A Lot I Know

This is how my hive looks and I waqs very happy with it. Then I was at LA Honey and as I waited I was talking to another Backwards member and pointed to the piece I used as top cover and referred to it as a something she might need. Ahem came the cough from Larry behind the counter. "That is a fume board not a cover, they are at the end of the shelf." Oops, at least I had admitted to be a new beek so I was not really embarassed but I did add a cover to my purchases.


When I got around to replacing the top with a proper cover last night it was later than I really wanted but I knew rain was in the forecast so I did it anyway. There were only random bees flying into the hive and they were quite calm as I took time to shoot a couple pictures. The bees are expanding their work in the upper hive box. I do not plan on looking deeper until they are better established at that level.



When I was checking last week (in better light) they seemed very happy doing their work. I like the way they line up along the edge to watch.



When I put the real cover on a good number of bees gathered on the front porch but they were all back in by the time I had removed my bee suit.


Now the bees are properly covered and the new cover extends down over the sides of the upper super. I will hang onto the fume board. I do not expect to need ir for its designed purpose but it does leave the bees a little extra room when I use it and i do home to capture a swarm and added a second hive this Spring.. The fume board has a soft inner liner on the top. I believe it helps to remove or get rid of excess fumes during some processes when medicals are added or there is too much smoke. Since I don't use any medical products in the hive it is useless for that.
As with all of this, my education continues and the bees have better housing.