[theresalynn]

Hi I am sooo excited. After my fail with the late August swarm I caught, I am the proud owner of a new hive.
I waited and found a source for winter hardy bees since I live in the Finger Lakes area of NYS. I got an established nuc in mid June
Set them up with a double 10 frame and haven't touched them until now. The top frame has honey on 8 of the 10 frames so I put a queen excluder on and a super over that. BUT I did not take all the foundation boards out. The 2 end boards had nothing on but the other eight looked full of honey but I did not pull them out to check for brood and I did not check the bottom frame. Should I have checked ALL the foundation or just assume all is good??

 

[Oldtimer]

You don't HAVE to check the bottom box, but it would be good practise to know what is going on in there because the bees may just have moved up to the second box and hardly be using the bottom box, for all you would know.

Re the undrawn foundation, you can take one of the outside undrawn foundation frames out, then push the rest of the frames apart so there is a gap in the middle of the box and the cluster, and put the undrawn frame in there. Now it is in the middle of the cluster, the bees will draw it, provided there is nectar coming in or they are being fed sugar syrup. Until you have more experience, only do one frame at a time.

But no nectar or sugar syrup coming in, they won't draw it.

 

[crofter]

I would consider getting a means of weighing the colony. If the top frames are virtually all capped honey (liquid filled, maybe mostly nectar) your total hive weight of a double deep should be near 125 lbs. If that is the case you can assume that the bottom has a fair bit of stores as well.

In other words knowing hive weight can remove the need to go into the bottom box. I dont like to make unnecessary inspections that risk rolling a queen this late in the season which is critical time.

 

[theresalynn]

I was just told best not to mess with the bottom hive right now as we are in a heavy flow from golden rod and I think they said rag weed. I guess once that dies back then I am to go into the lower hive and treat for mites, so I guess I will find out what is up then.
I tend to run by the less is best rule and let them do their bee thing with as little interruptions from me as possible. To new to know if that is good or not
Now how on earth do a weight a 10 deep hive??
I will put the outer undrawn frame in the middle asap, thank you for the tip

 

[crofter]

A meat or game scale with a hook to grab the side of the hives bottom board. Lift till one side just clears the ground and record the weight. Double this figure for rough weight or weigh both sides and combine the figures. Takes no longer than it did for me to type this!

Waiting till after the fall flow to address the mite situation is perhaps giving the edge to the enemy. :s

 

[Fivej]

You are behind the eight ball. Ideally you would have 2 deeps and a medium drawn out and nearly filled with nectar/honey. Do you have any more drawn frames?
You need to know where you stand so yes, inspect the bottom box. It is time to manage for winter. Ideally, Brood and stores lower deep, small brood nest in upper deep (2-4 frames) in the center ,remainder stores and medium super totally filled with honey or sugar syrup.
I would advise you look up insulated follower boards and consider reducing the hive, especially if you don't have more comb. Fewer frames per box will allow you to add another box on top which would be wall to wall sugar syrup,honey.
Despite your flow, I would feed them right now. Try getting more comb drawn using Oldtimers method. J

 

[Bmcq]

I put a queen excluder on and a super over that. J

I would remove the excluder, don't want that on going into winter.

 

[crab414]

I too am in the Finger Lakes. You need to acess and adress your mite load at the end of July in our area. Mite loads are abnormally high this year. I treated with apivar in March and I still ran 6-9 mites per wash in July in twenty plus hives.
You also need to look at the bottom brood box and make sure your queen right and all the frames are drawn and filled. If you have brood in the second box, don't split the nest, put the undrawn frames on the edges of the nest.
I'm in Canandaigua, pm if I can be of any help to you.

 

[beemandan]

My advice is that you find a mentor. Someone who has successfully overwintered hives in your area for more than a year or two.

 

[Vance G]

Wish we had aa like button. Frank said it all.

 

[Vance G]

I too am in the Finger Lakes. You need to acess and adress your mite load at the end of July in our area. Mite loads are abnormally high this year. I treated with apivar in March and I still ran 6-9 mites per wash in July in twenty plus hives.
You also need to look at the bottom brood box and make sure your queen right and all the frames are drawn and filled. If you have brood in the second box, don't split the nest, put the undrawn frames on the edges of the nest.
I'm in Canandaigua, pm if I can be of any help to you.

Consider a follow on mite treatment by other means. Several years ago the bees in my area showed signs of becoming resistent to Apivar and I switched to Apiguard and Oxalic vapor. Apivar was too good and too easy and it has been about used to death.

 

[crab414]

I totally agree Vance. I bought one of John's easy vaps in July. I'm on my fourth round, every five days and I'm still and still getting 200-400 dd in the first 24 hours. Man, if I'd waited any longer....

 

[Vance G]

Breaking the propolis sealing the boxes is getting to be an issue in your soon to be cold area. I would tip the hive on its back and inspect from the bottom. Have a good flashlight if it is not a sunny location and see if your bottom box is fully drawn. Sometimes when people have bought into the screened bottom board foolishness, they are not as the bees don't want to live in that cold space they cannot climate control. Assuming the frames in the bottom box are drawn and populated, weigh the hive and ensure it weighs 125-140 pounds. If it does it has enough winter stores to make the winter.

If you have a bunch of frames in the bottom box as well as the two in the top, hopefully you can find a source of drawn frames. At this late date, I really doubt any foundation will be drawn. Nights are too long and days heat up too late. at least in my end of the great white north. If your super is foundation, I seriously doubt that your bees will work in it, especially thru an excluder!

If I am wrong about your environment allowing pulling foundation, I would sure pull the super and let the bees put their bits and dabs of fall honey into finishing finishing and filling their brood nest. If you are a student of Michael Palmer and were planning on running two deeps and a super for your bees winter broodnest and food store, I would suggest you find a place to draw a drawn super and feed it full with 2:1 syrup while weather is warm. Good Luck.

 

[Fivej]

I would remove the excluder, don't want that on going into winter.

I didn't say this. When I view the thread it shows it is quoting me. It is from the OP's original post. When I quote it in this post, it shows the OP. It How does that happen?

 

[Saltybee]

Got to go with Vance.
Camaro7 used to say pollen sub would improve comb building. Sometimes we get the cold from Canada, sometimes warm from Texas.
To answer your question, yes you need to look. Not knowing what you have, does not allow you to plan.

 

[JWPalmer]

I didn't say this. When I view the thread it shows it is quoting me. It is from the OP's original post. When I quote it in this post, it shows the OP. It How does that happen?

It could happen in the cut and paste process, especially if there are multiple quotes. I fixed the name to show the OP.