OK. I made a run to The Honey Exchange in Portland. I needed to get parts for more mediums, but I've been with visiting relatives all week so it was hard to figure out where to go to get stuff.
Fortunately, Phil is running a special where the assembly of a hive kit is free so this was just too good to pass up since I'm so short on time.
The kit has 5 mediums with frames and foundation, an inner cover, a telescoping outer cover, a slatted bottom board, a screened bottom board, and a hive stand with legs. Phil gets his hive parts from another source than Brown's Bee Farm where I got my other hive kits, and the boxes are more square, and the 'fit and finish' appears to be higher quality. I think they are a bit more expensive, but the assembly was a real treat. I don't have a fancy stapler which is what it appears that Phil uses. I'm guessing it's like a nail gun so putting things together is a snap. The only thing that isn't assembled is the foundation into the frames so I'll be doing that tonight so I can put more boxes on the hives.
The nuc hive is still working the 2 original boxes since the old queen swarmed. I see brood and honey so I'm hoping there is a queen in there somewhere.
The Happy hive has pretty much filled 3 boxes so I'll be putting another box on top tomorrow.
The Not-So-Happy hive is making great strides in its 3rd box so I'll be putting another box on top tomorrow.
Since I now have a couple of spare boxes along with a top and bottom and hive stand, I think I'll put out all of my 'spare parts' as an empty hive in case one of the hives decides to swarm. I still don't trust what I'm doing since I lost the old nuc queen. I'm not entirely sure I got rid of the other swarm cells in the hives so this may be a good plan.
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