Keeping bees

Camp, AND you have a stand??  What don't you do or have??

sanderson wrote:Camp, AND you have a stand??  What don't you do or have??

Not my farm stand, but it is the farm where I have some bees. The farmer was balking a bit about when and if to put the honey out. Hopefully it will do well there, I priced it higher (true value) than the wholesale honey he had on the stand previously.

Your honey looks outstanding camp  
Good luck in your sales!

Thanks!

http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/Resources/VarroaMites.asp

camprn wrote:For first year hives in the north, like the ones me, Cindy and NHG have, if the bees have drawn empty comb by the end of August, start to feed 2:1 syrup to fill the hive for winter stores. That's what I plan on doing. GO BEES!

How long to feed? If I start do I have to feed all winter or do an inspection in late Sept to check on them? They have three mediums for hive body and two mediums on top, one was drawn a couple of weeks ago and the one on top was added then. If they draw it all out this month should I add another super or start feeding? Or both rofl..

Remember, this is my hive that keeps on going and going lol.

CindiLou wrote:

camprn wrote:For first year hives in the north, like the ones me, Cindy and NHG have, if the bees have drawn empty comb by the end of August, start to feed 2:1 syrup to fill the hive for winter stores. That's what I plan on doing. GO BEES!

How long to feed?

Until they wont take any more or it's too cold for the bees to take syrup.

CindiLou wrote:If I start do I have to feed all winter

If you feed them enough, early enough, they will have all stores on board in the comb they have been drawing all summer. That hive should be AT LEAST 60- 70 pounds by october.

CindiLou wrote:... do an inspection in late Sept to check on them? They have three mediums for hive body and two mediums on top, one was drawn a couple of weeks ago and the one on top was added then. If they draw it all out this month should I add another super or start feeding? Or both rofl..

Remember, this is my hive that keeps on going and going lol.

Yes you want to do an inspection to make sure all is well. Do some reading about how the hive should be entering into winter. Most often, the bees go down into the lowest brood box as the upper boxes are filled with honey. Any extra space not filled with bees or honey is taken off for the winter. I typically don't wrap my hive until just before christmas, and then I only use roofing paper around the hive, This acts as a wind break and has solar gain in the coldest parts of the winter. Also, think about getting homasote boards for the top of our hives. Plan on needing two for each hive. The homasote is absorbent and if there is a lot of moisture, it will help keep that regulated to a manageable level. Ventilation during the freezing months is very important.

My bees no likey me today lol..I did a complete inspection. Hotter than blazes! 91° and humid with a light breeze. But we are looking at a chance of rain tomorrow and then turning hotter! I needed to see what my bees were doing.

Hubby sat out there and wrote the notes as I hollered them at him. He is such a good sport! So I have a frame by frame note of what is going on inside my hive.

I have 1.6 medium supers of honey and several frames of brood and honey. They still have a few frames to build comb on. So I don't think I will feed this fall. Still about 4/5 weeks to go.

I have 5 medium supers for the hive

I had a few frames that just looked like they were empty, but I could not look close cause my glasses were fogged with sweat lol.. So I took a picture of one of them.

Surprise!

This...


Shows up as eggs...



And larvae...




And lots of frames that look like this....




Changed out my top super for one with a hole for a top entrance. With the weather we have and the chance of getting a couple of feet of snow like usual, I decided to go with top entrance in the winter.

And frames of honey are HEAVY! Makes for heavy supers lol..
I also changed the large concrete blocks on the top of the ant tray with smaller ones. The hive would be way to tall for a 5'2" shorty to lift off full supers!

Cindi COOL! good bees. Keep feeding, you want to go into winter with a hive that weighs 60+ pounds.

So nice of you all to share you knowledge and pictures!  Some of that knowledge goes right over my head!  Beautiful pictures of your honey and hives!

camprn wrote:I hope the honey is ready. It's wicked hot outside today.

