Boy is it hot out there, especially in full garb. But my new goatskin gardening gloves worked really well. I could feel things (no squished bees) and yet protected me well. What a difference in hives - they continue to amaze me. The "Zen " girls are into sealing everything WELL. It took a bit of effort to pop the top cover off even, usually that is a breeze. I gave them a new deep super with 10 frames to fill with honey they will keep for the winter. Surprisingly, their shallow honey super was quite heavy which means filled with honey. I returned it above the deep super and will go and take it after they decide to focus on the super below. They say this not kosher but the girls are very adaptable.
Switch the deep super and the shallow honey super on the "Attitude" hive also. Their hive was hardly sealed at all so it was easy in and out. Their shallow super is loaded down with honey too, ready for a harvest. It was too hot and I did not have time. Since I do not have a "honey house" I need to close off the kitchen from the dog and cats, clean the surfaces and floor, set up the trays to cut off the wax caps off the comb and set up the frames to drain. It is a mess.
Also, you need to brush off all the bees the frames before taking it inside (obvious) and if you the wagon with the honey frames, the bees recover them trying to take the honey back. That was a hard lesson to learn my first year. So you need to be ready to harvest.
The honey is fine on the hive until you are ready. I am limited in equipment so I need the super to reuse. This means about 80 lbs of honey- 40 lbs from each shallow super. I cut all the comb off since I use shallows who do not spin well in the extractor. It means the fall harvest will happen only if the girls are ambitious making new comb. I don't use a deep super because they are around 80 lbs to lift when full of honey.
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