Many of you read that I lost my hives. I have two nucs on order locally and will be putting swarm traps in two locations, more if I can. I'm going to try to keep this post updated in hopes that my mistakes will help someone else succeed.
My first concern is setting myself up right not this year. I would like to end the yer with 40 pounds of honey and as many hives as I can split out. My goal is 10 at the home location. I currently have drawn comb for 1.5 deep boxes and about 3 mediums. I will be running 10 frame deep with 9 frame mediums over it. I have an addition 100 new frames of ritecell mediums. The nucs are expected to be ready at the end of February, start of March.
I think one or two of my absconded hives is still in the area. I found bees one a box of frames on my porch and some equipment in the back yard. Hopefully I will catch a swarm. I've put a nuc box with empty comb about 9-10 feet off the ground on an oak branch. The branches around it created an open space of several feet around the box. The box has some lemongrass oil dabbed on the entrance and the back wall. The opening is just a bit smaller than the hole on the disk as the original hole was too low for the disk, but I want to be able to easily close it when moving the box.
As to bringing in queens for splits, I'm trying to get my hands on some tf queens from Florida.
How do my more experienced beeks suggest I approach production and splitting this year?
My first concern is setting myself up right not this year. I would like to end the yer with 40 pounds of honey and as many hives as I can split out. My goal is 10 at the home location. I currently have drawn comb for 1.5 deep boxes and about 3 mediums. I will be running 10 frame deep with 9 frame mediums over it. I have an addition 100 new frames of ritecell mediums. The nucs are expected to be ready at the end of February, start of March.
I think one or two of my absconded hives is still in the area. I found bees one a box of frames on my porch and some equipment in the back yard. Hopefully I will catch a swarm. I've put a nuc box with empty comb about 9-10 feet off the ground on an oak branch. The branches around it created an open space of several feet around the box. The box has some lemongrass oil dabbed on the entrance and the back wall. The opening is just a bit smaller than the hole on the disk as the original hole was too low for the disk, but I want to be able to easily close it when moving the box.
As to bringing in queens for splits, I'm trying to get my hands on some tf queens from Florida.
How do my more experienced beeks suggest I approach production and splitting this year?