I picked up 2 hives last week from a local who does not have enough forage to support the number of hives he has. they were light enough that i easily carried them by myself. i put a division board feeder in each hive. they are emptying the feeders daily. is there anything else i need to do to build them up for winter? i pulled some frames & did see some larva & eggs & a little pollen they are just light on honey. i extracted honey yesterday. would it be alright to put those extracted frames on the hives for them to clean out? o also have some partially filled uncapped frames that i did not extract. i'm thinking about putting those on for them to feed on as well.
Quote from: rober on August 21, 2011, 02:22:39 PM
would it be alright to put those extracted frames on the hives for them to clean out?
Sounds like a good idea.
Quoteo also have some partially filled uncapped frames that i did not extract. i'm thinking about putting those on for them to feed on as well.
You might wait till the frames are capped. Then give them to the weak hives.
Monitor for robbing and reduce the entrances if you see it starting. Robbers could quickly kill a weak colony if they raid in mass and take all the food. If they're weak, I would be conservative when moving them into my bee yard and start out with reduced entrances and more top ventilation if it is still baking hot out your way.
entrance reducers are in & the inner covers are notched for ventilation. there are plenty of bees & the brood pattern looks ok in the bottom box. they are just short on honey for food.
4th day in a row that i've had to feed these new hives. 1 feeder was dry & the 2nd was almost dry. hives are gaining some weight though. they might be getting caught up. i had 3 different buffets out for them yesterday. a tub of extraction cappings, the super full of extracted frames, & the honey extractor. the bees in the new hives are darker so i could tell there were bees from all 5 hives involved. the girls really cleaned things up.