Honey Bees

[TreeDaddy]

Peeps,

Thanks for this thread

My winters are mild

Planning my last inspection 11/4 and will add beetle traps and Apivar strips to my 2 hives

I am leaving the medium box full of honey on each brood box for them

I will reduce entrance but have not decided on mouse guard

thanks,

bill

 

[Corey Peterson]

Wondering what all my fellow bee keepers do to winterize their hives. We reduce the entrances, slide in the tray above the screened bottom board to keep wind out, wrap the hive in roofing felt, add a candy/sugar feeder box with top entrance, insulate the hive top cap inside and out, tilt hive so condensation hopefully runs down walls and doesn’t drip on the cluster, mouse guard, and add wind break. I also was thinking of adding a quilt box.

I do mostly the same;
Weigh hives and add frames of capped honey till the weight is at least 150 (or hopefully more!)
Slatted racks
My screened bottom boards are covered all the time so no need to close
Add mouse guards made of 1/2" hardware cloth to keep mice out (no entrance reducer)
Reverse inner cover to add a top entrance to the hive for additional ventilation
add a 2" insulation board above the inner cover
wrap hive in tar paper (roofing felt)
Treat for Mites with OAV around Thanksgiving
last step cross my fingers and hope for the best!

Also might add sugar bricks late winter / early spring

 

[TreeDaddy]

"Reverse inner cover to add a top entrance to the hive for additional ventilation"

How does this help ventilation?

bill

 

[Corey Peterson]

Having the notch down on the inner cover allows moisture to escape out of the top of the hive. After I wrap the hive I cut a hole in the tar paper so the bees can still use the top entrance I hadn't cut the tar paper yet in the picture below - just make sure you staple the tar paper down around the upper entrance other wise bees can end up behind the tar paper.

 

[TreeDaddy]

fascinated with different personalities of hives

did an inspection on a warm sunday yesterday

left a medium super full of honey on each brood box for the winter

the first hive, the little girls were docile and easy to manage(placed Apivar strips,beetle traps)

The second hive, the little witches acted like pissed off yellow jackets

Both hives ~ 3 feet apart

God love em

bill

 

[Peeps]

fascinated with different personalities of hives

did an inspection on a warm sunday yesterday

left a medium super full of honey on each brood box for the winter

the first hive, the little girls were docile and easy to manage(placed Apivar strips,beetle traps)

The second hive, the little witches acted like pissed off yellow jackets

Both hives ~ 3 feet apart

God love em

bill

That is so true. When my wife took off the top feeders one hive was chillin, the other hive was pissed and she took 6 hits from them.

 

[TreeDaddy]

spring time in the apiary is pure joy to beekeepers

Any of the brethren have experience capturing swarms?

i wanted to bump the thread up to hear thoughts about this and any other spring time activities

bill

 

[ksgobbler]

I’ve got a master beekeeper coming out next week to go through the hive with me. Plums will be blooming soon and the first big nectar flow will be underway. I treated for mites just before the winter probably need to hit them again before I put on supers. Also want to move my hive to get it more sun.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I would love to set up a hive or two, but I have way to many bears in the area.

 

[Corey Peterson]

spring time in the apiary is pure joy to beekeepers

Any of the brethren have experience capturing swarms?

i wanted to bump the thread up to hear thoughts about this and any other spring time activities

bill

The only swarm I've captured was out of one of my hives! Not many swarms in NH - mites seem to have wiped out a lot of the feral bees. We got 16" of snow on Thursday (ground was bare before the snow came) so I guess I'll have to wait a while longer for spring to arrive!

 

[ksgobbler]

Had the mentor come out today and we went thru the hive frame by frame. I learned a lot. We marked my queen.

Question for you guys. I want to move my hive to a spot with more sun (darn hive beetles) and have it easier to get to. I have a spot picked out. They say move them ft or miles. I’ve got no place to take them miles away. Anybody have luck moving them then placing brush in the entrance to make them reorient?

 

[Davewp]

move them at night.

 

[Peeps]

Both my hives didn’t make it through the winter. Good thing we ordered 2 more nucs for this spring.

 

[SwampCat]

I have caught a lot of swarms - usually three or four a year. They are mostly from my hives. I catch a very few in a hive box with brood comb and lemongrass oil. Most I just find hanging from a tree limb. I have actually watch quite a few swarm out of the hive.

 

[Corey Peterson]

Had the mentor come out today and we went thru the hive frame by frame. I learned a lot. We marked my queen.

Question for you guys. I want to move my hive to a spot with more sun (darn hive beetles) and have it easier to get to. I have a spot picked out. They say move them ft or miles. I’ve got no place to take them miles away. Anybody have luck moving them then placing brush in the entrance to make them reorient?

Last year I caught a swarm about 75yds from my bee yard and left them there for a few weeks. Once they drew out a 10 frame deep I moved them into the bee yard at night and leaned an upturned hive lid against the front of the hive to force them to re-orientate. It worked pretty good I had about 100 bees at the old spot buzzing around. If you could time it before a couple days of rain that would probably help to.

 

[Corey Peterson]

Looks like all six of my hives made it through winter. I started open feeding some pollen substitute (ultrabee) which they seem to be enjoying.

 

[SwampCat]

Here is a picture of a big swarm the other day - from one of my hives. Swarms from my hives used to provoke me into instant action - trying to recover them. This one was on a possum grape vine - six feet off the ground - an easy catch if there ever was one. It had me so bothered, I hooked my boat up and went fishing. I have found that having more hives than what one needs really reduces the worry and concern associated with keeping bees.

 

[ksgobbler]

I lost maybe 100-150 bees that went back to the old hive location and froze. I started feeding and thy sucked down a gallon of 1:1 syrup in no time. They are also packing in elm pollen. Plums should start blooming any day.
Need to get my supplies ready to catch a swarm and add a second hive.

 

[SwampCat]

I know it isnt always possible - but if new bee keepers can swing it - it can be very advantageous to start with two hives. You can rob brood from one hive to save the other if need be.

 

[Corey Peterson]

Moved my hives out of the orchard today to my new dedicated apiary. Should make spraying my trees a bit less worrisome. Now to setup my electric fence to keep those pesky bears out. PS Moving bee hives is a lot like work and reminds me I need to buy a tractor!