Say you've overwintered a colony successfully and the weather is just starting to turn nicer. When I say nicer, I mean 40's lol. No pollen coming in yet. How many frames of bees would be considered a good start for the season?
Just wondering since my only colony last year dwindled down next to nothing. Like to softball size. I put some pollen patties on them today and they all seem to be between 3-4 frames. Is that pretty good? I think so compared to last year but what does an average good overwintered colony look like?
I unfortunately had two colonies die. I have yet to do an autopsy to see what happened. Three are still with me though so that gives me a 60% success rate, right? boohoo
MT,
Carnolian bees often winter over in small clusters. They build up fast. A softball sized cluster can build up fast. When do your bees start building up. Here it is on the winter solstice, December 22. Probably much later where you are. When it starts it helps to feed them one to one but mind the weather. If it is real cold, the excess moisture will bee a real problem.
Jim
I've had small clusters build up really fast - even with a Russian X queen, which are supposed to be slower to build up. As long as they're alive with a laying queen - you've got a chance.
Ok. Thanks guys. I was just wondering. Sometimes I see pictures on fb of spring hives, even ones up north, where the whole top box is full of 'em. Mine certainly don't look like that. lol But they may be feeding all winter. Not sure. I'll just wait and see what happens.
In my part of the country it's not good to be small. My hives are my in a shed and last I checked they were covering all 8 frames. I kept hives outside for 4 years. At this time of year a cold snap could still be deadly to hives.
I've lost more than a few hives in March.
Keep them fed and dry.
Good luck, if they make it they will do well.
Ya to me the risk is if you get a cold snap. When their population is low they don't cover much area (duh right?), but if they don't cover much space they don't have access to much honey. Then if it gets cold they contract down lessening their surface area even more. You get more than one day of that and they starve with honey an inch from their cluster. Bee there. Done that. I wholeheartedly disagree with the saying that cold is not hard on bees. The results of outdoor vs indoor wintering directly opposes that statement.