Bee Stings Bring out the Suits

 Up until now I've been in checking out the hives without any bee equipment on & I've been really proud of myself that I haven't been stung. But the day before we brought home more hives, Jesika & James had both been stung a total of three times. So rather than push my luck, I decided that it was time to get the suit on & not sweat it. The suits are cumbersome & very hot...& I must say that I really hate wearing gloves for anything.  

Chris & Leah overseeing hive maintenance.
  

Bees are trying to get the honey back after we took the top off the comb.

Checking for mites...don't see any...at least not yet...

Ants are back. Persistent little devils started a nest. They must have cleared out all the cinnamon. So we had to replace the top for fear that they'd be back if we kept it. Maybe ants have pheromones like the bees do. No sense taking a chance.

This is the underside of the ant nest.

Adding a super to the hive to give us some time to do a split in a couple of weeks.

This is the top after we shook the bees off. We had to replace it in order to get rid of the ant nest.