new to forum and bkeeping

[fshrgy99]

My buddy got me into this! I am a city beekeeper (supposed chem ban is now a good thing!) with 1 hive in my backyard located in Southern Ontario (moved in my split in June, harvested 55 lbs of honey in Sept).  Hoping/planning/praying for a split this year and possibly 1 or more adopted swarms. Biggest strength to date is being able to resist the urge to interfere in what what my bees are doing. First project this year will be building swarm trap and bee vac. I'm looking for plans and would love suggestions. I believe both will use standard hive deeps to reduce stress on the bee/keeper in minimizing handling of bees.

[Georgia Boy]

Just want to say welcome. 

I am tooooooo new to offer much advice however, there are plenty of experts here who will be glad to give you guidance.

Good luck and hope to see how you are getting along.

[fshrgy99]

Thank You David. I have at least another 8 weeks before our temperature will stay above freezing. Expect I'll be checking on my bees before that :)
Dennis

[Georgia Boy]

If you have bees then you are way ahead of me.

My hives will be here the first of March and then I get my bees in April.  The wait is killing me. 

[AllenF]

Welcome to the forum.

[Joe D]

Welcome to the forum, fshrgy99.  Good luck to you and your bee's  In 8 weeks we will be about to extract first honey for this year. 




Joe

[fshrgy99]

Just for context so y'all understand where I'm at :)

[tefer2]

Welcome to the bee forum, we will wait for those pics.

[Vance G]

If your home is insulated the same way, I bet your heat bill is killer!  Ground is frozen where I am at too and we have gotten over five feet of snow this winter but it is mostly melted on the prairie.  Another month here before the bees will have much of a reason to look around.

[fshrgy99]

Hey Vance,

This is my first winter with 40,000 daughters so I haven't had a chance to refine the insulating concept. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the girls are doing all right. I am a little concerned that the hive foundation might have settled a little bit to the rear allowing moisture to run to the rear of the bottom board. Do you use insulating blankets on your hives? 

BTW I am looking at my gas and water bill for 30 days (mid jan to mid feb) is $129.62 for a 1250 sqft house. ($59.33 for the gas, $20.96 transportation charge, $34.45 'fixed and variable' delivery charge and $14.91 tax to pay the interest on what the government spent in 1979)

I absolutely Love the U.S. prairie states and foothills. Have a great spring!

Dennis

[questionmarco]

Cheers!
Nice to see urban beekeepers in Kitchener!

[fshrgy99]

Cheers!
Nice to see urban beekeepers in Kitchener!

We are not alone! :)

[Intheswamp]

You live on the beach or somethin'?  You really oughta shovel that sand off'a there!   :-D

Have you seen any girls sticking their toe out to check the weather?  You can put your ear against the side of the hive and give a slight rap with your knuckle...you should get a momentary buzz from them. :)

Best wishes up there....that kinda of snow down here brings our area to a screeching halt.  Most of our frozen precipitation comes in the form of hail during tornado weather.:shock:  Currently we're "under the gun" for tonight and in the morning for snow flurries...temps are supposed to reach freezing and get down into the upper 20F's the next couple of morning....deep freeze in Dixie.  A couple of inches of snow and the county starts covering the bridges with sand... :-D

Ed

[BeeMaster2]

Welcome to the forum, fshrgy99. Nice looking hive box.
Jim

[fshrgy99]

Every now and then the temp pops up around zero (that is 32 or freezing point in Canada). With my hive facing South and sheltered I do see the odd girl out at those times. Also some dead bees are escorted out and left on the doorstep. We have had a spell since the last nice days and the storm that rolled through the northern states didn't spare us either. I am worried about moisture more than temperature. I had a half medium of honey that I left on the hive (Not worth extracting). During three months of meditating on my bees I have realized that any uncapped honey in that frame had high water content ... probably not good to have in the hive.  Also, I will be very interested to see if the bees moved up to take advantage of the honey above the brood boxes. Time will tell!

Am really enjoying the forum!
Dennis

[Georgia Boy]

Holy moley looks a little chilly up there.  :)