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This poor hive

18K views 39 replies 11 participants last post by  brianbonner 
#1 ·
You might remember the install from hell, well this turned into the summer of hell! Come 7/4 I had a ATV accident where I got crushed & while recouping I failed to think about my Bees ENOUGH. We got a drought in August that never ended. I was cocky because there is so much water on my property that I forgot FOOD! I forgot the drought meant no late nectar! Sigh it was october before I realized my error and started feeding the hive. i have a 42" hive that the bees only occupy 1/2 & the back comb is empty. I am thinking I do not have enough honey stores for our harsh winter. we have already had a cold snap where a bunch of bees died.

any thoughts?
 
#33 ·
Since teh back comb is empty I woudl jsut remove soem of those bars. make a brick of sugar.

2 cups sugar 1.5 ounces of water mix together and put on a loaf pan. let it harden. then knock it out of the pan and place it in the empty space at the back of the hive. keep it a close to the bees as possible. Repeat as needed through the winter. I would start with a 5 lb block. 2 cups of sugar equals a lb. one of my small colonies with no stores went through 3 lbs in 2 weeks.
 
#35 ·
YAY!! I was afraid yours didn't make it when I didn't see you on the forum this year. I am really glad to hear yours made it. I think sliding the candy under the combs was the key difference between them surviving or not. Mine was on the bar adjacent and while they were eating it when the cold snap hit the ones a couple bars over wouldn't leave their brood to get the food and froze. Last year they hadn't drawn the comb all the way down so I could have fit some in. This year almost all the comb is fully drawn so there is only a bee space under them and it wouldn't fit.

Despite my loss it worked out though. I learned a lot and the comb gave the spring replacement package a huge head start and even with losing a swarm they built up enough that I am going into this winter with 5 nucs of bees. Even if half don't overwinter I'll be positioned to have the two hives I want to keep. Most of the nucs look good on honey stores, I just worry about pollen on some of them and the mite counts were high in two.

Let me know how your harvest goes in the spring.
 
#36 ·
Thank you! I am sad to hear about your bees, I thought the idea of the candy comb was a good one. I guess all we can do is learn from the bees & our mistakes.

Mites? arg have you tried dusting the bees with powdered sugar?

My hive looks good to survive this winter with 17 bars filled out, my hive is 42 inches long so they have a third of the hive to fill up. My next goal is to split the hive after they fill it all up. but that would be the following year for that experiment. I will need to build a new hive and this time it will have a window!
 
#37 · (Edited)
Despite the poor results from last winter I decided to try the candy again but changed the recipe a bit to be more in line with that old-time fudge recipe. (I liked it better and the bees were right on it.) I fed a lot this year and should be okay but after some unseasonably warm weather that had the bees out flying. Seeing that I thought I should give them a way to reserve their honey stores now but didn't want to open feed and invite robbing. I put a block in all but the heaviest nuc today.

As to the mites, I only tested to get a baseline and not because I was seeing mite related problems. We'll see how things go but if I lose the two with the high mite numbers this winter I will be right at the number of hives I want to maintain. Being able to lose a few is in this winter's plan.

I finished a new hive this summer which has a slightly bigger window in it (which I really like). I plan to make at least one more and another nuc this winter. (These will have a bit different design from what I have now.) A friend at work would like bees at his place but is nervous about beekeeping so if I come out of winter with three nucs I will take my older hive out to his place and put the new one out here.

Are you going to build your new hive and nuc this winter or next? I bet this spring your bees go gangbusters now that they are established. Do you know what type they are? Is it still your original queen?
 
#38 ·
I finished a new hive this summer which has a slightly bigger window in it (which I really like). I plan to make at least one more and another nuc this winter. (These will have a bit different design from what I have now.) A friend at work would like bees at his place but is nervous about beekeeping so if I come out of winter with three nucs I will take my older hive out to his place and put the new one out here.

Are you going to build your new hive and nuc this winter or next? I bet this spring your bees go gangbusters now that they are established. Do you know what type they are? Is it still your original queen?
Men make plans and God laughs! I will try to do it this summer, as I don't have a heated shop in winter, that fails, fall, that fails winter etc! there is so much to do and so little health.

It is nice you are giving a hive to your friend, I may have to convince my buddy to start a hive

I have new world carnolians with the original queen. They fly in the wind, in the rain, and at temps below 50 degs! They really amaze me. :applause:
 
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