After 2 unsuccessful winters; I think my hive made it this time, though barely. I live in northern illinois and the last 2 winters were harsh. Nonetheless, neither hive made it for whatever reason. We finally got some warm weather and I finally saw allot of waste in and around the upper small entrance I put in. I pulled the reducer from the main, lower entrance and there was a ton of dead bees that I scraped out with a pencil. after a day or so, I would look again and more bees were at the bottom. I took them out too. the last few days were really warm and the activity out of the upper was real good with some bees having pollen on them. however, more bees are at the bottom, I removed them. I was told to close the upper so I can feed them with an entrance feeder after the temp goes back up. I closed it last night and so far nothing coming out of the lower and more bees, though not as many. should the upper remain closed or open? how long? did I make it?
I would consider feeding brood building patties until the flow starts and 1-1 syrup. As long as the nights are consistently below 32 I would not worry about the upper entrance. My hives went through one entire patty in 2 weeks!!!
Congratulations (in advance). I started feeding 1:1 and a patty about two weeks ago along with white sugar about a month ago.
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