Are you ready for the Odfrank overwintering challenge?

[Daniel Y]

Adrian,
Something is missing in the math or the details for me. Most likely the details.

Day 1 fraems are isolated from any further laying. any one day old egg is 21 days from emergence. 10 days until a queen is reintroduced 7 days above excluder plus 3 days queen is caged. If the queen begins to lay immediately it will be an additional 8 days until that brood is capped. total of 19 days from isolation to new brood being capped. Capped brood has been present in the box at all times.

Mainly I am not seeing how the set back for the mite is working. Is the reduced capped brood the hive enough to effect this set back? Or ?????

[Adrian Quiney WI]

Daniel, the goal is to raise brood preferably sealed, above the excluder. If that occurs then there is 13 days to emerge. New brood should be capped on day 19. This should ensure a broodless period of about 6 days.

[Daniel Y]

Thanks Adrian, This is my first year wintering bees and I am on pins and needles about my choice of mite control. In researching it there are many methods. none seem to be reliable at least not always. I chose one. wish I had with a shotgun approach.

[d-amick]

Well, I lost 50% of my hives this week. 1 of my 2 hives died out from Varroa and Deformed Wing Virus so I lost half of my yard. Hive #1 was from a package which grew into a two deep box brood power hive. Hive #2 was a late caught outdoor colony in a meduim brood box which seems to be holding their own. Sad to lose what was such a fabulouse hive, my first, but I'll soldier on and look forward to new bees in the Spring. Small loss to others but half my bees to me.

[rweakley]

I am treatment free most years (for varroa,shb, or bee squirts (sorry couldn't remember name)) I have treated in the past with oxalic acid vaporization, Fall of 2011 I did, This fall I'm not.

Going into winter with 3 Single story deep hives, 2 double deep hives, 3 nucs, 2 double mediums, and 1 triple medium. 2 of the Nucs had been in fullsize hives, but didn't have time (or resources, dang drought) to build up to that strengh so I moved them back to nucs. Of course I'm 100% honest, but that has more to do with being a Boy Scout(40 years old and still try to live that way) than a Beekeeper LOL A scout is trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful...
Rod

So far so good. None lost yet, but with how light they are I am scared to death I'm gonna lose them. I am throwing sugar on them or putting out feeders on days that are 50ish and above. Of course winter hasn't really started here yet so the real test will come in jan and feb. By then if we get flying days they will at least be able to go out and find some pollen. Long live MSMs (Missouri Survivor Mutts)

Rod

[Goat Man]

Hi Rod, et al,
I just checked all my hives today. When I removed the inner covers all the top bars were FULL of bees. Didn't want to disturb them further to check on stores. For some insurance I placed 8 to 12 lb. sugar cakes on them all. I also added 1/4lb pollen patty. We got lots of winter left so anything can happen by March1. But my hives seen ready. All hives are treatment free, small cell or foundationless, triple 8 frame mediums.

[Eddie Honey]

I lost one of 17 hives so far. It was a really weak nuc/colony that I believe I used too much from too late to strenthen other colonies. I think they perished during Hurricane Sandy.

I also have 4 other nucs that are very small and I expect to lose. It looks like they have 1-1/2 to 2 frames of bees. We'll see.

The other 5 nucs and 7 colonies still look real strong.

I expanded from 3 colonies to 17 last year. If I wind up with 12 come Springtime I'll consider that a success and a lesson learned about how and when to split.

I treated with mineral oil/apple cider vinegar in SHB traps.

[KQ6AR]

Hey Edd, You guys have a small hive beetle problem in New Jersey?

[Eddie Honey]

KQ, it is a managable problem. Just completed my second year and I saw more beetles this year. It was a hot, dry summer and maybe that had something to do with it. I did a cut-out last March and that hive was full of beetles but the bees kept them coralled (sp) in the corners.

Last year I used the traps and it wasn't an issue.
This year I didn't use them and wound up with alot more beetles.

The beetle traps seem to manage the problem but other factors may be at work here.

[GLOCK]

Well we got are first bad weather of the year here in the N.EAST we had high winds and cold temps. and a little snow all my hives did well all humming away i even seen a bee or two flying in and out real qwick can't wait till spring.

[BayHighlandBees]

I lost 100%. Two mite-weakened hive failed mid-fall due to excessive hive-robbing raids. A third queenless hive died out when the cold weather hit. I purchased a swarm nuc shortly after the first two failed. It doesn't have a lot of action on the outside, but it's definitely buzzing with activity on the inside!

