Honey Bees
- Thread starter Peeps
- Start date
Turkey Creek
5 year old buck +
I noticed my bees were "congested" around the hive entrance last night. It has happened as well on other random days. I know they do a cleansing flight once a day, maybe they do it more often than once. Or maybe all the foragers just returned to the hive at the same time. It was a flurry of activity for a half hour or so, looked to be a flight controllers worst nightmare!
After that things went back to normal traffic flow
Turkey Creek
5 year old buck +
The girls were loaded down with pollen when they came back to the hive tonight! Funny watching them "cut the engines too soon" and end up on the ground due to the weight they are carrying. They set for a bit and then fire back up the engine to try and make it up to the hive entrance. Some of them look like they are drunk .... couldnt fly a straight line if they wanted to.
Do you guys all run queen excluders between your brood boxes and your honey supers? Since my hives are new this year I am not sure if they will produce an excess of honey. Planned on leaving two deeps stacked for the winter. I have a shallow honey super that I can add to the tops of the deeps, but wonder if I should just let them utilize the space this year however they see fit? Dont plan on selling any honey so I can strain out any stray larvae if I do decide to harvest a little honey for myself.
Do you guys all run queen excluders between your brood boxes and your honey supers? Since my hives are new this year I am not sure if they will produce an excess of honey. Planned on leaving two deeps stacked for the winter. I have a shallow honey super that I can add to the tops of the deeps, but wonder if I should just let them utilize the space this year however they see fit? Dont plan on selling any honey so I can strain out any stray larvae if I do decide to harvest a little honey for myself.
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Peeps
5 year old buck +
A good rule of thumb for first year hives that you really want to survive the first winter is to leave them all their honey that first year. Now that can be tough to do so if you want some honey I’d let them fill out both boxes and then put on the supper a bit later with an excluder. Let them fill it up for a bit so you can get a sample of your honey. If you don’t run the excluder be very careful to make sure the queen isn’t up top on any frames you leave the hive with.
I dont use excluders. Make sure to take the supers off before winter and leave them with the two full deeps. Remember, the smaller the area the easier it is for them to keep warm. You cold weather guys have to balance keeping smaller winter quarters with providing enough food.
Corey Peterson
5 year old buck +
I don't use a queen excluder on my production hives, and I don't think it will be necessary for you to run one this year. I'm in zone 5 in NH and my over wintered config is two deeps and medium. I extract around the beginning September and after that I weigh the hives - if I have hives that are less then 140lbs I feed them. Every area is different but around here I feel that I need more than two deeps to make it through winter - come spring the bees are always in the top box.
H20fwler
5 year old buck +
I worked with my bee guy on the new hives Saturday for a couple hours, it was extremely interesting and I asked a bunch of questions.
Checking the two new hives at the little woods, he said they are coming along very well.
He showed me how starting out with a new hive they have honey at top then pollen then larva.
He added a feeder and closed them up.
We went over to the other farm to the two hives that have been out for almost a month.
Those were loaded with honey and coming along very well, I was surprised at the weight of a full frame.
One full of glistening honey ready to be capped.
The girls weren't worked up at all and didn't seem to mind the intrusion.
The queen in center of pic
And the best and freshest honey I have ever tasted!
This bee thing is going to get addictive too.
Checking the two new hives at the little woods, he said they are coming along very well.
He showed me how starting out with a new hive they have honey at top then pollen then larva.
He added a feeder and closed them up.
We went over to the other farm to the two hives that have been out for almost a month.
Those were loaded with honey and coming along very well, I was surprised at the weight of a full frame.
One full of glistening honey ready to be capped.
The girls weren't worked up at all and didn't seem to mind the intrusion.
The queen in center of pic
And the best and freshest honey I have ever tasted!
This bee thing is going to get addictive too.
Turkey Creek
5 year old buck +
Did of a full check of my 2nd new hive this morning while I was at the farm. My bees DONT like wasps!! A couple of those bastards landed on the top of the frames while I had the cover off and the ladies let them know who's house the wasp was in. Immediate attack mode.... all I could do was smile and applaud. I hate (^&%( wasps!!
Turkey Creek
5 year old buck +
Here is the status of this hive. I added another 10 frame, deep hive body onto my original deep on May 25th. The bees have almost completely drawn out the frames in the 2nd deep and have the following stores. I only saw 1 started queen cup in either deep body. They are not being fed anything currently, bees are still bringing in lots of pollen. Looks as if there is going to be a ton of hatching brood in the next few days. Probably have to take a frame or two of capped brood to my other hive that got started later. A little scared this hive is going to run out of room soon and I dont have the equipment or means to start another hive this year. My other hive is only the 1 deep, 10 frame hive body currently. They got started 2 weeks later. Looking at the below what should be my next step?? I have 2 shallow honey supers to use this year. Have foundation for both but no no frames with drawn comb on them. Thanks! Very excited to see how well this hive seems to be doing.
