CRISIS AVERTED!
Tremendously happy to report the ladies survived the no good thievin' yellow jacket bastages! Grace and I did a full hive inspection today, and the bees were docile & unperturbed by our presence. They just worked away while we gently poked around the hive.
This is a frame thick with capped honey. The bees will nosh on this to get them through the winter.
And this frame has capped honey at the top with additional honey that's in production below.
One thing has become very clear to me: we ain't getting no excess honey this year. The weather here is starting to turn cooler, and the bees still have not fully built out all of the frames to store their winter supplies. Going to add some sugar syrup to the hive to stimulate some additional building activity. My #1 goal this year has always been to develop a strong colony that's able to over-winter. Harvesting a bit of excess honey was always seen as a bonus for this year.