The new hive has a name!  I've called her "Thuja" which is Latin for cedar - the hive has a cedar shingle roof.  This photograph was taken about five days after they were installed in the hive showing the top bars from the inside (showing some wax) and a lot of bees!  When I was transferring the bees from the nuc to the hive I would swear that I saw Artemis's original queen.  She did have a bright blue dot on her!

From June 1st through the 16th 2.22 inches of rain has fallen in Seattle.

It's wet and gloomy today and I'm back to feeding the bees.  They are very disinclined to go out and forage.  Feeding the top bar hive required a bit more carpentry.  David cut out another follower board with a notch cut out of the bottom edge.  The tray of the Boardman feeder slips through that notch and into the hive.  It seems that this will work quite well and "foreign" bees won't be able to get to the food without actually entering the hive.  I used a Boardman feeder with Artemis and a baggie feeder with Demeter.  I'm going to try making my own Boardman type feeder.  I know that a lot of beekeepers don't like that style of feeder, thinking that it encourages robbing.  I like them because I don't have to open the hives to replenish the syrup.

I also gave each hive a homemade Varroa mite grease pattie.  Gary the Bee Guy suspects that Varroa mites are causing some of the bees to have "K wing" (the wings on each side separate and the bee can't fly well or fly at all).

When the sun does come out they are all over the place, zooming about and making up for lost foraging time.

June 29th - I've changed the top bar hive's name to "Minerva" - much more appealing, and I have to keep with the goddess theme.