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Oh, that's great. I was getting low on empty drawn out foundation and was hoping to use these pollen bound, but good, frames. Thanks for sharing.
Tanya

I didn't know you could hose out the frames. Mine aren't in the hive right now though, I thought a frame full of only pollen or mostly pollen had to be cut out and disposed of.

Tanya

I probably should have said a little more- I want to use some of the frames from last years lost colonies and was wondering if I can use those that have lots of pollen in the cells. OR should I cut...

I was wondering if the unused pollen stored in the frames is used by the bees the next year. :scratch: If there's a lot in some frames, should I just get rid of it and add foundation?

Tanya

I had no idea they had traveled so far north and have no experience in controlling them. So I'll check out what people have said on this list.
Thanks for the input.
Tanya

I'm in SW Pennsylvania and was wondering if the SHB are in our state. :scratch: I just installed 2 nucs the other day that were from Florida.
Tanya

Thanks-- I was hoping that was the case. I'm down to my last hive and expecting one or two nuc's next week and want them to have a good start.
Tanya

I have some frames that are only partially drawn out from some hives that perished. If I put these frames into a new hive, will they continue to draw them out?
Thanks!

I went into winter with 2 deeps on one hive and added a super with extra stores to help them out- just in case. I want to add a third deep in order to make a split but am not sure exactly how to...

John,

I'm at the point of checking out local bee men to see if they'll have bees to sell. It was a tough year for me bee-wise. Our basement may bee to warm and I can't carry them myself anyway.
...

John,

The weather is supposed to get up into the 50's in a few days. I'll see how they are doing then. I already lost one hive that had lots of stores. Not sure, right now, what happened.

Tanya

I've used the Mountain Camp method in lean years. Right now I have left a super on my hives that were not as heavy as I thought they should be. My question is- can I put the sugar on the super? I...

I did see what you explained... I think the bees were just consuming as they went and no stores. The only ones that had anything were the ones that already had stored honey from last year.

As for...

When do I use the crystals then??
Tanya

Top cover sandwich- nice!
Tanya

Is it necessary to use the crystals in winter? I'm a bit confused since I thought that was the way to store them over winter.
Tanya

Only a small cluster of dead bees and a few in other places. No queen.
Tanya

Thank you both for the information. Not sure why I wouldn't need moth crystals to store the supers. Maybe the wax moths aren't active now but in the spring??

Thanks!
Tanya

I guess I just need a shoulder to cry on. I lost one hive going into winter and see I've lost another. A third hive doesn't look very strong-- so I'm down to one strong hive. I like to keep 5!!
...

All the hives have a good number of bees at this point. I think they were just consuming all the nectar they brought in in the fall. The fall nectar run wasn't very good this year.

I'll do the...

Hadn't thought of the stronger hives getting the most. Of course that would be true. Thanks for the information.
Tanya

I have 4 hives. After taking off the supers a week ago I found that 2 of them are rather light for winter. I have gone through the supers I took off and separated out the frames that are empty and...

I have lots of fields of goldenrod in my area. I'm sure there are the common ragweeds too but they aren't as noticeable. I was concerned that there was something going on that the bees weren't taking...

Well, wouldn't you know-- I just came in from the beehives and they are bringing in loads of bright orange pollen. Guess they read my query on the bee list. Thanks for all the information..
Tanya

Mike,

I guess it is even more complicated than I thought... thanks for the input- I've learned a bit more now.
Tanya