winter check on hives

Started by Highlander, December 27, 2014, 01:43:20 PM

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Highlander

December 27, 2014, 01:43:20 PM
Two nice sunny days in a row here in the Catskill Mountains in NY.  65 yesterday and 52 today. Checked on my hives and a neighbors hive, all Russian.  I have been concerned with the girls being at the very top of the frames since late fall, yet they have plenty of stores. Very active, one even swarmed out in mass and kept bumping into me.  I did a Mountain Camp feed with news paper and granulated sugar although I don't think they will run out of stores.  One hive seems entirely to large to me, but what do I know... if it remains large it may be a candidate for an early split. 

Overall I am very pleased with how they look and just wanted to share that.  Wishing one and all a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year. 
Cruachan!

Highlander   

For as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom — for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.
From The Declaration of Arbroath 1320.

mikecva

#1
December 27, 2014, 02:46:47 PM
Good for you. Our weather has been 45-60 and on the warmer days - wet. They are making cleansing flights now but I can not do in in-box inspection.  - Mike
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Listen to others but make your own decisions. That way you own the results.
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Please remember to read labels.

Highlander

#2
January 24, 2015, 04:05:25 PM
Had a sunny warmish day yesterday took a break from cutting wood and wandered over to check the hives.  Found one had frozen!  It happened right after I did the feeding.  None of the sugar had been disturbed,rather disappointing. I am of course wondering if I did something to create the problem.  I found nothing but you know how that is...  the second hive is doing excellently and I am looking for a warm day to get a pollen patty into it.  They had completely cleaned up the sugar but it was too cold to pull any frames and check stores.  And so it goes with bees...still pkaning on at least the one split. 

Cruachan!

Highlander   

For as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom — for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.
From The Declaration of Arbroath 1320.

Highlander

#3
February 04, 2015, 11:05:24 PM
Finally got time to clean the dead hive out.  Found no Queen among the dead, not that it means much. Most interesting to me was a patch of bees in the combs, both sides, like you would find a starved hive. They were surrounded by full comb. Any enlightenment would be appreciated.   Its cleaned up and ready for an early split. Plenty of honey and other stores and no sign of pests or disease. It was too cold for my phone to work so i was not able to get pictures. 
Cruachan!

Highlander   

For as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom — for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.
From The Declaration of Arbroath 1320.

Dallasbeek

#4
February 05, 2015, 11:45:36 AM
Highlander, when it warms up watch out for robbing, wax moths and other problems with that deadout.  Man, if it was too cold for your phone to work, that's some cold!  Good luck.
"Liberty lives in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no laws, no court can save it." - Judge Learned Hand, 1944

BeeMaster2

#5
February 05, 2015, 12:40:08 PM
Highlander,
That level of cold will kill all of the wax moths/beetles and all of their eggs and larvae. That is a good thing. Down here the next thing that happens is the mold starts growing on the pollen and the wax around it. It has been raining a lot this year. I have lost 3 hives this spring, robbing, I suspect because one warm day I see lots of bees and pollen going in and a week later nothing. All three still had honey and lots of frames that had been robbed out. If I do not catch it the first week, the mold starts to take over.  I remove the supers, separate out the new wax, honey only frames and place them 100' away from the hives for the bees to clean up, and place the clean brood frames on a workbench to air dry out. I clean out the bug and mold fouled frames, toss the molded wax and save the clean wax.
It is not fun.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Dallasbeek

#6
February 05, 2015, 01:44:38 PM
Sawdustmkr, I was referring to wax moths and other critters invading after it warms up, but you are right on with your advice, no matter where you are, I think.  You can't just leave the comb and stores and just install new bees later in the spring.  Gotta stay ahead of the game.
"Liberty lives in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no laws, no court can save it." - Judge Learned Hand, 1944

jalentour

#7
February 05, 2015, 11:13:36 PM
I've been freezing my frames a -2F.  Had a nuc die on me. 
Is there anything else I can do?  I want to use the comb for spring packages.

