Ohh….this year our winter started much earlier than normal. Typically, the first snow we experience in the great ole Front Range area in Colorado is on Halloween. Somehow Mother Nature has stuck pretty close to this trend. As the …talk of the town tends to focus on when snow falls actually happens. Wow it didn’t….snow this Halloween or yeah, I couldn’t even get my car out of Boulder Halloween night, although, sometimes that later comment may not have so much to do with just the snow.

Well, this year we did not get snow on Halloween, but had 4 snows 1 of which fell to 2 feet, all before October 23^rd. I was not prepared for this and had to think fast to get my bees all warm a cozy for the quickly approaching winter.

I am a bee-guardian for the Back Yard Hive apiary in this little mountain village where I live, a few miles from Boulder Colorado. We have a lot of bears here, so instead of installing an electric fence in my own yard, to keep these ruthless honey hunters out of my hive, I decided to place my lovely buzzing pollinating friends at a friend’s land 10 miles away, in Boulder town USA. This was a win-win situation for both of us, her family’s apple and pear trees became overwhelmingly abundant, and they had more veggies in their garden than you could shake a fist at; of course contributed by her fabulous green thumb as well as our buzzing buddies.

This year, I did not have the oh so convenient access to the plastic roofing bags and R-19 insulation right before the temperature was expected to drop for a few days. But on my friends land I did have access to plenty of pink isolative foam. With the help of my friend’s boyfriend, we constructed a simple and inviting hive fortress, although this is not as pleasing to look at as my ideal choice the Coffelt hive duvet (next year, perhaps). The hive fortress definitely gave me an alternative to the fiberglass insulation. Cool thing is this lifts right up for easy access into the hive and window, and also goes right to the ground, allowing insulation for the bottom of the hive from the wind. There is also added insulation on the sides for the brood nest. I just have to keep it weighted down by a large quartz rock. I think this fortress will keep them very warm and comfortable this winter. And for me the comfort of my friend’s apple pies are holding me over until our honey harvest this spring.
-Lacey the bee guardian.

We were recently in Apsen, Colorado for an interview on their Grassroots TV cable station.
Brook Levan from Sustainable Settings in Carbondale interviewed Corwin about the importance
sustaining the genetics of the local honeybees!!
Click here to view the interview!

Sustainable Settings Interviews Corwin Bell

Here is a description of harvesting honey. Remember in the summer time when the days are really hot, you’ll want to work the hive in the cool hours in the morning or evening as the comb is fragile in the heat. Morning hours are best as the comb has cooled down over night. We have to start at the back of the hive and detach the brace comb one comb at a time. To begin, remove the false back from the back of the hive. If the bees have attached comb to the false back we will need to slide the top bar hive tool in-between the false back and the last comb to remove the attachments. When the false back is free we will have full access to the combs and can now detach the next comb with the top bar hive tool. The first comb from the back of the hive is now in full view. We can lightly touch the bees with the tool, moving the tool along the location of the brace comb, usually the bees will move out of the way, clearing a path for you to slide the hive tool along the sides of the hive. When the brace comb has been detached from the sides of the hive we will gently pry the bar from the top of the hive. The bar will be held in place with propolis and may need a bit of steady force. Here we are careful not to vibrate or jar the hive, which will alarm the bees.

Once the bar seems free we will do a test by gently sliding the bar back and watching to see that the comb is coming with the bar. If the comb seems to be tilting at an angle or there appears to be some resistance, stop and check the perimeter of the comb and loosen any unseen attachments. Sometimes the comb is attached at the bottom, slide the hive tool along the bottom to loosen the attachment. Now slowly lift the comb out. You can set the comb in a milk crate with the bees on it. Then close up the hive and and walk away with the comb you harvested and brush off the bees.

We’ve created a new hive tool for the top bar! Finally a sturdy tool
to detach comb from the sides of the hive and pry top bars loose all in one tool. Plus it looks good! We figured that the top bar hive deserved a tool with a little
class. We were feeling left out since there are so many tools
to buy for the traditional hives we wanted a tool for the top bar hives!

We really do love using this tool and are surprised we didn’t come up
with it sooner. It really makes a difference when working the top bar hive.

It’s made of forged steel and brass.
Pry top bars apart with the forged end.
Scrap comb and brace comb off the sides of the hive.

Order the hive tool at our Shop

See the hive tool inaction below in this video.

Because each comb in the top bar hive is attached with wax to the sides, we cannot just take out any comb in the middle of the hive because we may tear the delicate comb. The attachment is called brace comb. If your top bar hive has a window the combs are easily identified by the amount of brace comb attached to the window. Brace comb is how the bees ensure the stability of the combs. The brood comb will have much smaller brace comb attachments then the heavy honey combs. This is one of the ways you can tell were the brood comb is verses the honey comb.