Peeps
5 year old buck +
No we didn’t try this year and from what I heard around me the severe winter did a number on hives by us.
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Honey Bees
- Thread starter Peeps
- Start date
No we didn’t try this year and from what I heard around me the severe winter did a number on hives by us.
Corey Peterson
5 year old buck +
I just finished redoing my electric fence setup. Last year it was a real pain to mow around so this year I put some landscape fabric under the fence. Hoping for a good flow this year! 
Headdigger
A good 3 year old buck
I bet that was a little sporty. We have not had any rain here in a week and a half. My bees are working Durana hard. Chicory has started to bloom this week but the bees seem to prefer the Durana. I planted a quarter of an acre of black oil sunflowers two weeks ago. They are up and looking good. I plan to put in another quarter acre next week. I'm planting bird seed from Walmart, $18.00 for 40 Lbs. I'll post the results later in the summer. Right now it looks like every seed germinated.
Corey Peterson
5 year old buck +
The flow just started in NH it’s been a very cold wet spring up to this point. I lost 2 hives in April which hasn’t been an issue in the past. Looks like I’ll be focusing on splits instantly of honey this year.
Headdigger
A good 3 year old buck
I hope that your splits go well. All of mine are now in double deeps. I had a problem with the two packages that I bought and installed 4/13. By May 1, I realized that I had a drone laying queen who had disappeared. I kept the colony going by putting in eggs and larva at weekly intervals. There was no sign of queen activity yesterday so I combined the hive with a queen right colony this am. The queen in the other package was found to be AWOL last week. I found a hatched queen cell, so I'm waiting to see what happens. I have four queens ordered that should arrive next week. I'll use one of them in that hive then I'll make three splits. I think that I'm done with buying bees. I'll just raise my own.
Corey Peterson
5 year old buck +
I checked on my dads two hives today one was started from a package (on drawn comb) the other was nuc and both had decided to supersede the queens - tough year for early bees. Guess he will either have to wait and see what happens or order a couple queens which are still tough to come by around here.
One of my hives was queenless last week so I split it and gave both halves a new queen. I’m hoping my other hives start building up soon because I need to split them as well but they aren’t nearly strong enough yet.
cavey
5 year old buck +
Turkey Creek
5 year old buck +
Checked on my NE hives yesterday when we were there for a quick work trip. One hive is strong. Double deep brood nest with a medium honey super on top of that which is roughly 2/3 rd full of honey. The other hive is ok, but not as strong as the other. Fewer bees, they do have brood in various stages, but no honey stored yet. The weaker hive was weaker all of last summer as well. They did survive the winter, but just dont seem to be nearly as vigorous as the other hive. I will give them awhile longer and see if they can make up any ground, otherwise should probably requeen them.
Bee keeping is not what it used to be. I have had from ten to twenty hives for the past dozen years. This was my worst year ever for hive losses - and it doesn't hardly snow where I live. I sell a few hives every year - and it is fairly uncommon for one of the buyers of the hives to still have a viable hive three years later. Bees take a lot of work now days. An elderly gentleman I knew who kept bees for over seventy years, said up until about twenty years ago, you just put them out there and they made it on their own - for years. I, also, entertained the thought this year of giving it up. But, a number of local folks have been asking me when I am going to rob, as they like my honey so much better than honey available in the stores. I am going to try to fight through this year and hope next year is better. I blame it on the wet, incessant rain we have had for the past two years.
Peeps
5 year old buck +
We only have 2 hives and can never get them through our winters up on my land. I even tossed around the idea of bringing them home with me for the winter. We gave up on trying to over winter them. Now we take all the honey and get 2 new nucs in the spring. I felt bad but even “professional “ keepers by me have been struggling lately to get theirs through the winter.
Corey Peterson
5 year old buck +
Any signs of superseding? Hopefully there is a virgin in there.
ksgobbler
5 year old buck +
Not that I saw. I am going to pull the super off tomorrow. I am going to give it a couple weeks to make sure. However if this hive goes tits up we are getting out of the bee business. All my deeps and supers will be for sale along with my extractor, etc.
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
When I was a kid it seemed everybody had a hive and they were easy to keep. Now I seldom see hives in tree rows and the people I do know who try to keep them struggle. I always wanted a hive but hesitate to invest when it seems nobody can keep them alive.
Corey Peterson
5 year old buck +
Every year is different and like anything else the more effort you put in the better results can be. I’m not an expert by any stretch but I think if you have time to invest you can run sustainable apiary without buying new colonies every year (assuming you don’t live near peeps on the north pole) I’m in zone 5 my opinion maybe skewed.