[Lauri]

No surprises for me yet. Lost a few smaller nucs that never seemed to do much, a few large hives I waited too long to treat for mites and they crashed. But do you know what happens when you have a lot of hives? You almost like a few losses so you can take all those drawn and filled frames and distribute them to the other robust hives, or have a reserve for springtime feeding,growth, checkerboarding, etc.

Over all, all the other hives look great.

Seems I can't video and talk at the same time-sorry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-KOF...ature=youtu.be

Here is a triple divided deep hive with two Northern locally mated Glenn daughters.


Although this hive was fed some syrup this fall and was very heavy in weight, I put sugar bricks on all my hives ..some just for insurance. Many hives have had a large population of bees for a long time. They Still looks great. I gave all my hives a single Hop Guard mite treatment in late Sept/early October. Some probably could have used another treatment due to continued broodnest activities, but I lost my chance when the weather got cold.
Heres an average triple nuc:


Photos are taken at 42 degrees. None of the hives are light, in fact many will have to be adjusted this spring to aviod the queen being honeybound. That's a lot of bees on the top though.

Here's how I winterized them:


Only wraped on three sides. The front is facing south and uninsulated for solar gain.




Here is what I call my Franken hive.(When I assembled it it was a monster) Only the Two bottom deeps are made out of 1 1/2" car decking. Interesting, out of about 75 standard hives, this is the only one with bee activity at the top and bottom entrances @ 42 degrees.




I had bees in this all summer, and surprisingly, it wasn't hard to manage. It's the filled frames that makes it heavy, not the additional wood. Look closley, the honey supers are standard 3/4" thick pine. Just firred out with a 1x2 to fit the larger exterior size of the bottom deeps.
Don't you wish your bees were in this thick hive right about now?
Heres how it's made. The top and bottom entrances are reduced for winter. Screened bottom has slide in and top screened inner cover has 2" foam insulation



Heres where I keep the bees. Our 80 yard archery range. Hives and targets all along the edge.

[Adrian Quiney WI]

First loss today. A colony in a double deep had dwindled down to a small handful of bees. All 18 nucs still alive, 11 of 12 production colonies remain alive.
http://s1110.beta.photobucket.com/us...tml?sort=6&o=0
There was 60 pounds of feed in the top deep.
http://s1110.beta.photobucket.com/us...tml?sort=6&o=0
As Lauri says all is not lost the drawn frames are a valuable commodity.

[Lauri]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq243x6bu4I

Lauri's Franken hive (Shown in above post) @ 46 degrees

Another day at 46 degrees and once again the only hive that is active. I'll be making more of these 1 1/2" thick deeps next year. Anyone thinking about making a top bar hive should also consider car decking in my opinion. I am impressed with the overwintering success and colony contentment this hive is showing.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Miller...56954971040510

[KQ6AR]

One of my strongest triple deep hives is looking week at the entrance. If we get a sunny day I'll have to intervene, maybe reduce size & close the bottom screen.

[Charlie B]

One of my strongest triple deep hives is looking week at the entrance. If we get a sunny day I'll have to intervene, maybe reduce size & close the bottom screen.

The next 10 days are suppose to be sunny and high 50's. Just in time for the Eucalyptus flow! Tired of all the rain! I'm still 32 hives strong out of 35.

[cg3]

6" fluffy snow this morning. Checked this afternoon and the snow had melted away from all my (reduced) entrances like there was a warm draft from inside. I'm taking it as encouraging news. I did lose a weak hive to robbing during Indian Summer so I'm down one to 16.

[ralittlefield]

The next 10 days are suppose to be sunny and high 50's. Just in time for the Eucalyptus flow! Tired of all the rain! .

Man! I don't want to hear it!! I won't see those conditions for months!

[BeeGhost]

Checked my hives today and I am one lucky dude. Seen the water line and debris on my hive stand legs where the river went over its banks and flooded the flat my hives are on!! Flowed enough to move some 4x4 posts around that I had on the ground!! Anyhow, double deep nuc #1 had small numbers that I could see from the top and what looked like not much stores. The 3 two deep 10 framers are doing great!! The other two nucs are holding as well. I am going to run frames of honey out to them tomorrow from my dead out, and throw some pollen patties on. Temps are going to get around 30 at night all week, so they will need the food. As for the Eucalyptus bloom, its starting to happen for the globe eucs along the road, but I will be moving my bees in just over a week to their new home, dont need to lose hives to flood!! Didnt check the lone city hive, so no info on how that one is doing!!

[Charlie B]

I finally got around to extracting my dead out honey. After warming the honey, I still had to put a heat bulb under the extractor for better flow. (It's cold here!)
Extracting in December.jpg

Here are some of the girls yesterday going after Eucalyptus. *(Note the ant proof hive stand working like a charm).
December flow.jpg