It's a little late in the season, but I finally was able to get out to the bee yard and get the hives ready for winter. On my end, I checked to make sure the bees had enough honey stored to make it through winter and/or to plan how much emergency feed I might need to provide in January or February. I also added wintering covers - which are inner covers made of wood and which have a cutout in the center. This cutout, combined with a bee entrance in the cover, provides for a "chimney" effect that will channel moist air inside the hive up and out the top. This means moisture will be trapped a moisture board which will prevent condensation from forming. It also helps to provide a little bit of insulation through the winter. Although, as the old saying goes, "cold bees don't die - cold and wet bees die."
Here's a video of one of the hives and some pictures of what we did in the bee yard over the weekend.
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