Well snow has melted a couple of days ago and the bees have flying weather for the first time in nearly a month. Lots of bee poop around and bees looking for whatever they can find. My bird feeder has been taken over by my bees. They are also hitting the pollen substitute pretty hard. The maples haven't started to bloom yet. Maybe a week away. So the bees are scrounging for whatever they can find. I did a walk through both my yards and it looks like only a couple hives in each yard are possibly dead. Not bad after battling the SHB's last summer and fall. The winter isn't over yet but so far so good. I always like seeing the bees flying after a prolonged cold spell.
So how's everyone else's bees doing?
I went into the winter with 6 hives, and lost one a month or so ago, but the other 5 seem to be doing fine. All the hives have been flying in the warm weather for the past few days, although it's about to get cold and rainy again. They are all bringing in what I assume is maple pollen, and most of their bottom board inserts are showing signs of brood rearing. I should be inspecting in a couple of weeks.
Was able to over winter 14 hive ( Florida not bad on winter :wink:)
Have made 10 splits so far and getting ready to split again. These last batch of local queens have been great .
Good luck all
The temps are slowly rising here in Wisconsin. 40F High low will be 16 F. Today saw some cleansing flights, time to put a hat on in the bee yards.
So far I have lost 3 out of ten but might lose more or have lost more cause robbing can fool us. I was expecting it and last year was my roughest year so far but still had ten at the end which is what I stated with. Starvation on two of them. Maples will pop any day now and it is above 40 degrees. Still trucking and still not buying bees and not treating.
Cheers
Lost 1 hive. It was a swarm we got VERY late in the fall. Not sure what happened. It was a good sized colony. The bees were in the comb with their butts in the air, so I'm guessing starvation.
I went into winter with one hive and in January so many of them died and piled up in front of the hive that worried there would be none left. But then when the weather warmed up, the bees came bursting out in clouds. I am planning on doing my first spring inspection on Saturday and am looking forward to checking them out. It is fun going from worrying that there are none left to finding out that they are crowding out the hive.
Quote from: Leoj900 on February 25, 2021, 11:19:37 PM
I went into winter with one hive and in January so many of them died and piled up in front of the hive that worried there would be none left.
One of mine that I am worried about had the entrance blocked with dead bees. I took a stick and cleaned out the opening.
Quote from: gww on February 25, 2021, 09:27:31 PM
Still trucking and still not buying bees and not treating.
ditto.
last year started with almost 80 hives. was near 100 mid summer, then SHBs hit. Ended the year just under 80. still haven't treated or really even looked for mites.
Quote from: Brian MCquilkin on February 25, 2021, 07:47:34 PM
time to put a hat on in the bee yards.
yes sir and I have had to clean my truck's windshield and its about 100 yds from my hives.
Went into winter with one hive after carpenter ants decimated my apiary last fall.
Came out of winter with a decent colony.... started feed and pollen sub in early Feb. Just did a split on Monday. Parent colony is building up fast again in a 5 frame NUC. May be able to split them again in April.
Two packages due to arrive on Mar 17. Should be an exciting year.
Lost all mine due to my inability to tend to them last fall. Won't be buying packages, but if I catch a swarm or 2, I will tend to them.
silver maple should be blooming in a week or 2, a few crocus have bloomed this week.
I took 3 hives into winter, and 3 hives came out. One has been defensive and weak, probably varroa, but is building up and calming down now.
Cao, I have been following your long lang advice, and have been carefully opening the broodnest with empty frames. Tomorrow will my 4th weekly inspection this spring. No QCs yet.
My three hives made it through the winter and I'd like to expand to 5 but not yet sure how to do it.
Quote from: FatherMichael on February 27, 2021, 09:10:27 AM
My three hives made it through the winter and I'd like to expand to 5 but not yet sure how to do it.
Congratulations getting the 3 though winter. I would wait till they build up strong and during or just before the honey flow split them.
Make 2 nucs form each colony with the original queen. Let the original colonies raise new queens, this also will help with swam control.
Original colonies will get a brood brake that helps with varroa.
