Slow posting this summer was too busy with the church youth and pushed this to the back burner. I replaced my queen when I saw a lot of queen succession cells so that I would have a known breed as queen. I have harvested some honey and a fair amount of honey in comb from the hive this year.

I look forward to splitting the hive in the spring and making two full hives and buying a bee package or swarm for a third hive. I think I will stick at only 3 hives.

That will give me plenty of work to do but also let me make my own queens if one dies. I can say as I approach the end of my first summer as a beekeeper that it is fairly easy to do and enjoyable. I was able to get my kids involved and while they were not as enthusiastic as I am they did think it was neat to see the bees. Here is a shot of me checking the hive for those of you less fortunate who do not get to do this yourself :)

I have moved the full super closest to the hive body so that the winter cluster can migrate upward easily to the full honey frames. I put a small wedge in the back of the hive top to allow for gentle air circulation and hopefully to release excess hive moisture. I have not reduced the hive entrance because they are still working hard on golden rod honey. This honey has a unique smell and flavor that my kids at youth seem to love (at least the ones brave enough to taste it :) ).