I've been reading the western canadian book. They also talk about a building dedicated to overwintering. I've got a few weeks before snow sets in again
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It really makes you wonder how they do things in russia successfully with limited resources???
Thanks for the book link! I'll be printing that off tonight!
I took a couple pics today, I'll try and get them uploaded tonight or tomorrow. My hives are nothing fancy, 2 golden mean hives, foam insulation on 3 sides and under the lid...and now a cheapo sleeping bag covering each hive. Today things were pretty fun to watch before work. They are still crawling all over when I got home this evening, I did notice the one hive fanning going on in one hive tonight. And in both hives I can see 3 seperate combs this evening looking through the inspection window with a flashlight (yup I cant not look LOL) Kinda worried the one hive might be a tad bit aggressive...they were quick to jump anything landing on the landing pad and had a mob of bees waiting at the entrance. The other hive was much more laid back. Its the one that I'm worried about having a slow queen. Maybe' they're just taking things cool
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As for alaska and TBH's I know the fella I bought bees from had an article on it and he does do it, though I wonder how much. He has 2, 3-4' hives I'd guess kenyan? Everything else is lanstroths. I dont know any other beek's in the area yet. I am not familiar with warre hives. I am thinking I may build some foundationless hives this winter and give a couple more a go next summer. I have a farmer with a section of land who gave me the green light for bees. Problem is it's 90 miles away and there is definatly bears around and no one actually lives on the land so very little human influence to keep them away.
I'm brand spanking new to bees of any kind. I came acrossed his article and the golden mean plans popped up on a quick search for tbh plans. It looked nice so I built it. Honestly I havent even turned green I'm so new to this lol. No class's, lots of reading and lots of questions. So far I haven't killed them yet
. Weather's supposed to be nice the next few days, debaiting wether or not its time to move my follower board with the warmth and remove the sleeping blankets..
overall they've been pretty quiet. Actually one hive has been really quiet. The other hive has been noticably more active. The laid back hive is the one thats parked on the pollen patti but doesnt seem to be really taking it for some reason. They had hive on bar 1...bar two has the pollen patti on it, the next few bars are engulfed in bees and I'm just seeing comb. I'll give it a few more days before I go in and remove that patti and get it out of their way. Hive 2 is situated farther back closer to the feeder...so the patti is free and they've really gone to town on it. They are however overflowing onto the screen in my follower board feeder. The first time I opened things up to feed I had bees everywhere. Its why I put on the window screen over the top of the follower board to keep things a little more calm when I'm filling things up. Until today we've barely been getting to the high 50's for a high and somewhere between freezing and 40 for a low...kinda rainy and windy overall and really nice evenings.
At what point should I go in and check my bars out to see if my queens laying? The 3 combs I can barely see through the ball of bees is half or so width wise..no telling how far down they've drawn things. I was thinking of letting the nice weather this weekend go on and see how things go, continue feeding for now and leave them bee. That one pollen patti has me concerned they are building comb on it or atleast right smack behind it on the same bar. I may try and get that one out without making to much disturbance in the hive. I dont want to have to try and pick out a plastic ziplock out of a bar of comb LOL. I did notice they stopped flying as much when I was feeding today. I had to remove the sleeping bags to get the lids off to fill my feeders. I'm sure dropping the hive temp. It was definatly cool watching them scoot out over the house, woods was full of them.
I'll holler at my buddy this weekend. He's a good bowhunting buddy of mine. Thinking of doing a spring walleye/sauger and turkey trip with him next year...if not the year after for sure. I made the mistake of heading south this year when the bees arrived. Thankfully the last shipment came in 2 days before I got home and he was willing to feed for me. Gotta make some adjustments next year if I have to buy bees again.