Breathing Room

Finally, the heat wave broke. I went in this morning to make adjustments to the porch hive which was out of space again. First, an observation. Some of the bees were clustered around the entrance trying to keep warm. I think this happens when there is not enough space inside and also perhaps when it is too warm in the hive. They'll start flying when it warms up.
There were bees on the bottom screen, so they are escaping again. I brushed them off and out the window. They were groggy this morning, so a lot went in a container and I dumped it out the window. Then I closed the hatch on the bottom until I can add another screen. I didn't suit up - they were not aggressive.
Next, I did suit and dealt with the feeder area which has become a morgue. The bottom was littered with dead bees. The live ones flew out and I swept the dead ones into the pan and out the window.
Finally, I was ready to add more bars - I decided on 4. I pried the end bar loose. Not easy, because, in addition to being sealed with propolis, there was a lot of comb. When they build comb for honey, they get sloppy and the comb goes on an angle, crosses bars, and is otherwise not uniform like it is with brood comb. Very few came out. I put in the 4 bars and returned the end bar with almost zero disturbance. What I did find was that they were filling the comb with honey. I don't know what the proporation might be between brood and honey, but my guess is that there could be 15 bars of honey stored! Could be a harvest this year, although at least they shouldn't starve in the winter.
The yard hive may be a little over 1/2 the size of the porch hive. I think it's having trouble with lack of sun and too much moisture. Whatever the reason, the porch location seems far better than the yard.