over wintering

For those that use polystyrene hives (ours are Bee Box/Paradise) how do you over winter? I’ve read some posts suggesting leaving the bottom screen wide open for ventilation. If the hives are on the ground the open venting may be fine but on a open stand, off the ground it seems like too much...

I received my nuc in late May from a local Beekeeping business. We fed pollen patties and a 1:1 sugar feed for the first 4 weeks following installation. I inspected the hive for the very first time 6 weeks after they had been installed. This is my first hive so I was very nervous -and sweating...

Hello all. This is my first over winter and so far I have managed to maintain my 3 out of 4 hives - and feel fortunate about that. I've spot checked the 3 hives over the last couple of weeks whenever we've had some 55+ degree days and have noticed that there still seems to be a lot of honey...

My friend recently gave me a little under a jar's worth of honey to feed to my bees, but I've noticed that a baggie doesn't work so well for me. I have a top feeder, but that's more for sugar water that is fed in a much greater volume, so the bees might not even be able to reach the liquid...

It is warm enough that my colonies are stretching their wings. (50°) If this warm stretch continues and the queen starts laying brood, will the colony save the brood by feeding them, or save the colony by clustering when the rigid Chicago winter returns? I remember reading something about...

I wintered over two hives each with a deep and a super on top. At the beginning of the winter, the super was full of honey with the deep below containing the brood. When in began checking on them this spring, both had already started using the comb in the supers mostly cleared of honey for...