Quote Originally Posted by BleeckerSt_Girl View Post
yet a dozen or so have died this morning on the ground around the hive-
Chances are - those dead bees were already dead when you set up the hive. Bees often do 'house cleanning' - particularly when it starts to get cold. They move all the dead bees out of the hive before they get it all set up for winter. It's extremely common to find small piles of dead bees outside the hive entrance as the temps start to drop.

Those are some beautiful photos!


My H and I attended two classes at our local bee suppliers location this past weekend. We took a soap making class in the AM and then a candle making one in the PM. Man...that beeswax is some handy stuff, isn't it? I'm really looking forward to 'harvesting' some next year. My H can have the honey...I want the wax! This year, we took only one frame of honey and we are not feeding our bees this winter. They did very, very well this year and really built up a beautiful supply. If all goes well, we'll buy/build a second hive in the spring.