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Hive Inspection

***edited to add. This posting was one of five that didn't quite make the publishing floor in "the year of our move". I'm retracing my steps and thought this one may be of some use to folks.****

We've had an influx of yellow jackets in and around the new homestead. It seems, Northeast Ohio has had an increase in yellow jackets this October.

Our colony split just a few weeks ago. As it turns out, very poor timing for this lot!

As family gathered on the back porch to celebrate my awesome niece's birthday, it occurred to me that there were yellow jackets (read hornets) coming and going from the general direction of the top bar hive.

WE HAD BEEN INVADED!

There was a literal massacre of honey bees going down, right under my nose. The recently split colony wasn't strong enough to fight off the onslaught of aggressors.

I pulled the hefty bars of honey. We stored the maticulous bars of drone comb in the freezer. And we bedded the hive down for another year of learning in 2018.

How did your bee season go? Wins? Losses? Learning? I'd love to hear it.

You can find me here. Licking the nectar of the gods from my fingertips. Thankful that even in grievous loss, there is a golden lining. I'm sorry, sweet bees. I'm sorry I wasn't faster to observe the threat. We will do better next round.

Godspeed this winter, ladies.











#topbar #beekeeping #topbarbeehive #honeybees #beekeeper #ladiesofthehive

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