Bottom Deep Hive Body
10 - 25% drawn comb
9 - 100% drawn / 80% syrup
8 - 100% drawn / 80% syrup / 20% honey
7 - 90% open brood
6 - 70% capped brood
5 - 100% capped brood
4- Mixed capped brood and pollen
3 - mixed syrup/ open brood and some capped brood
2 - 90% capped brood
1 - 20% capped brood and some honey
Top Deep Hive Body
10 - No drawn comb
9 - No drawn comb
8 - 75% drawn 20% syrup
7 - 100% drawn 25% honey
6 - 100% syrup and honey
5 - 100% drawn 75% mixed brood
4 - 1 side cap brood, other side 100% drawn
3 - 100% drawn mostly syrup
2 - 100% drawn 90% syrup
1 - 100% drawn empty
Bottom Deep Hive Body
10 - 25% drawn comb
9 - 100% drawn / 80% syrup
8 - 100% drawn / 80% syrup / 20% honey
7 - 90% open brood
6 - 70% capped brood
5 - 100% capped brood
4- Mixed capped brood and pollen
3 - mixed syrup/ open brood and some capped brood
2 - 90% capped brood
1 - 20% capped brood and some honey
Top Deep Hive Body
10 - No drawn comb
9 - No drawn comb
8 - 75% drawn 20% syrup
7 - 100% drawn 25% honey
6 - 100% syrup and honey
5 - 100% drawn 75% mixed brood
4 - 1 side cap brood, other side 100% drawn
3 - 100% drawn mostly syrup
2 - 100% drawn 90% syrup
1 - 100% drawn empty
I would switch frames 8,9, 10 with frames 1,2, and 7. I would put one super on and hold the other until that super is nearing 70% full.
Not sure what your extraction plans are. If you have an extractor and it is plasticell foundation - and you want some honey - i would let them fill that first honey super, decap and extract the honey, and put it right back on the hive. Amazing how fast they can fill a super of drawn frames when they dont have to build comb
And i would mash that queen cell unless u need in another hive or starting a nuc
Turkey Creek
5 year old buck +
I might take a frame or 2 of honey. Havent really thought about extracting any this year as I thought I would likely not have enough honey on my new hives to do it. It was just a single empty cup. No egg in it. With as much brood as there is I cant imagine the queen isnt getting the job done. I kind of forgot about swapping frames around today. Should I move all the brood frames into the bottom box and move as much "stores" up into the 2nd body? I have heard that queens generally wont move over a hive body full of frames of syrup and honey to start laying in the honey super. I dont have a queen excluder and didnt plan on using one this year.
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I would probably leave the brood frames alone in the two bottom deeps. Since you are in cold country, you may Need to remove the super on top of the double deeps before winter. You dont want your hive having to keep more space warm than what they need. Down here in the south, it doesnt matter much - but I think where you live, you are going to want to leave only the two double deeps during winter.
In cold country, you guys need to minimize winter space to make it easier to warm the hive. I dont know the dynamics of the nectar flow in other areas, but here in my area, we have a good flow of wildflowers and sweet clover in may and june. I live near a swamp where we have summer blooming water lilies, water lotus, and a variety of other blooming aquatic plants. Many southerners have a dearth in july, aug, and part of september, then we have an abundance of fall composites and goldenrod. I rob in early july to capitolize on the light honey from the spring flowers and then put the drawn, empty supers immediately back on. The bees will usually fill them again by november, when I remove the supers and rob again. The fall honey, especially if there is a good goldenrod crop, will be darker than the spring honey. If i leave the supers on the hives in the fall, then when I rob the next year, it will be a mix of spring and fall honey, resulting in a darker honey crop - which doesnt sell as well. I sell about 500 lbs a year. Gathering your honey can be a job if you dont have an extractor. And you might decide it is not worth the expense with having two hives. There might be a local bee club that has invested in an extractor for rent - or if you know someone who has one, time your robbing with when they do theirs and extract your honey at the same time.
I use all medium supers. I consider the bottom three as the hive bodies and anything above that as honey supers. Using all medium supers means all my woodenware is interchangeable. Mine are ten frame, but as I age, I sometimes wish I would have gone with eight frame.
I use all medium supers. I consider the bottom three as the hive bodies and anything above that as honey supers. Using all medium supers means all my woodenware is interchangeable. Mine are ten frame, but as I age, I sometimes wish I would have gone with eight frame.
