Time for a short update

It seems like it has been a while since my last update.  This will be a short one because things are pretty much ready for the new bees and it isn't warm enough to deal with a special project I have planned for the McFadden colony.

That project is to split the McFadden colony making two colonies out of one.  We'll learn more about splitting hives in the not too distant future.  Before I can split the colony I will need to move the 4 wild frames of comb (comb built without frames in the middle of the box) into frames.  This needs to happen so that I can work the hive with relative ease when it comes time to split the colony.

In the meantime I built this handy little 5-frame nuc box.   Because of its size the nuc box heats and cools much more efficiently than a standard hive and is therefore a better match for a very small colony.  We'll move the colony out when they get too big for the nuc. 

I painted the nuc and three medium honey supers on Sunday afternoon.

By the way, the new bees arrive on Saturday the 20th!