Beesource Beekeeping Forums banner

SC Beekeeping Blues

16K views 64 replies 17 participants last post by  snl 
#1 ·
I've been down here in SC working bees these past three weeks and we haven't had very good weather for foraging or mating. Next week doesn't look any better. Will hardly break 60 degrees all week according to The Weather Channel.

I spent the last two days feeding hives w/ HFCS 55, some twice in less than 24 hours. Yellow jasmine is in bloom and causing problems in those hives foraging on it.
 
#3 ·
Mark while I don't share the pain to your extent as it's just a hobby to me with about 25 hives, it is a lousy weather here in SC. I'm feeding also. I'm thinking this cold spell has set everyone here back about 2 weeks if not longer. I'm sure it has really screwed up your schedule.
 
#4 ·
the weather here has been mixed, but i'm hoping there have been enough good foraging days mixed in with the cold rainy ones that enough nectar has come in so as to not have starvation.

there was still capped honey from last fall in all of the hives last time i looked, and i have not put any feed out yet.

i am seeing more bees being dragged out with deformed wings, especially from one of the hives. could this be from chilling?
 
#6 ·
shriveled wings. i vaguely remember reading that chilling could cause this, so i thought i would ask.

could be dmv as well, but this is my strongest hive coming out of winter. it has a deep and a half worth of bees. i suppose the brooding could have helped the mites, and this is one i moved back home from an outyard that had mite losses with robbing in one case.

plus, i was a little late in checkerboarding this one, and when i opened it for the first time, the broodnest was divided between the bottom deep and the medium above it (the medium was full of honey going into winter).

in the process of adding the second medium i opened up the broodnest in the first medium with empty comb and moved a couple of frames of brood up into the second medium, keeping the brood frames in all three boxes lined up vertically.

then it turned cold. i may have spread the brood a little bit too much, which is why i thought the dead emerging bees with shriveled wings could have been from the cold. i had not seen any of this before i opened the broodnest and the cold weather set in.

if any of mine deserve to swarm it is this one, but as of last week no swarm intent was seen, all signs indicating an expanding broodnest.

i'll be taking a mite count on this hive pretty soon just to see.
 
#7 ·
Its cold here too. :eek:

Yesterday I was watching my bees harvesting water from a flipped over garbage can lid that had collected rain. The water surface had frozen overnight, and then partially defrosted in the sun to have a mix of water and ice. Bees were flocking to this cold water!

A few days earlier I had placed a small block of wood in there so there was a float for them to land on, and most of them definitely preferred to use the water absorbed into the wood. However I saw a few standing on ice and collecting melt water from the surface. This was on a day where my recorded high temperature for the day was 46 degrees.
 
#10 ·
if i'm getting dmv after only the first few rounds of brood for the year then i'm guessing this colony is in trouble.

it may have gotten a high load after robbing the dead out next to it a few weeks ago.

if that's the case, it will most likley be split up into mating nucs for my first round of queens.
 
#12 ·
> What's "dmv"?

That's when your bees hide out in the back of the hive and try to look busy, even though they are not really doing anything except surfing the web. Its not a fatal condition, but everything moves so slowly that as dusk grows closer you expect to be told to come back tomorrow just to get your "honey".

:lookout:
 
#14 ·
Mark: Feeling your pain here in east Texas as well. Haven't had any flying weather in several days. On the plus side, though, is the bees stay where you put them.
 
#19 ·
My bees and I will be here until the orchards in NY need them. Certainly there will be a flow by then.

What the rain we are getting right now is not something I can predict. One thing doesn't necassarily follow thye other.
 
#21 ·
It makes for real hard times raising cells as well. I have always assumed its the pollen, though, and not the nectar but I am not sure it makes much difference. We have seen a lot of it this year but haven't seen the resulting problems. I assume when a lot of other stuff is blooming that they don't pay much attention to it. The bumblebees are thick on it but only an occassional honeybee.
 
#26 ·
Question for Jim: you are raising queens already in SD? Isn't it too cold? And do you have drones available for the queens to mate with? I live in MD, and I am dying to get going on queen rearing, but can't, realistically,until May when when the drones will be mature enough to mate with. What is you secret?
 
