Yep, bees are dead and clustered around the comb - when the kids are home for Christmas, we'll take the hives apart, see if there is any honey to harvest (did they really go through it in a month?) and examine the comb and bees.
I need to figure out what is going wrong, it can't be the cold because there are Canadians who have this type of hive and get their bees through the winter.
Oh well.............
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Polar vortex November 2014
Really? It's cold so early.
I went to the hives today with my stethoscope. Hive A, always the stronger one, was buzzing delightfully. That was the top box so the cluster is up there (where most of the honey should be).
But Hive B, I'm not so sure, was I just imagining a faint buzzing? And shouldn't it be louder even if they're in the second box?
Oh well, it looks like I'll be ordering at least one package come springtime.
Time will tell.
It's snowng lightly, supposed to get 2-3 inches today and it's 21degrees out and no sign of warming above 32 until a week from now.
I went to the hives today with my stethoscope. Hive A, always the stronger one, was buzzing delightfully. That was the top box so the cluster is up there (where most of the honey should be).
But Hive B, I'm not so sure, was I just imagining a faint buzzing? And shouldn't it be louder even if they're in the second box?
Oh well, it looks like I'll be ordering at least one package come springtime.
Time will tell.
It's snowng lightly, supposed to get 2-3 inches today and it's 21degrees out and no sign of warming above 32 until a week from now.
Sunday, November 9, 2014
November 9, 2014 - insulating the hives
Mark and Jon stacked straw around the hives yesterday and today. I'm still debating the whole tar paper wrapping thing but will just keep this windbreak for now.
New batteries in the fencer went in today too.
Here are my hives:
(if you look closely, you can see Doc staring at me, from the corral, wondering what I am up to).
And here are some of the deer on my game camera:
Isn't he beautiful??
These are the triplet fawns which have been spotted on our land by our neighbors all summer:
Adorable little buck:
New batteries in the fencer went in today too.
Here are my hives:
And here are some of the deer on my game camera:
These are the triplet fawns which have been spotted on our land by our neighbors all summer:
We are expecting our first major snow storm starting late tonight...stay tuned.
Saturday, November 1, 2014
Ready for winter
Today is Saturday November 1st and three days ago, I pulled the feeder boxes. All I have to do now is get straw stacked around the hives. The bottom boards are pulled out about halfway.
Monday, October 20, 2014
October 19, 2014 - pulled "baggie" feeders
It is still nice out, and it made it to 65 degrees here today. So I got the smoker going and headed to the hives around 3pm.
Here I am in my outfit :)
The photo above is looking up into the top box of Hive A/1. It is my stronger hive. The bees were really active on this sunny warm afternoon. The white comb on the left is newer comb and the brown comb is capped honey and pollen. There are 6 combs which look good for winter and then the 2 newer ones on the left which are somewhat feeble.
I took each hive apart and pulled out the baggies which had syrup in them because they keep leaking down on the bottom board and the bees are accumulating on the board near the back of the hive. That's not such a big deal but there are also other bees and yellow jackets showing up so I wanted to discourage that.
I emptied the leaking baggies into the jar feeders and am really glad I remembered to bring a bucket along to minimize spillage. Some syrup still spilled, but I wiped it up as well as I could.
On Hive B, the combs from the second box kept putting pressure on the baggie (on top of the top bars of the third box) so it leaked worse than Hive A. I pulled the bottom board out completely so I could bring it to the house to dry off. I put the hives back together and made sure the boxes' edges were aligned properly.
I am going to continue to feed them this week even though it's getting late in the season - because during the day, it's going to be in the 60's. My understanding is that they will keep taking down the sugar syrup as long as the temps are that high.
Here I am in my outfit :)
Note the smoker and I'm by the hive :)
That's my A or #1 Hive
The photo above is looking up into the top box of Hive A/1. It is my stronger hive. The bees were really active on this sunny warm afternoon. The white comb on the left is newer comb and the brown comb is capped honey and pollen. There are 6 combs which look good for winter and then the 2 newer ones on the left which are somewhat feeble.
I emptied the leaking baggies into the jar feeders and am really glad I remembered to bring a bucket along to minimize spillage. Some syrup still spilled, but I wiped it up as well as I could.
On Hive B, the combs from the second box kept putting pressure on the baggie (on top of the top bars of the third box) so it leaked worse than Hive A. I pulled the bottom board out completely so I could bring it to the house to dry off. I put the hives back together and made sure the boxes' edges were aligned properly.
I am going to continue to feed them this week even though it's getting late in the season - because during the day, it's going to be in the 60's. My understanding is that they will keep taking down the sugar syrup as long as the temps are that high.
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
September 29 - October 14, 2014
September 29: Hive B feeders were nearly empty. I filled the feeders and widened the holes on the lids of the feeder jars. I put brads on the mouse guards to hold them in place.
September 30 - October 5: we went to Guatemala and when I returned it seemed they had hardly eaten the syrup.
So October 6, I put baggies on the top of the bars of the bottom boxes - this meant I had to take the hive apart after I smoked it. The top box of Hive A/1 was lighter than when I weighed it before.
October 11: I refilled the baggies - though they still had 2:1 syrup in them, they were definitely lower in volume. Then I checked the lids of the jars and the sugar had crystallized inside the lids and that is why they aren't taking down the syrup. I did note that the top box of Hive A/1 is very heavy again. It definitely felt like 20# again. It is heavier than the top box of Hive B.
October 12: I dissolved more sugar in water - HOT water - and made sure the syrup was well dissolved. Then I refilled the jars.
October 14: There was a lot of activity at the hives - the worker bees were chasing away the yellow jackets and dragging the dead bees off the landing board.
September 30 - October 5: we went to Guatemala and when I returned it seemed they had hardly eaten the syrup.
So October 6, I put baggies on the top of the bars of the bottom boxes - this meant I had to take the hive apart after I smoked it. The top box of Hive A/1 was lighter than when I weighed it before.
October 11: I refilled the baggies - though they still had 2:1 syrup in them, they were definitely lower in volume. Then I checked the lids of the jars and the sugar had crystallized inside the lids and that is why they aren't taking down the syrup. I did note that the top box of Hive A/1 is very heavy again. It definitely felt like 20# again. It is heavier than the top box of Hive B.
October 12: I dissolved more sugar in water - HOT water - and made sure the syrup was well dissolved. Then I refilled the jars.
October 14: There was a lot of activity at the hives - the worker bees were chasing away the yellow jackets and dragging the dead bees off the landing board.
Monday, September 22, 2014
Left for France and follow up
8/29-9/11: we were gone to France and when we returned I noted that only ~1" of syrup was gone from the jars. It had rained 3 1/2" while we were gone - there was a hard frost over night on 9/12.
9/16 Tuesday: removed bottom boxes and kept 3 boxes on each hive.
9/22 Monday: Hive B/2 one jar was empty, the other jars were low so I refilled all 4 with 2:1 syrup
9/16 Tuesday: removed bottom boxes and kept 3 boxes on each hive.
this was the entrance with the mouse guard added after I removed the bottom box
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)