Because the bees don't have much to do till the new queen is laying, they should bring in lots of honey.
Thanks, Brian,
Original colonies make the new queen -- thanks.
My mistake last spring was to let the colony swarm for the brood break but they did not make a new queen; I lost the healthy bunch and struggled for months with those left behind.
It's been a strange spring so far, pulled just over a gallon of Red Maple honey off my three hives mid February then it cooled off for two weeks. The Red Maple honey tastes like bubble gum, never had it before. Right now the temperature is running in the mid 80's and I just found swarm cells in two hives so set up two nucs with the queen cells trying to slow the girls down. I was thinking about buying a nuc or two this year but so far my hives are doing well.
Been reports from other area beekeepers that swarm season has already started, man it's early this year.
Since it was 80* yesterday Mary helped me put my six-frame rescued colony into an insulated hive in the same position as the thin wall hive that has been their home.
I put the same blanket and trash bag over the hive to help them recognize their new home. The entrance is almost exactly in the same place as the old one.
It is now a two story hive in 6 frame Bee Box nucs with the transferred colony on top. The bottom brood box now contains 4 fresh frames for them to pull and two honey stores that I kept back over the winter in case they were needed. They had a frame of honey left from the winter.
They now have 12 total frames for a brood chamber in an insulted hive oriented more vertically than ten framers are. I use feed sack for an inner cover. On top of that is a medium 6 frame super with some dry leaves for additional insulation.
I was amazed that with all the disruption they quickly settled down and field bees carrying pollen flew right home, going in as if nothing happened.
Once again my bees have made me look like a fool. Wandered by the yard yesterday and spotted a nice swarm in a near by tree. As I stood there the girls gathered themselves in the air and flew due south. All I could do was wave goodbye. :(
Did a full inspection on the yard today, moved some frames with swarm cells into a nuc and mixed up the brood boxes with undrawn foundation. At least it's still early in the year so they have time to build back up for the Saw Palmetto flow.
I lost 6.
I will be doing my first inspections next week temps will be 61 on Tuesday. Been dealing with dead outs. Losses are about 20% I expected more than that . Surprising that the 5 over 5 nucs did better than the double deeps.
Quote from: Brian MCquilkin on March 05, 2021, 04:45:46 PM
I will be doing my first inspections next week temps will be 61 on Tuesday. Been dealing with dead outs. Losses are about 20% I expected more than that . Surprising that the 5 over 5 nucs did better than the double deeps.
Was that two nucs on top of each other and if so with what in between?
5 over 5 nucs are one hive with 2 nuc boxes stacked on top of each other. I have overwintered 2 high or 3 high nucs successfully in the past.
Well after a little more thorough going through, my losses are more substantial that first thought. I am down to 51 or so. at least 3/4 of the losses was due to starvation(beekeeper screw up). I new I needed to put sugar on several hives.
Cao
I have fewer hives but some starvation here also. Two with honey in hive but not in the top box with the bees during our one extended cold spell. My best answer to more feeding has been to open the dead outs with honey in them and start robbing. Hope it is enough. Maples are in bloom now and most days temps are high enough to forage. I had about 50 percent loss and knew some went into winter light. Summer 4 and winter 5 has been pretty hard on my bees under my hard bond management compared to exceptional years before those. Knock on wood though. I am staying pretty static at ten hives by winter and getting around ten gal of honey each year and that works well for me and what I want out of bees compared to what I put in them. I usually catch a swarm or two and also get most that come from my hives that I somehow miss catching in time. I have not really made any splits since year three. Might this year as I have never started spring with as low of hives as I am starting with this year but time will tell.
Cheers
gww
If the weather holds and we don't get the dreaded week long cold spell in march, the rest of my hives should do fine and be ready to start splitting by the end of the month.
Quote from: FatherMichael on March 05, 2021, 05:18:09 PM
Quote from: Brian MCquilkin on March 05, 2021, 04:45:46 PM
I will be doing my first inspections next week temps will be 61 on Tuesday. Been dealing with dead outs. Losses are about 20% I expected more than that . Surprising that the 5 over 5 nucs did better than the double deeps.
