Autumn has fallen deeply in this part of New Jersey. We have seen signs of frost on the rooftops in recent mornings. By now the hives’ brood rearing is minimal. A few colonies still have some capped brood but we are beginning to see tighter clusters. On each sunny afternoon, we chose a yard to inspect for winter readiness. We have been adding feeders to the light weight colonies, adding mouse guards, topping oil in the hive beetle traps and adding solid bottom boards where needed.
We have high hopes for our bees this winter. Now that Ed has retired, we can now focus on growing the number of hives and increasing our production of honey. About a month ago a water pipe broke in our upstairs bathroom and flooded most rooms in our house. Our daily life has been disrupted – right now we are using the kitchen sink when we need to clean up and brush our teeth. This is the ending of the third week of renovations by our contractor. Both bathrooms have needed to be repaired and today we are getting a storage container so we can temporary move three rooms of furniture out of the house. We hope to have all the repairs completed by Thanksgiving.
