Autumn Asters, Mouse Guards and Enemies

We are almost midway through October here in West Michigan.  We are still enjoying seventy degree days on occasion and have been basking in the warm autumn sunshine.  Asters are still blooming for the bees, but nights are getting chilly with temperatures down in the forties.  Time to put mouse guards on the hives.  Not only do the mouse guards keep out mice, but they also reduce the entrance  to help ward off  yellow jackets and other pests that are trying to gain access at this time of year.

Honeybee on white Aster

Honeybee on white Aster

Honeybee on light purple aster

This forager is older, see her frayed wings. 

I like these mouse guards from Dadant because you can slide them open or closed and make the entrance smaller or larger. As it gets colder you can reduce the entrance to only four holes.

This is my smaller hive that had a late August queen. I am going to pull some frames of honey from another hive and place those frames on the sides or I could place the frames right above the brood frames in a box above them.  I am feeding them syrup right now until they can't take it down anymore because of the cooler temps.  People have had a decent amount of success overwintering nucs, which is really what this hive is going into winter.  I will have to wait and see how it turns out. 

This is how I am feeding syrup to the weaker hive, Mason jars inverted over the hole in the inner cover. 

This is a gallon of feed I set outside my door before bringing it to the hive to feed. It was not even open and these girls plus the nasty yellow jacket found it within minutes. Do NOT leave any open syrup  and or honey out this time of year.  With decreased forage around, honeybees are very susceptible to robbing either by yellow jackets, hornets or other honeybees. I have not yet witnessed robbing and I don't want to! Watching you tube videos of it is horrible, I can't imagine seeing my own bees in  a worked up, frenzied state of robbing.