Keeping bees

Well if you do rebuild perhaps also consider putting the hollow blocks on their sides so there is a greater surface pressing on the soil rather than the smaller edges into the soil when it is damp . An added plus is there will be no hiding place inside the blocks for nesting vermin etc.

i'd have put several appropiate smilies in the thread but for some reason at the present I cant access them and youtube etc . I might have lost my flash player etc.

@camprn wrote:I built a new hive stand on Monday.

Looks good to me but how are you going to keep The ants out??? we have use pans under the block for used oil to keep out the ants.

I have not had any serious ant problems in the hives the past 3 years. So, I'm not sure how I would deal with them if it became a problem.

@plantoid wrote:Well if you do rebuild perhaps also consider putting the hollow blocks on their sides so there is a greater surface pressing on the soil rather than the smaller edges into the soil when it is damp . An added plus is there will be no hiding place inside the blocks for nesting vermin etc.

I placed the blocks thusly, just as they are typically used for construction of structures. I have had blocks fail that were placed on their side and then couldn't bear the load.

I've not had a ant problem in the hives yet they are every where else this year it's just a matter of time before I go back to oil in the pans,I'm planning a split this summer so I've got to add a sixth hive,might just try a 8 frame garden hive this time

I will be making a split this year also, my bees are already busting at the seams, but cold weather is forcing me to wait a little longer....hope they don't decide to split (swarm) on me.

I am planning on making at least 3 nucs. More if I can get boxes.

Oh What good news! I only have 1 box, but need another one...always feel like I am behind the 8-ball with my bees.
Good luck to you.

@camprn wrote:SO NHG, all those dead bees on the bottom board are normal. Cleaning up after our northern winters is a tedious and dirty job. Congrats on your bees making it through this LONG, HARSH WINTER! There are still sugar patties and pollen patties in there? Did you see eggs? If you still have bees take off all the extra supers they are not in and place the pollen patty and sugar right on the top bars where the cluster is. As soon as it gets warm feed 1:1 sugar syrup and lots of it!The girls are bringing in pollen and the nectar will soon flow. Those girls will revive if the queen is in there. There is yet hope! Chin up!!

Really? That huge swath of dead bees is normal? I hope so!!! I would be so happy. But I'm not counting on it yet, only because the frames seemed like a ghost town.

Normally I wouldn't feed any syrup for year #2, but if they show signs of reviving, I'll be glad to do it this year. I probably would not take honey until next spring anyway.

But, we'll see. The # of bees was pretty small.

(I lost my log-in status so I haven't been getting emails about these threads.... hate when that happens)

Okay all you bee keepers. I have a question. Why aren't the bees buzzing around and doing their thing pollinating my strawberries. I have 4 different kinds of strawberries. Some of the flowers are pink and some white. They are the only thing blooming in my garden (except some bolted brassicas). The bees are around the yellow flowers on my bolted brassicas but none around the strawberries.

My son in law set up a hive last spring/summer that is only about 25 yards from the strawberry bed. I have purposely kept myself ignorant about the bee hive because the SIL tends to start a project and then abandon it to another family member. In this case, I have enough learning about SFG to get involved with his project.

So why no honey bees buzzing my straberry flowers ??

The bees are dead ????

@plantoid wrote: The bees are dead ????

Yup, that could well be the case. Sorry yolos, the other thing that could be happening is that there is much more attractive forage elsewhere. Do you have any flowre gardens in bloom now. If not, you may want to plant some things for our friends the honey bees. And other pollinators.


I put my first honey supers on today.

What's the difference between a honey super and a regular super? Just sticking another super on top? I never really got why they call them supers, hive bodies, and honey supers. I use all mediums, and everything is the same.

My bees have been delayed a week due to weather issues. Won't be in till the27th.

From what I got from my instructor, hive body because the bees live there and you never take that honey. Honey supers are the ones you harvest. I am going to use all mediums also.

@CindiLou wrote:From what I got from my instructor, hive body because the bees live there and you never take that honey. Honey supers are the ones you harvest. I am going to use all mediums also.

Hmm. And yet, the bees travel up through the supers in the winter so I don't really get that.

But aren't the honey supers off in the winter? Or at least don't have much honey in them? Rofl..now I am confused! Camprn! Plantoid!