Highlander

#8
February 09, 2015, 12:12:54 PM
Hadn't considered mold...Still winter here, last three days in the 20s, peaking into the low thirties last night ahead of the snow. Currently dropping down through the twenties with minus 1 for the high tomorrow and staying in the teens for the remainder of the week.  But March is coming and we'll have warmer wetter days before I can reasonably expect to do a split, so I need to consider that too.  Thanks for the heads up Sawdstmkr
Cruachan!

Highlander   

For as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom — for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.
From The Declaration of Arbroath 1320.

Highlander

#9
February 18, 2015, 07:54:33 PM
Had a chance to make a quick hive check today, sunny and about 40 in the sun, about 18 in the shade...  We had a week of extreme winds, 15 mph to 30mph sustained and gusts to 50+ with temps  in the negatives as low as 28F below 0F.  Wind chills dipping to -50f several times with a sustained -25 to -30 F.  More of that coming in tomorrow  :angry:   The NNW side of the hive (receiving the wind) had a large number of dead bees and a lot of moisture in that one corner, the bees had moved o the SSE side of the hive and were clustered, but very busy. Moving stores to a lower place?  I added a pollen patty and they jumped on that, except the ones that flew out and got in my face...had to put on a vail! Cleaned the bottom of dead bees and closed up the hive.  After considering it I assume the extreme cold and and caused the condensation to freeze before it could vent up over the inner cover and the dead bees on the bottom slowed the air flow.  I set the wedges on the top cover back a little more to give a slightly larger vent area, fluffed the hay in the super over the inner cover and set the entrance on the larger opening to assist in air flow.  I am hoping that we get the warm weather predicted for Sunday and that we get enough sunshine to make it possible to swap out some full frames with any empty ones or to do a Mountain Camp feed at least. 

As always, I appreciate any advice that may be forthcoming.

Cruachan!

Highlander   

For as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom — for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.
From The Declaration of Arbroath 1320.

Dallasbeek

#10
February 18, 2015, 07:59:53 PM
Hey Highlander, didn't you have a picture in your profile?  What happened?
"Liberty lives in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no laws, no court can save it." - Judge Learned Hand, 1944

Highlander

#11
February 18, 2015, 10:07:12 PM
Humm, not sure...need to check that out! LOL
Cruachan!

Highlander   

For as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom — for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.
From The Declaration of Arbroath 1320.

Highlander

#12
February 22, 2015, 09:16:04 AM
Not looking good for a better check on the hive...cloudy and not warm enough.  If we get some good sun this afternoon, I may still be able to do at least a Mountain Camp feed. More extreme lows headed our way tonight and through the week, although it is moderating a little (a very little!)  Predicted wind chills are only as low as -10....as opposed to -50... 
Cruachan!

Highlander   

For as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom — for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.
From The Declaration of Arbroath 1320.

Highlander

#13
February 22, 2015, 02:46:48 PM
So it slipped up to 46 with the sunshine, snowshoed my way to the hive and found the girls out playing in the warmth.  Popped the top and pulled out 7 empty frames and replaced with 5 full and two partially full capped honey from the deadout and added a mountain camp feed also.  The girls where all over me buzzing and generally wanting to know what I was doing....until I started putting the replacement frames in, then it was Molly bar the Door! other then three or four hard core types they went for the frames and the sugar I put on top.  So all in all I am hopeful that they will survive and thrive, and that I will be able to make an early split. 
Cruachan!

Highlander   

For as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom — for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.
From The Declaration of Arbroath 1320.

biggraham610

#14
February 22, 2015, 03:46:41 PM
Good for you. I havent made it to the outyard yet, but am going a little later. lost a decent size hive here during the cold snap that just passed, hoping and praying those left at the outyard made it. They were smaller. Other hive here is booming today, thats good news at least. G
"The Bees are the Beekeepers"

gdog

#15
February 22, 2015, 07:00:19 PM
Richfield Wisconsin. checked my hives today. went into winter with five hives three very weak had a feeling they would not make it. well today I have one remaining, have to get a feeder setup made so I can start to feed if their reserves are low. I hate winter

Highlander

#16
February 23, 2015, 08:02:58 PM
Sorry to  hear that gdog, it does suck!  Best of luck with the remaining hive. 
Cruachan!

Highlander   

For as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom — for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.
From The Declaration of Arbroath 1320.
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