Weatherproofing the New Construction

We've been weatherproofing the new construction.   

It's been interesting.

Last winter, we kept the cold out because the basic integrity of the old structure had been maintained and the new construction was over and around it.  

This year, however, we cut a giant hole in the ceiling so we could have inside stairs.   Those stairs had to go from the existing [and very short, 7' tall] 1st story ceiling, up through the space where old roof used to be, past where the new 2nd story floor is and up into the new 2nd story.  

See that pic at the top?   All that plywood on the sides of the stairwell is new wall where open air used to be between the old construction and new.   That air is still open in places to the great outdoors.   Also, there is about 12 inches between the new walls and the old walls.   You can see how thick that section is at the top of the pic next to the wall.  


Eric closed it all in and stuffed it full of batt insulation for now.    He sealed every seam with spray foam. 

Spray foam drips are oh, so elegant.  [Maybe I ought to spray them with glitter and call it holiday decorations?]

Another issue was that two rooms upstairs still have no drywall and are open into the roof.

These pieces of plastic are folded around each other in the middle so you can still get in and out, but air transfer is limited.   That will keep us fine until we have a chance to drywall those rooms or close off the ceilings and then install the roofing insulation.

The last big issue is two large window openings waiting for the last of the big windows to go into.   For now, those are closed up with insulation board.  

In addition, we need to install the duct-work from the furnace to the 2nd floor.  

We had our first real cold snap last week.   With some judiciously placed space heaters and fans to move the warm around, things stayed very comfortable.   With every new task done, things will get better.  

Our fall weather is reasonably mild but cooling through November.   By Thanksgiving we should have the duct-work in,  windows in, last two ceilings closed up, roofing insulation in and some of the other exterior openings-to-old-roof buttoned up as well.    I'm praying for a very mild fall and a lot of dry weekend weather.

Busy Bees

A quick look at our very busy beehives.    Blow the pic up for a better look at how many bees there were.   It's goldenrod flow time and the bee yard smells very strongly of goldenrod honey. 

Not much honey overall this year, but lots of bees.   Each colony needs lots of bees in the fall cluster to keep things warm until spring.  Every time I open a box and see it full of bees instead of just a few frames of bees, I am very, very happy. 

The hive with the yellow super seems to have quite a bit of honey in it.   Maybe the long hive with the orange super, too.  They get to keep their honey this year.    I'll take the empty supers off the hives next month and put candy on the hives..   That way everyone has plenty of feed for the winter.   Just in case.

Late December Bees

Here are the bees all skirted up for the winter.  I used leftover Typar from our many lumber deliveries lately.  And you can't see the plywood wind break on the right [north] side but that seems to have keep things a little more sheltered in that area this year.

Unfortunately,  the right hive has died already.   They weren't well in the fall and they quickly succumbed to the very cold spell we had in November and at the beginning of this month. 

The left hive is still OK.   Here is one chilly bee who came out one cloudy afternoon when it got up in the higher 40s. 

Here's hoping the hive lasts the winter.

If it doesn't, I'll be sad, but I'm covered.   I already ordered 2 packages [3 lbs each] from Kelly Bee for the spring.   I went with the unmarked Russian queens.   I've heard they're great and even lasted through last winter in this area. 

October Hive Inspection

As I mentioned in the September report, both of my colonies were full of bees, but zero honey.

The weather has been warm enough that the bees have had plenty of time to pack on some honey to fill their empty frames. In addition, I fed some 2:1 sugar water to help them out. 

Mouse Guards:
Last weekend, we put mouse guards on the entrances because our mice are sneaky and love the warmth and ready food available in winter hives.  The guards are just 1/2 inch hardware cloth, cut in a long strip, bent and stapled to the bottom board and box in a couple of places.   I've read that mice won't go in a hive with just the smallest entrance open like you see above, but I have personally seen mice in my hives with nothing but the small entrance, so I opted for extra guards this year.

The bees don't seem to mind, too much, but you can tell it gets in their way.   As soon as things get busy in the spring, I'll be popping them off.

The first thing I did in this inspection was to take off the feeders and extra empty shim boxes and then lift the hive [more of a tilt, actually] to see how heavy they were.   The goal is about 100 lbs in 2 boxes.  Since I only have one box per hive, I figured a good goal was 50 lbs.   The left hive was about that heavy but the right one was still very light.

Right Hive:
I opened this hive first.  As I suspected, there was almost zero honey, though I did see some nectar being worked over.   There were a few yellow jackets in there, which I killed.  I saw some dead bees on the bottom of the hive and a bunch on the ground in front of this hive.   I pulled the bottom board and saw that this hive had had some dysentery.  They had had dysentery earlier because one of their feeders of sugar water fermented.  As soon as I got them clean feed last time, the dysentery cleared right up. This time the dysentery wasn't as bad,  but I think it's enough to weaken the hive.  The colony numbers were down - there was just over half a deep box full of bees. I am concerned that this hive won't make it through the winter.  

I put a 4 lb bag of sugar on top of the frames, Mountain Camp style, put a 3 inch shim over that and battened down the hatches.  

Left Hive:
This hive had a few frames of honey and the box was full of bees.  It seems healthy.   It's got a shy queen - I looked over every frame but didn't see her.  They're still pulling in and storing a lot of pollen.   I really hope this hive makes it through the winter, because my feeling is that this queen is a keeper.   If they boom next year, I'd like to make a split.   These genetics seem good.

I put a 4 lb bag of sugar on these guys, too and sealed them up.

Notes:  
There were a lot of yellow jackets around the area and a few in each hive.  I'll put out more traps and see if I can't help get them under control.

Winterizing:
I'll be scooting the hives together and putting insulation around them next month.   In addition, I'll be putting bales of straw on end around 3 sides as a wind break.   They're also on gravel which should hold some heat during our frequent warm spells.

Here's hoping they both make it through this winter.