#29 ·
I believe that Jim Lyon (and the jasmine, and the queens) is in Texas at this time.
To refine it a bit more....I believe that Jim is in Texas and the yellow jasmine is in bloom there but doesn't seem to be an issue for him this season.
Mark is in SC, the yellow jasmine is in bloom there too....and he is experiencing some losses...small losses, I'd imagine, much as we see here.
 
#33 · (Edited)
wikipedia says it is toxic to the brood not the adult bee. Wishes can come true...
Or not ....

Yellow Jasmine nectar is toxic to bees. Dead bees on the bottom boards.
Are you saying Mark is wrong? :eek:

Wikipedia is a useful reference, but its contributors are whomever wishes to contribute. Just like Beesource! :lookout: Have you ever encountered a misinformed poster here? :eek:


[UPDATE] Oh, this is perfect timing! I just read the Wikipedia link that Ace posted, and guess what it actually says?
All parts of this plant contain the toxic strychnine-related alkaloidsgelsemine and gelseminine and should not be consumed.[SUP][5][/SUP] The sap may cause skin irritation in sensitive individuals. Children, mistaking this flower for honeysuckle, have been poisoned by sucking the nectar from the flower.[SUP][6][/SUP]The nectar is also toxic to honeybees,[SUP][7][/SUP] and causes brood death when gathered by the bees.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelsemium_sempervirens
:ws:
 
#35 ·
that makes sense michael, thanks for the reply.

down in these parts most of the long time beekeepers run a single deep for brood, and try to leave one medium or shallow super of honey on top for winter, so that's what i've been doing.

most of my hives had a nearly full medium of honey and the equivilent of 4-6 frames of honey in the deep by the first frost last fall. all but the one colony i mentioned above stayed clustered in the deep all winter. it appeared as though they were moving honey down from the supers as they needed it.

i can see that the weather makes a big difference as to how much honey is left in the spring. last year, the flows came early and there was still a lot of honey in the supers when the nectar started coming in, a solid dome in some cases. this year the flows are coming late and the supers are almost empty, with only a few frames to alternate or checkerboard.

basically what i did was weigh the hives last november, and weigh them again in january. honey frames from the supers of the heaviest hives in january were swapped with empty frames of comb from the supers of the lightest hives, and the frames were alternated honey/empty in all of the supers.

thus no honey dome, and plenty of room for upward expansion. now if it would only warm up! :)
 
#38 ·
interesting dan. only one of my twelve was 'brooding' in the top medium, and that was because they ran out of room for brood in the deep. they will be gettting a third medium super soon.

i did have some bees in the top boxes in the other eleven from time to time, but they were just getting the honey out and moving it down.

i guess i'm lucky to have them in the bottom to start with, and just add supers as needed.
 
#39 ·
SP….either you have a Midas touch….or my bees aren't frugal. All of mine went into winter with their supers full plus some honey in the brood box. Every deep/medium doesn’t have a drop of extra honey. In the double deeps I occasionally find one or two frames with uncapped honey. I started feeding pretty hard…2:1…. over a month ago.
I was talking to a beekeeping friend last night. She has a couple of hundred hives and she was out feeding. She said she hoped we’d get some nectar soon. I told her I was convinced that we were getting nectar (I’m seeing some new comb) but that the bees were consuming it as quickly as it was coming in.
It could be that my mongrel bees have too much Italian in them. I’ve been getting some Carniolans though, and even they are living on the edge.
For all that complaining….they are booming and look great.
 
#40 ·
I told her I was convinced that we were getting nectar (I’m seeing some new comb) but that the bees were consuming it as quickly as it was coming in.
Dan, you also said that you have been feeding 2:1 for more than a month. So what is it about the appearance of new comb that leads you to believe that it is a sign of nectar coming in?

Or, to put it another way, I'm interested in how to distinguish new comb as an indicator of the availability of nectar vs syrup.
 
#41 ·
dan, are you seeing any difference in your south ga hives compared to your northeast ga ones?

no midas touch here. :) and mine aren't booming yet.

i probably should have some patties on.

i am hoping that the strong foraging days that we have been getting in between the cold ones, plus the little bit of last fall's honey that's still there, will enough to sustain them.

this weather is bound to break soon.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top