Was that two nucs on top of each other and if so with what in between?
FatherMichael CAO is correct 5 frame nuc with another 5 frames on top basically 5 frame double dep nuc.
Double deep nucs sound like a good plan because of the more vertically oriented cavity.
Went in with 4 and came out with 4. This was my first winter. Two hives were 10 frame deep brood with a medium super on top, and two were deep nucs with a medium nuc super on top. Three of them still had a lot of honey in them when I first looked two weeks ago. One of the ten frames is a little weak and cranky, but the queen is laying good.
I flipped the boxes and added a new super to them and some feed. Last week a couple had started to draw some new comb. I?ll look again in a few days and maybe do some checker boarding if needed. The two nucs and one ten frame are wall to wall brood, so I don?t suspect it to be long before they draw that comb.
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Quote from: FatherMichael on March 06, 2021, 10:45:16 AM
Double deep nucs sound like a good plan because of the more vertically oriented cavity.
It is an easy conversion to a 10 frame box when the time is right.
We had a long warm, autumn in 2019 that included Hurricane Sally wiping flat most of the goldenrod. So there was little fall forage and lots of late foragers flying around burning fuel while looking for food.
And robbing.
I lost some hives to robbing even with reduced entrances. In one yard, it was def not my bees, I saw a jetstream of bees from the Northeast.... it was all over, they'd taken out three healthy hives.
ln another yard, it was my own bees that robbed, because suddenly they were "rich." Well, for that...they had to give it up to make a three-frame split taken away yesterday. It sort of evens out, but not when I'm sentimental about certain queens. I still hate it.
I froze the comb from the rob-outs, and have it on hand for expansion.
Based on my photos from last year, spring is here 20-30 days behind last year. That is, the white wax/drones/heavy spring flow of Cliftonia ("tie-tie"), red maple, carolina laurel, redbud. It's all happening late. The last 10 days they've been crazy busy bees.
I use all mediums, and most colonies were in 1 single box in Jan. I'm now at double layers all around, getting pretty packed out.
Spring is here!
Trees are budding, an apple tree down the street is bursting with flowers, and Dandelions are taking off.
Very little bee activity, though, because we are about to get slammed with a storm.
Took my Long Lang hive out to the farm as a swarm trap. Will set out some nuc boxes for swarm traps.
Decided not to split any hives or buy any more bees right now. Need to recover from this shoulder surgery and get a shop built.
Quote from: FatherMichael on March 13, 2021, 02:43:51 PM
Need to recover from this shoulder surgery and get a shop built.
Just thinking out loud. You could contact a local bee club or beek come over and split for you, lots of people willing to help.
Quote from: Brian MCquilkin on March 13, 2021, 04:01:39 PM
Quote from: FatherMichael on March 13, 2021, 02:43:51 PM
Need to recover from this shoulder surgery and get a shop built.
Just thinking out loud. You could contact a local bee club or beek come over and split for you, lots of people willing to help.
Thanks, Brian.
When I get the shop built I expect it will be also the meeting room for a local bee club that I'd like to start.
Had a great turnout for our Deep Creek Apiaries open house last spring -- the paper wrote us up and sent a reporter. A few visit my FB page -- but yes, we need to get organized so that we can help each other.
Right now I don't need more bees. I need more time! Yikes!
I went back in and looked at the bees today.
The weakest of the four hives I overwintered has grown a lot on the last four days. There is lots of brood and eggs and they are just starting to draw comb in the super. This hive has one deep brood, a medium of mostly honey and some brood, and a second medium super is being drawn now. Still cranky though.
I looked at the other two and they were both about the same as the first. I started to gather my stuff and skip the last 3 box nuc. I decided what the heck, I?m here anyway. This nuc had almost completely drawn out the third box. Good thing I looked cause I have a couple days to decide if I want to split it or put it in a 10frame and add more frames. These three do not seem to be as temperamental.
Last year the hive that?s being aggressive was sweet, and it?s the same queen. I?m hoping as the weather gets a little better and they fill out the boxes that they calm down. If not, they?ll get a brood break.
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Actually, not so good, I am a hobbyist...