All wrapped up

The weekend after Thanksgiving I put some bee candy in the hives. I decided I was going to wrap them this year. It has been such a tough year for the poor girls I wanted to give them every chance I could to get them through the winter. But I forgot the staple gun and couldn't wrap them and tie them with twine at the same time so I had to wait for help. I probably could have if I would have thought about ratcheting the tiedowns around them, but I didn't so I was out there in the cold struggling to get the tar paper around them.

Last weekend Michele came with me and we were able to get them wrapped. It was at best 40 degrees and the GA bees were moving around and were on the candy. I figured they would be clustered. I really don't know why they weren't. The CA bees were in a nice tight cluster down deep in the hive with the faintest buzz and breath of warmth coming up. I know it was really too cold to have the hive open but I wanted to replace the hive bodies on top that I had used to cover the feeders with a smaller shim and it wasn't supposed to get warmer all week. But I had the inner cover open for only seconds so I think the trade-off was worth it. And now they are wrapped and snug with some nice candy for the winter.