Late Summer Bees

Summer is winding down and the bloom is definitely off the rose.  There is just not much blooming right now so I decided to go out and check on the bees and see how they're set for food.

The strong hive seemed to have a decent amount of honey, but the the split and the nuc didn't seem to have a whole lot.

From 2015-08-10

These are the frames I bought from a local guy who traps bees for a hobby.  They looked pretty good in his yard, so I'm hoping they'll take when I combine them with one of my weak hives that appeared to be queenless.

From 2015-08-10

I also decided it would be good to start feeding the weaker hives so they can stock up some stores for winter.  I've been experimenting with top feeders (shown below) which dedicate the food for the weak hives but require more visits and manual work.

From 2015-08-10

As opposed to a community feeder which can be left for longer periods of time but has no protection for weaker hives.

From 2015-08-10

At this point, I'll probably continue to do a mixture of both.