new to bees

[coontail]

i have a hive that my dad had. he passed away in nov. of 2004 and the hive hasnt been touched since. now i have a interest in beekeeping. the cows got out and knocked the hive over- the shallow super and outer cover seperated from the main hive. they were doing fine in the fall, but it was cold when the hive was knocked over. i couldnt hear them, are they probably o.k. ? also i moved them so this wouldnt happen again. do they need shade?

[drobbins]

shade is bad, leave them in the sun
we're about to have some nice weather, go watch them on a warm afternoon to see if they are still alive, you'll see them flying.
If they have died you need to arrange to buy some quick, suppliers run out in the spring

Dave

[swamprat]

'intrested in beekeeping now' ooww you are sooo hooked now.
symptos include....
cant sleep at night thinking about bees

cant find anough to reed about bees

looking at every flower you walk by

start selling eveyr thing you own to buy more hives ext.ext. and soo on.

looks like you been bit my friend.

Dwayne.S
vernon N.Y.

[GRIMBEE]

Your father would be proud Continue the tradation, you will see the beekeeping is very addictive and welcome to Beesource.

[coontail]

thanks guys, it was warm yesterday but i didnt get to check them, but today they were all over the hive and in and out.

[drobbins]

cool!

sound like you're good to go
since we are going to have a few days of nice weather you might want to feed them a little. get a 5 lb bag of sugar and mix it in a bucket with about a half gallon of water. put some leaves and stuff on the surface so they have something to stand on and sit it near the hive. This will encourage them to think spring is here and start to build up. if you do this you'll need to continue until something starts blooming so they have the food they need to raise their young, but around here some early stuff will be blooming in a few weeks
I suggest this since you said they had been knocked over and they may need a little help. you also might want to lift the back of the hive and get an idea how heavy it is. this will give you an indication of whether or not they need to be fed

Dave

[Barry Tolson]

Find a beekeeper there in your area to have as a mentor. That will save you from having to learn from your own mistakes!

[Sundance]

i have a hive that my dad had. he passed away in nov. of 2004 and the hive hasnt been touched since.

Those genetics are a valuable commodity nowadays.
Survivor Queens are becoming hot stuff.

Glad it worked out and make splits off that mother colony
to keep those genetics going.

[indypartridge]

Find a beekeeper there in your area to have as a mentor. That will save you from having to learn from your own mistakes!

A good place to find a mentor is a local beekeeping club:
http://www.virginiabeekeepers.org/association_map.htm