We finished the latest round on the bee circuit last Friday. That did involve getting the truck stuck at one location at the bottom of a long hill, but fortunately the landowner was near at hand with his tracked skid steer from our friends at Caterpillar. That was a very short term holdup, and I didn't have to worry about the bees longing for their carb infusion for several more days. This pallet is looking quite nice as we get them fit for winter and pull the Apiguard cards.

Toasty Fall Bees The highs are only 40s-50s Fahrenheit these days, so feeding will slow down somewhat in hives that don't have a strong population. Indoor heating tanks or dropping an immersion heater into the tank is very helpful for the bees to ingest and store their gift food. This year I got a couple of IBCs that I can keep warmish.

Climate Control is Our Friend! Andrew Loves Empty IBCs! There are basically two more rounds with the bees before everything is shipshape for 2018, but things look fairly solid so far. As usual there are a few locations that raise some doubts, but as long as we get another round of healthy brood they have a good chance. Their condition after one more month will suggest our odds a little more clearly.