Weather bombs and bees

Is there a weather bomb heading our way?
I wish the forecasters could make their minds up!!!

Its a bit of a worry.  The bees have been super active for a long time into November so its a bit of a guess to know how much honey is left in the hive, as they've probably been nibbling their way through loads of it to give them energy to fly.

So now that the winter really does seem to have arrived for real I was getting a bit worried that they might not have enough food to snuggle down into a cluster and huddle their way through the rest of the winter.  There was nothing else for it.  Today had to be the day to check the hives for stores.

As soon as the hives were open I remembered my school girl error from back in September...

In a moment of distraction I left the eke's on the hives.  The eke's were there to create a gap for the Varroa treatment, but when it was done I (stupidly) left them there, briefly thinking;

"That'll make feeding them easier come winter, I'll just be able to pop some fondant under the crown board".

Except of course the bees had other ideas, and thanks to the long warm autumn they have filled the gap with brace comb...

I have four hives...with lots and lots of wild brace comb.

It may look really pretty...

But it makes the hives next to impossible to go through is it would cause too much disturbance to the bees.  The good news is that it is mostly filled with honey so the bees do have plenty to eat!

So I just chipped away...

yes...chipped away -its amazing how fragile and brittle bees wax is in the cold....

Some of the excess comb where the bees either hadn't filled it of had eaten it already....

..and I snuggled some fondant into the gap...

So if they get peckish, or just fancy a sugar rush they can tuck in.

Bring on the bad weather - the bees are ready for it!!!