Ethel R.I.P.
It is final. She's gone. All of the activity that I saw happening in Ethel the last few weeks was just robbing by the other hives.I took the top off and there were no bees (except for a few scavengers) in the frames and all the comb was clean of honey. I should have harvested when I could. It took a few months for all of the bees to die and then the robbers cleaned it out. I thought that there must have been a queen because there were so many bees, even if I didn't see one.If the weather is good this weekend I will break up the hive and clean out he dead bees. Technically I should not reuse any of the hive parts, but my other bees have been all through it

It's cold and wet and Ethel is hanging in there
I think that the bees are done for the summer and will not be foraging much. We've been down near freezing a few nights and will have a good killing frost any day now. I think this is a week earlier than usual.I have to figure the best way to feed the bees this fall to help them make it through the winter. I have reducers on the entrances to keep the cold air out. I pushed in the bottom boards all the way, but I am wondering if there isn't a better way to keep drafts out of the bottom of the hives. I have heard of piling leaves around the hives. I might get some mulch and pile it up covering the base of the hives. (I have them on three layers of bricks to raise them up off the g

More on the Ethel hive
Last time I wrote that I was putting in a bee escape in the Ethel hive. I have been concerned about Ethel's viability. (I put the escape in correctly with the diamond side down.)I just don't know what to think anymore.The Bee escape was a bust. I went back a few days later and took out the escape. The top super, still full of honey, was still full of bees. The escape was clogged with dead bees. There is obviously something wrong inside of Ethel.The top super is still chock full of bees. I took out the queen excluder. Every time I take the lid off, the area above the top board has many actively moving bees. I can see down through the hole that the top supe