Hot Stuff

Some beekeepers listen for life inside their hives using a stethoscope but I am a fancy beekeeper thanks to a super thoughtful gift sent to us by our friends, Liam and Nina. We now have a wicked thermal camera that works with one of Ian's old phones.  It helps me "see" what is going on inside our bee hives when it is too cold out to do inspections.

Today I put the bees to bed for the winter, so it was the perfect time for a thermal look.

Hive 1

Hive 2

Hive 3

Hive 4

Hive 5

I was a bit surprised when I popped open Hives 2 and 3 to see bees right up at the very top of the hive.  I had intended to put quilt boards under the inner cover to help collect moisture and insulate the hive for winter but there were hoards of bees lining the underside of the inner cover.  Typically I would expect the bees to be down low in the hives since the cluster is supposed to work its way up from the bottom over the course of the winter as they eat up their honey stores.  I sure hope the bees in Hives 2 and 3 are smart enough to work their way down their hives instead since that is where all their food is! 

I am not sure how effective it will be but I ended up putting the quilt board on top of the inner cover instead of underneath it in order not to squash a ton of bees.  I figure that if they have made it this far, who am I to flatten them now?  There is nothing I can do about it now except be grateful that there is a colony alive in each of my hives going into winter.  I sure hope that they make it to spring.  I am pretty excited to be able to keep an eye on them over the next several months and see how the clusters move and change over time.

Thanks again Liam and Nina, this is one super handy tool for a Canadian beekeeper!