We're all abuzz

Cousin Luke and I got into the hive yesterday to inspect and set it up for fall and winter. What we found was excellent: two full brood chambers, and plenty of stores for winter.

You'll notice that the top chamber is a bit forward of the bottom one. This was so that the bees didn't have to go through the bottom one to get to the top frames. At the back we put a piece of wood to cover the hole.

We removed the super from the top, the wood from the back, and put the top brood chamber back over the bottom one. This sounds easy enough, but the bees had those things sealed up tighter'n Dick's hat band. That and the fact that the top brood chamber was about fifty pounds.

you can see here where the little bitches have been working their stingers off drawing out the frames and filling the tops with honey (which we tried, and it was gooooooood).

Here's cousin Luke with the smoker next to the double-stack hive.

Neither of us were stung, but it was nerve wracking at times trying to keep my cool around the open hive as a mosquito found its way into my bonnet before I put it on.