Condencation Cover

Just as the tital says, I supered the hive on Sunday. Things have been a little hectic with school so I haven't had much time to update this blog. Anyways, it was a cold day so I only had enough time to take off the cover and super the colony. I'm hoping to do an inspection this comming Sunday. Who knows...they may have even drawn some comb by then. When I was putting the super on, the second I took off the cover a few drops of water came off. I gave it a hard shake away from the hive and at least a cup[ of water sheeted off. I was a little bit concerned about condencation as a result of cold temperatures and the humidity of ripening honey but, I didn't think it would become an issue. I fixed the problem by proping the cover up about 1/8" with two twigs and hopefully, that will alow water vapor to escape out of the hive rather than condencing on the cover, dropping down and chilling the bees. It's actually been cool at night to flash a flashlight at the crack and see a little stream of steam float out. It's deffinately not big enough to cause concern for heat loss. If the bees don't like it they can readily fill it up with propolis. I haven't checked on the russian hive for a while and, to be honest, I'm not looking forward to it. They're ill tempered, skitish, run on the comb, ball into "buzzing taffey" and just aren't that pleasent. Maybe I'll be able to requeen this year. That's another entry for another day.