My First Winter

[djgriggs]

Well Hello everyone.. It has been a little bit sense I was last posted. Sense I have last posted I have went from 2 hives to 6 and now I am down to 3. Out of the Original two Hives I had 4 splits. During the summer I had Lost 3 queens, They seem to have never returned from matting flights " who knows . .. My main two hives are going really strong and going into the winter good. Each original has two full deeps of come / honey/ and bees my 3rd hive which is a split is a single 8 frame deep.. Full of bees and there is honey . not for sure if it is enough. Currently still feeding. Syrup 2:1.

It is now in the upper 40's here in Hazel Green AL . have not seen the bees out in a few days so I thought that it would be a good time to medicate. I went out and completed my first round of Oxilic Acid "vapor" I did notice some crystallization of the acid on the underside of the vaporizer ( Should I be concerned of this ? ) it appears to be bubbling over the side and in doing so it does not convert to vapor.  I currently have two reducers as one broke the other day (my bad). Any how I did the vaporizing at 10:30 tonight this way to catch everyone in bed  1st and 2nd hive no issue.. My split on the other hand . I had to detach the reducer and the girls had it glued shut. When I was done with the Vap on this box I seemed to have woken everyone up as the girls were all over the front.

I was not able to put the reducer back as it is wood and it was swollen to much to fit. So sense all there were a lot of bees out and about I left it be as I did not want to cause any undue stress. I am considering switching to an alternative reducer. Anyone have any thoughts / suggestions.

Thank you
DJ

[robirot]

Just use wire mesh 6-8 mm wide (~1/4" - 1/3"). Keeps the mice out. The Front can be fully open, makes up for good ventilation.

[BeeMaster2]

DJ,
Take your reducer and drill a hole on each end and place it up against the entrance and screw it down.
Jim