Stopped supplemental feeding

Tonight I decided to take the sugar syrup feeders off the top of the hive - it was dusk. I went to the hives with a brush and a hive tool with intention to take the feeders off and to remove the feeder boxes.

So I put on my veil/jacket, GLOVES (after the sting on the finger debacle), and headed over there.
I opened the top, took off the jar feeders and prepared to remove the screen/frame which separates the feeder jars from the top of the bars.

Then I realized that the bees were ready to defend their honey so I decided to run up and get the smoker.
Run is a misnomer...more like hobbled to the garage.  (yes hobbled - see xray below) - this occurred the day after the bee sting - can you believe it?

I limped back (the rubber boots squish my toe) and smoked the top and pulled off the screen. Lo and behold, the fabric flap doesn't fit anymore because the bees have eaten some of the fabric, so I couldn't just replace the flap. I had to go back to the garage to get the original cloth which covers the top bars (and is solid without a flap cut in it). Again limped and hopped to the garage and back. Now it's getting dark, by the way.

Smoked the hives and pulled the old cloth off and replaced with the intact top-bar cover cloth. Then replaced the quilt box and the roof. There were bees attached to the screens and the hive cloth so I had to brush them to the entrance board to get them to go "home."

This is what the feeders look like - when the jars get removed, there is a screen under the jar lid and the bees cannot get through the screen but they can lick the syrup through the screen as it drips from the holes in the lids.




This is the view from below - the way the bees would see the feeders :)

A couple of bees stuck to my veil all the way up to the house then they flew back to the hive. All went well, let's hope the upcoming nectar flow is enough for them. I have 4 more boxes on the way to expand my hives.

In case you don't have the concept, here is an exploded view of the Warre hive (I currently have only 3 hive boxes on):



So that's the 8 1/2 week update. I'm also concerned that there may be swarm cells forming (i.e. queen cells being developed so the queen can swarm with half of the hive, if they are getting overcrowded). But I'm not sure. That's why I've ordered more boxes to give them more room to expand. Hopefully, I will enlarge the hive in time!