It was cold and damp in the apiary today. After some discussion of our tasks for the day, we took off the jar feeders. We left one feeder on a hive the had two boxes and seemed to be still taking the food. Part of the reason for removing the feeders is to replace the tops that have the hole for the jar feeder with a solid "Winter" top. The solid tops do not let any water in, and leaking around the plug cover that goes in the hole has been observed. When we replaced the tops, it was cool to see the bees in a column underneath where the jar used to be. In some colonies there were lots of bees all inside the top box. I also heard lots of comments about how much condensation was in these hives, and maybe the PVC boards these tops are made of do not help these hives ventilate enough. We also pulled the robbing screens off of the front of hives. We inventoried the shims and sugar on hand for an upcoming sugar shim class.
- beekeeper