Took 12 medium frames off this hive, then I had to quit, I was getting sick from the heat.

Cindi, you may need one of these.... I'm 5'2" as well.  

Hey all!  Those are some gorgeous hive shots from everyone!

GG

http://www.masterbeekeeper.org/calendar/calendar_home.htm
I'm starting my reading on page 7.

Rofl..I am going to! My daughters have borrowed mine but told them it comes back lol..I know that I don't have to have that many supers on my little hobby hives but just 5 is tall enough and I know I want more than that lol..


Was 100° today. Bees have been hanging outside of the hives this week. Next week in the 90s still.

To the bee keepers in the group:

We are having a serious bee problem on the side of the house with the SFG.  They land on us and feel like they are eating us.  It doesn't hurt but they're everywhere.  When we don't see them, like when I set my elbow on the arm of the chair the other day, we get stung.  Now this isn't a problem for me as a slice if onion makes it disappear in no time, but my mother swells up in that spot and it lasts for over a week.  She got stung on the lip the other day while talking to me.  Not pretty.  I'll take a photo of one & post it this weekend but they look like honey bees.  

Why are they hanging around us and landing on us?  Neither of us wears scents...

CC

Are you between the bees & the hives?
If so you're  as like as not in the bee line for bees bringing in in the autumn pollen to make their be bread .

 One way to sort this sort of problem ( if this is the case )  is move the hives over winter to a different part of the garden ,  if you can .
 Best done especially when there is hard frost as the bees will be tight on the comb ,  on snow they might wake up due to the reflected sunlight and still warm air in the hive.

If you can't consider moving them put a larch lap fence panel screen  screwed on to decent solid 4 inch thick  concreted posts  to run right around the hives so that the bees have to fly up above you and down into the hive area , line the panels with a 1/4" mesh  so that bees cannot take short cuts across the bed area. Have one of the panels reinforced &  set  on gate hinges so you can get access when needed .

Over the years I've had several experienced bee keepers who came to me with  the same problem , the fence panels were my successful solution.  One of them was able to construct a 18 foot x 18 foot concreted floor  enclosure  for his six hives  .... Handy for when it was wet or windy etc. & the bees needed looking at it,  but also allowed sunshine inside without making it a vicious hot spot or a cold spot . It also kept his bees high out of notice of his neighbours as he lived in high density pocket handkerchief sized gardens on a detached city centre housing estate

Just re read what you posted...do get those photo's asap they may not be bees but a type of wasp collecting the late pollen off something like IVY or Cotoneaster .

As much as I would like to, I don't have hives, David, nor do any of my neighbors that I know of.  I'll grab a photo when I get home tonight if they are still buzzing around.

CC

Just got back in from doing final fall check on the hive. No honey for me this year. I don't want to run them short and seems like they haven't made much honey since the last time Aug.21st. They have been making comb. 

So I opened the top entrance. I will go out tonight after dark and put the reducer on. 

Put in the bottom board, our nights are getting down in the 40s so they need the protection. I will put a mouse guard on later this weekend.

I was out there at the time they were starting to come home. So they were not happy rofl. I didn't use smoke because I knew I wasn't going deep in the hive.

So my first year as a beekeeper is about done.

Oh question. Hive beetles. I did see a couple of adults so I know there are some in there. What do you all use for them? Winter is coming but I know the bees keep it warm so the beetles won't die off either.

CindiLou wrote:

Oh question. Hive beetles. I did see a couple of adults so I know there are some in there. What do you all use for them? Winter is coming but I know the bees keep it warm so the beetles won't die off either.

Brushy Mountain sells a small trap that can be places into hives with beetles. I should have gotten mine sooner. The beetles did in a couple hives.

Seems like the bees are just about totally screwed up. Yesterday we caught a lovely swarm at a local high school. They were under the team bench on the side of the football field, and they were scheduled to play in a couple hours.

I suggested that the bees might make the players more vigorous, but the principal, said the bench was for the visiting team. So the idea of leaving them was nixed.

