I was on my morning walks on the local state trails and have found Asters blooming everywhere. The are a small headed flower. The bees do work them.
Don't expect much more nectar to come into your hive. If your top deep box is not full of honey, you need to feed now.
If your top box is not all drawn out and only partially full and if your hive setup is three deep, remove that top deep and winter the hive in two deep.
A hive should never go into the winter with a partially filled top box. As winter progresses the bees move up from the lower box. If they move into the partially filled box, there will be insufficient stores for winter and they will starve. Once the bees move up, they will not move down to get honey in the winter. If the hive is a three deep hive and not drawn out, the odds are, the middle box may have more honey. Remove the top deep and take any frames of honey and put them in the middle box. Feed the bees if the hive still needs food. The weather will be cooling off soon and the bees will not take syrup very well when it starts getting into forties.
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| Asters come in a variety of colors |
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| On the state trail near Stillwater |
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| Near the St Croix river on the state trail |