I have been reading and studying about bee keeping and plan on
getting bees next spring. One question i have is -- what is a
weak hive. Every bee keeper I talk to tells me about his good hives
and his weak hive. A lot of post on this forum mentions weak hives.
Just what is a weak hive, how do you determine a weak hive, and
what do you do to fix it or make it better?
Thanks,
lizzydog
A weak hive has 15,000 bees or less.
A decent hive has 30 to 50 thousand bees.
A strong hive has 60,000 plus bees.
Quote from: iddee on September 27, 2014, 02:43:20 PM
A weak hive has 15,000 bees or less.
A decent hive has 30 to 50 thousand bees.
A strong hive has 60,000 plus bees.
I think just throwing out a number could be confusing. Those numbers will vary depending on the time of year and the space available. For example a strong hive coming out of winter wouldn't contain nearly as many as one in the middle of a strong late spring flow.
Also strong/weak can mean the general well-being of the hive. Are they dealing with a large pest problem or some disease like EFB.
Although I agree with what you said, I still stand behind my post. Pest, disease, time of year will increase or decrease the numbers to coincide with my post.
down here I think of a weak hive as a small not a lot of coming or going. grows slowly maybe 2,3 months to fill a deep
one that doesn't have much brood a good strong hive can fill a box in 30 days with brood and pollen , honey
Strong or weak has much more to do with density than numbers. A strong two frame nuc can be overflowing with bees and have no issues with robbing or SHB or wax moths, while a large hive with excess space might have issues with all of those.
really?? You mean if I sold you an overflowing 2 frame nuc as a strong hive, you would be happy? I doubt that very much. A 2 frame nuc is never a strong hive.
I think the issue here is "strong" and "weak". Obviously a two frame nuc is not a "strong hive". I don't consider it a "hive" at all--at least not for counting purposes. The terms "strong" and "weak" are usually used in reference to problems that relate to those states such as SHB, robbing, wax moths, ants etc. In this case a two frame nuc can be strong while a hive in two ten frame deeps could be weak and being taken over by SHB etc.
I think the thread title is weak HIVE, not nuc.
Thanks for the information.
lizzydog
If a newbee wants to know how to tell the difference between a strong hive and a weak hive, what do you tell them? What can they look for? Something objective that they can look at and understand in the hive. Respectfully, giving a number isn't really observable. For the sake of definition, it works quite well. Maybe we could suggest that the bees should be so thick on a brood frame that you have a hard time seeig the comb. The brood pattern is solid. You dont see deformed wings or mites. If you do a mite count, it is low. Compare the comb and honey production with area beeks. Are your hives keeping pace, ahead, or always behind?
I agree with Chux. A better description of a of the brood frames and amount of honey stored for this time of year would be helpful.
I'm a newbee too and was interested in the answers, especially ones from my area.
Try this site for info, it has images you can compare to your hives. http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/beesest.html (http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/beesest.html)
I am guessing that a healthy hive in SE Indiana will have brood frames mostly covered with capped cells and and mostly covered with worker bees. All frames in the box should be active.
I am guessing that you should have at least 2 mediums full of capped honey if your hives are in the same area as mine.
Your hives should be free of mites and SHB should be under control.
Lizzydog, this is my best guess from the information I can easily find. Hopefully more experienced beeks will comment.
As a first year beekeeper I have little to add after all these great answers except a beginner's observation. After working with my three hives for just a month or so it was obvious which hives were weaker and stronger. Finding the reasons for the weak condition and effectively managing the problem is the real challenge. Good luck with your future bees, I know you will enjoy them.