Second Super Goes On

On Tuesday I looked into the hive for the first time since returning.  I forgot that I had put on the inner cover and was startled lifting off the outer cover and having only a small slice through which bees were visible.  I was AMAZED when I lifted that off and saw how many bees were in the hive now.

When I left, I recall 6 frames being drawn out, but now there were plenty of bees on about 8 of the 10 frames.  Things that I noticed as changed or increased since I left in early June:

Bees zoomed across the back yard, bees hovered around the entrance to the hive, a cluster of bees sat on the landing board, sucking moisture out of the wood and cleaning the porch, in a way.

Inside, the tabs on the ends of the frames were glued together with propolis - a sticky resinous substance made by the bees to plug up gaps and strengthen the structure of their hive.  

Some of the frames had burr comb connecting them together, and I had to sever those cells and remove them from the hive so that I could continue to manipulate the frames.