Ha CindiLou, sorry about that!

Well, the bees need honey to make it through the winter, and I believe they need it all the way up the boxes. Maybe the hive body/brood box is the lowest one because they don't tend to keep honey in that one, and the honey supers are everything above that.

Well this is my first year, so I won't get any honey for me. I bet the long time keepers will be in here to clear it up for me before then!

I run all medium hive boxes, (except for one deep ) also known as supers or hive body depending upon it's placement in the stack of the Langstroth hive. The winter colony is reduced in numbers and typically around here in september the hive body is two deeps or three mediums. The hive body is where the colony will keep it's brood nest, immediate honey, pollen and bee bread. The super is placed above the hive body and is meant to be for the collection of honey. Some folks put a queen excluder between the hive body and the supers, to keep brood out of the supers.

From Beesource glossary: Super: A wooden box with frames containing foundation or drawn comb in which honey is to be produced. Named for its position above the brood nest. The same type of box is referred to as a hive body when it is situated below the honey supers and is intended to be used for brood rearing and pollen storage.

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?237911-Beekeeping-Glossary

Regarding the bees moving up, yes they do. This is where you will want to revers the boxes of the brood nest. In the spring all the bees and the queen have moved up to the upper boxes, usually in search of their stores of honey. The queen will start laying eggs after the winter solstice and the longer sun hours will trigger this (I think). So, what you have is all this activity in the top most box of the hive body. Meanwhile typically the bottom medium box is empty. On a nice warm, calm day in the spring, before the big surge of the flow and brood, the boxes get reversed. See page 155 of Beekeeping for Dummies, if that is the text you are using. You may do it again in the fall, if necessary.

@camprn wrote:

@plantoid wrote: The bees are dead ????

Yup, that could well be the case. Sorry yolos, the other thing that could be happening is that there is much more attractive forage elsewhere. Do you have any flowre gardens in bloom now. If not, you may want to plant some things for our friends the honey bees. And other pollinators.

No plantoid there are plenty of bees. Camprn, the only thing in bloom right now is a dogwood tree right above the hive. Maybe they like that better. Also, my SIL keeps putting sugar water right next to the hive??. Maybe he is spoiling them. I have planted borage, two species of cosmos, and marigolds. They are just small transplants and not yet flowering.

Bees will gravitate to the source that is most readily available, not necessarily the one in your own yard. I am always amazed at how I think they will go to something in my yard & then go somewhere else.

Thanks camprn, that REALLY helps clear it up. In all my time with bee people, I've never heard that clarified.

The fact that the queen starts laying after the solstice means that because I have no brood at all in my boxes in April, they're goners. WHAA. Oh well, I chalk that up to learning curve.

Also, does anyone know when dandelions come out in zone 5a?

edit: I reversed the boxes last week anyway.

One good thing is that the new package of bees I'm getting soon will have the benefit of 3 mediums with already drawn out comb - I think that will really help them get established early. It must be very hard for a new package with new hives and non-drawn out comb to get everything built up and ready for winter.

@NHGardener wrote:Thanks camprn, that REALLY helps clear it up. In all my time with bee people, I've never heard that clarified.

The fact that the queen starts laying after the solstice means that because I have no brood at all in my boxes in April, they're goners. WHAA. Oh well, I chalk that up to learning curve.

Also, does anyone know when dandelions come out in zone 5a?

edit: I reversed the boxes last week anyway.

One good thing is that the new package of bees I'm getting soon will have the benefit of 3 mediums with already drawn out comb - I think that will really help them get established early. It must be very hard for a new package with new hives and non-drawn out comb to get everything built up and ready for winter.

When I mention the winter solstice that doesn't mean the queen cranks up and starts laying thousands of eggs a day. It means that if there is a cluster of bees still living, as the days get longer the queen will start to lay eggs. Do you still have a cluster of live bees in your hive?

Here is a page with a pretty good list, but it is not exhaustive, of pollen sources and their seasons in zone 5a.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollen_source

You are very lucky (smart) that you have packages coming. I have folks contacting me everyday wondering if I can find them nucs or an extra package.... but there are just none available now.



I am really happy I made a nuc last summer and they made it through winter!