Sunday 13th September
We didn't have much time today so I went on my own to remove the empty Thymol packs. Usually my wife is holding the frames while I mess about taking photos (she's very good-natured about this, even after 18 months!) so I had to do all the hard work myself this time!
I didn't take time to do an inspection at all, just whipped the empty packs off and estimated how much feeding they'd need to get them ready for the winter.
Both supers were in a similar state, quite a bit of stored honey but still plenty of empty cells. I reckon a good week of feeding them sugar syrup and their stores should be full enough to see them through.
This time last year I was feeding them huge quantities of sugar to boost their stores but this year they have managed to build up better stores of their own (this year the colonies had to start from scratch at the start of May whereas the year before they'd had to start from the same situation at the end of June!)
