Here's a mild story of
success with 'heated hives':
by: Matthew Westall |
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Last summer I went to the
trouble of removing feral bees all the way through September
starting them on pieces of their own brood & comb. Of course,
late in the season, their chances for survival aren't much better
than Clinton to keep office.
On the theory that wide swings in weather are a primary cause
for bees to engorge on honey & energy I constructed a frame
for nucs to sit part way out an upstairs window.
From this, I had four nucs staggered one on-top the other with
removable 'feeder' holes screened-in atop at the rear which I
fed sugar-syrup from late-November on. The feeding started with
pouring honey by the spoonful and moved to 1 gal top-feeders. |
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I only found time to fill three
of the four nucs but all three started with less than 2 filled
frames and survived with 3 - 5 frames at the end of March. |
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This room sits away from the heated
majority of the house and is unused except for storage, leaving
both the door and the heat risers closed. The general room temperature
is probably 30-50 degrees F throughout the winter. With the entrance
to the nucs closed down to 1/2 inch on the entrance and duct-taped
to seal outside winds, I'm estimating the bees were able to survive
by reducing the temperature to more of a constant cluster-forming
climate.
Happy Keeping,
Matthew Westall |
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