More Soap

I made two batches today, because a friend gave me an empty container. =)

As usual, as soon as I added the Washing Soda, the mild simmer turned into a raging boil (Great band name, the "Raging Boils". Wait, maybe not.) and boiled over all over. Blech. The laundry detergent has a pretty thick consistency, so cleaning it up was nauseating.

Lumpy soap:

Second batch. I managed to skip the messy over boiling this time, but...

I let it cool a little too long before putting it in the bottles. Mmm! Chunk of soap, anyone?

Warmed it up again and stirred. Managed to bottle it. Whew!

This Past Weekend

Venture Crew fund raiser time! We're selling Poinsettias to raise money for the scuba trip this summer. We've already done a bake sale, and the kids are planning a babysitting night, so parents can get out of the house to get holiday shopping done.

Not My Boyfriend came over, they played with fire and watched X-Files.

Sorry about the picture, he tends to hide when the camera comes out... He doesn't always look so derpy.

See? Derp.

Thanksgiving and Stuff

So Thanksgiving was had, it was easy and great! I knew it would be, because I picked it up at Boston Market!

Then "Not My Boyfriend" was coming for a visit, so a cake was made. 0_o Really?

Finally, I missed the last class, but I have a couple of the pieces that I made, they just need to be soaked in hot water and the one, sewn up into a bag.

The long one came with the loom that we bought, I've just finished it. Erin wants it as a belt.

Sorry! I just noticed that I never posted this! Here it is, better late than never. =/

Last Two Done

Well, I guess you can tell that I haven't been here for awhile. =/

Front hive:

Small cluster but they look fine.

Trouble! No honey, just nectar.

Should I combine this hive with another?

Closed the hive up, and put on the mouse guard.

Next hive:

Whoa. Many more bees here!

And honey too!

But will there be enough to carry them through the winter?

Would there be enough, if I combined the other hive with this one?

I'd have to find the queen, and I think they may have replaced her. =/

Closed up and done, guarded from the mice. Still a little mad at me, but they calm down quickly.

Pulled a few weeds while I was there. Looks much better. It's the hive on the left that has honey. I also don't like how the tops don't sit flat with the sugar board in. Imirie shims are on order to fix that.

Four Done, Two To Go

Sheesh, look at those weeds!

Today I'm working on the hives at the Walkers'. Opened up the hive on the right, only a few bees here.

Not too bad when you're inside the hive.

But, there's no honey. None.

There is some nectar, but I'm going to need to watch and feed these bees heavily over winter.

Sugar board on top, mouse guard on, and done. =) Halfway finished!

Second hive, similar to the first when I first peeked...

Plenty of bees.

And, oh my gosh, honey!

Thank goodness! Maybe I should combine these two hives to over winter?

After the mouse guard, and done. Two-thirds of the way finished. =D

Oh, and I pulled some weeds too. =) I don't really like how the sugar is propping the hive open, I'm going to try to make or buy Imirie shims, so that there will be enough space inside for sugar boards.

Putting the Bees to Bed

 So last week, my little girl was in the school play. =)

 Followed by a cold. Apparently, it something that most of the cast got. =(

 But today, I started putting my bees to bed for the winter. I'm a little late, I know, but better late than never! I had to wait until around 1 in the afternoon for the temperature to get above 50 degrees, so I didn't freeze my girls. I brought mouse guards, bottom boards, and sugar blocks. (in the bag)

 Starting on the Wild hive, I opened it and removed the syrup feeder, and this is what I saw:

 Top super, full of honey! Yay! Middle and bottom supers have nothing. No bees, no nothing.

 Bottom board is on and, after removing the empty supers, here's what's left:

 Next, we move to Dave's girls. Open the top, lift the syrup feeder, aaannd... Nothing? Uh-oh!

 Oh, here's the reason why. They just hate the queen excluder. I think next year, I'll put them under the hives. See if that stops them from swarming.

 This is the shallow super, the one that the wax kept melting out of. They've fixed it up, but none of it is straight. I popped that poky-out bit off, and pushed the larger waves down a bit. I would have pulled the frames, and replaced them for next year, but this shallow is where they have all their stored honey.

 The deep has nothing stored, but it was full of bees. Unlike the other hive.. So, I left it there with the shallow honey super. I don't think that they will have enough food for winter, I'll have to feed them as often as I can.

 This is a deep frame, just an inch of honey on one side, and empty cells beneath.

 Here's a better shot of that frame. So very empty.

 After the extra supers were removed, bottom boards put on, and sugar candy boards put on- I screwed on the mouse guards. Not a bad day. =)

 I was asked while I was there why I was taking away the empty boxes, so I thought I'd share here too. 

 Since bees generate their own heat, it's easier for them to heat a smaller space rather than a larger empty one. Think of a small space heater in a large room, doesn't do much good there, does it? But that same small space heater will work wonders for warming up a small bathroom.

 If they had honey stores in several supers, I would have left them on. As they would walk around, eating that honey all winter. But heating an empty space for no return, just makes them work harder and use more of their stored honey for no good reason.

 Hopefully, next week will be warm enough to go tuck in the rest of the hives!