Fall stuff

[ajs32]

i live in Chemung county in upstate NY:
1. caught a swarm today i will put 2:1 feed to it starting tomorrow...what are it's chances?

2. my other hives i took out the excluders after the spring flow and they seem to want to do nothing but lay brood. should i try to drive them down or might they still pack in with the golden rod?

3. i popped the top on one hive and they have got some seriously dark honey in there,,great tasting but not sure but may have left a bit of astringent aftertaste..what might this be?

[beeware10]

the dark honey could be bamboo. cold weather coming. probably will screw up the goldenrod.2-3 more days left. If we get the cold weather for a week it probably will be the end of goldenrod. the swarm may stand a chance if you feed lots and they can hatch out 1-2 batches brood for winter.

[Ray4852]

its getting to late to feed a swarm now. dump those bees in your other hives. chemung county. do you know hydrostacker Mary. every time I go down to see her she wants me to take out her swarms.

[Ray4852]

cold weather is coming next week but i don't think it will hurt the goldenrod. i think the goldenrod will last into early October this year.

[mcdermottm]

hi there! right next door in horseheads! it would be a great opportunity to try to overwinter in a nuc. another option would be to build an observation hive. i overwintered in a 5 med frame ob hive last winter. worked great. good luck!

[Ray4852]

I'm thinking about building an observation hive next year. Did you have any problems getting it through the winter.

[mcdermottm]

i did not have any problem getting them through the winter in the ob hive. they had 3 frames mostly filled with honey starting winter. i put sugar water in the feeder but they didn't use much of it. i put foam board on the front and back so they could keep the heat regulated.