I set an empty hive in contact with the bees and they cooperated by marching right in, so the principal and the coaches were grateful.

I can't recall ever seeing a swarm this late. I've seen a couple in early August. They are really going to have to have a lot of care and a lot of luck to get them through the winter, even though our winters are fairly mild. They have *nothing* at all for resources. I started them on syrup, and I will order some pollen patties. They should be able to get some natural pollen, as goldenrod is just starting.

I bet a new beekeeper down the road is missing the bees.

A few beekeepers around here ended up with small hive beetle that came in with their packages this spring. I'm not sure the hive beetles can survive the cold of our zone 5A winters. I'm now more leery of buying packages of bees from the south.

camprn wrote:I bet a new beekeeper down the road is missing the bees.

A few beekeepers around here ended up with small hive beetle that came in with their packages this spring. I'm not sure the hive beetles can survive the cold of our zone 5A winters. I'm now more leery of buying packages of bees from the south.

These came from a grove of trees; there aren't any beekeepers in the area.

Hive beetles are everywhere in the USA, and have been for quite a long time. They fly, you know. They only thrive in areas that have sandy soil, where they can best pupate. Otherwise, if you keep the bees strong, the beetles will not be significant.

A pesticide hit on the bees, heavy varroa infestation, or a failing queen, will give the beetles an edge, and then they can take over.

David, can you keep the hive in the greenhouse for the winter?  Can you tell I know nothing about this topic???  

I think our annoying yet beneficial insects are yellow jackets, especially since they were eating a worm this morning:  


Or are they wasps?

CC

Yes, cc those are not bees, they are wasps of some sort. I have seen wasps in the garden that hunt the cabbage worms.

Even on this side of the pond , they are like camp says deffo " Wasps "
 I'm betting they were after pollen to feed the overwintering nest somewhere fairly close say , within 100 yards , most likely in someone's roof void  at the eaves , occasionally in a half  dead hollow tree. They are cutting up the worm in microscopic bits  to take back to the nest to feed developed /hatched  lavae that have turned into young wasps or they are dehydrating it for winter ( most likely the latter ) a sort of dried meat ball .   

All the nests I've taken out of roof voids have always been full of all sorts of pollen this time of the year with little honey .. I suspect  the wasps have a slightly different diet & winter lifestyle to honey bees.
The biggest nest I've removed was a good cubic yard of material   & scared me ****less  as there were many  , many queens it , all with their mini armies heading in my direction .
 
You can often spot the flight lines back to the nests  if you sit still in the garden on a chair and every now and then move the chair your sitting on to be under and along the flight line .

 Re hives in green houses to over winter.
 I've not heard of that being done .   Most likely the wax would melt on sunny days or the warmth would activate the bees for flying  and it would be too cold outside the green house for them , as like as not there would not be any forage for them either outside the green house.

 I have seen photos  of Russian & Checz beekeepers ( British Bee Keeping journal / mag)    who have made mini Neuc sized hives about a foot square  and have set them in the cellars of the home where it is just above freezing , piping the bees outside via a 1" dia waste pipe through the window or door frame,  so that the bees can fly when it warms up . Each mini hive had it's own sealed feeder attached so the small nest could feed over winter.

 I never saw any follow up about it ,  but assume it was successful most of the time. It does have the advantages of protecting the bees from pests , wood peckers or bears and damp conditions as well as giving you a period of time in which to really knock the Varroa on the head in readiness for the spring awaking.

I was at the local farmers market this morning and bumped into a bee keeper vendor selling unheated, strained, raw honey. What a surprise to learn he lives a couple of properties behind me.   I mentioned how my backyard was visited by a lot of bees this summer and he said his girls may have found my place since they have a flying range of up to 4 miles. 
 I know nothing about bee flying ranges but this just made my day meeting someone close by to purchase honey from and that my garden and ample clover in the lawn might be helping his bees.  Feels good.