My bees have been nicely put to bed for winter. Mario had some extra winterization material so he graciously let me use it. Basically the hive is first wrapped in some roofing paper and a piece of 2" thick Styrofoam is placed on top. Then Mario has made some custom sheaths that provide a protective entrance that slips over the top of the hive. Once all of this is placed onto the hive it gets a final wrapping of bungee cord to ensure nothing blows away. Here is what the final winterized hive looks like:
Although there isn't much to do with the hive during winter there is plenty of other things to keep me busy. Some of the issues that beekeepers face during winter is storage of all the extra frames of wax and supers. Because I crushed and strained my frames of honey I'm glad that I don't have any extra wax frames. Large producers have to be concerned with pests that like to use these frames for food or nesting. Wax moths can make quick work of destroying nicely drawn frames. Ants are always a pest and I have even had to ward them off in my garage. I wasn't however prepared for mice. Mice like to make nests in stored supers and also in active hives. If you don't reduce the entrance of the hive mice will take advantage of the warmth generated by the bees. The bees are too concerned with keeping warm to chase the mice out, as the mice get comfortable they will start chewing up all the wax.
While organizing my equipment I found this
I would assume it was either trying to find some place to sleep or was trying to eat the spilt honey. Unfortunately I think it got entombed in the honey and subsequently died there. I will save everyone the tale of removing a soft squishy mouse encased in taffy like honey.....it wasn't pretty. I've since properly stored my equipment to hopefully avoid such death traps.
I'll try to update everyone with any interesting information about beekeeping throughout the winter.