10 bars full of capped honey. Did not see any small hive beetles. Goldenrod still smells bad! Did this all without smoke or anything since there were very few bees in the honey area Bees started at least examining the fondant frame, not sure if they are actually eating it already or what.  Need to check again.

Including the one I harvested, so really 10.25 or so.  No doubt their numbers are decreasing, I can easily see all the honey bar centers, at least when they are foraging.  I will have to move the one bar out of the way.

Past few weeks, the hive has taken on a strong odor, like musty, yeasty, cheesy.  Just not exceptionally good.  But all activity looks great.  I have read that goldenrod nectar/pollen causes this, esp. in the fall when it blooms.  So it seems most nectar and pollen (bright orange) coming in must be goldenrod. Does your bee yard have a strange smell this fall? Are you wondering about that pungent smell emanating from your hives? What could it be? GOLDENROD is in bloom here in NE Ga. (Goldenrod, botanical name Solidago, is a genus of about 140 species of flowering plants in the asteraceae family.) The fields and roadsides are awash with the beautiful yellow color of this “weed”. Goldenrod and the late blooming asters provide a wondrous blooming finale for our nectar and pollen gathering little friends.  Goldenrod also provides the bee yard with a peculiar smell. It is different from the usual pleasant beehive smell. The first year ...

Mainly feasting on dead/dying drones on grounds, but at times trying to get into hive and quickly repelled!  I am hitting them with bug killer and blow torch when I can. Bar that I took out is not being built back up, at least to any noticeable extent, through the window. -- Definitely not.  I need to move it to the back of the hive or remove it completely. Cutting Styrofoam to put around hive. Not much to do otherwise.

Olivia's party started out with a bit of mist and light rain, which worried us that we might have to move inside.  But it did not last long and turned into a great, cool day. I setup one nearly fully capped bar into the observation hive a spent a lot of the part answering questions and showing the hive to everyone.  It was fun. After we ate, I too the observation hive near the main hive and took off the lid.  In about 10 minutes 90% of the bees had left to go back into the main hive, and I easily brushed off the rest. I cut up the comb into small pieces and let everyone taste.  They all enjoyed that!  Also gave some away to Melody, Barb, Craig, Dave, Mark and Ben.  Kept a very good amount for ourselves and replaced the cut bar into the hive.  Will have to check next week to see how they are building on it. All in all a good day.  For whatever keep up with the Joneses reason Dad wants a smart phone.  When asked why he never played with t...