[JWPalmer]

Well the weather has really been favoring the bees so far. Here it is just two days before Thanksgiving and the temps during the daytime are still in the 60's. I am continuing to feed the lighter hives and the bees are continuing to take the pollen sub that I have out for them. Bottom board debris would indicate that a few of the hives are still raising brood. If you treat, now is the time to give them a follow up OAV treatment but as mentioned, you may still have brood, so keep that in mind regarding when you will need to do a clean up treatment.

 

[Murdock]

Same here in eastern NC. Bees are flying all day but not many flowers. We have a few sasanqua bushes blooming in this neighborhood but most everything that bees use is done. I put in patties too and feed. I'm looking forward to mid February and the Red Maple start up. Be watchful for robbing.

 

[AR1]

Quite warm here too, N Illinois. We had a nice snow a few nights ago but it disappeared the next day in the rain. 30s to 40s. Last week still saw a few bees carrying pollen. Still getting greens from the garden.

 

[Ranger N]

Merry Christmas to you all,
Hope you don’t mind me getting in on this string. So I did a 42 day Apivar treatment Sept - mid OCT. After observing IPM Boards looks like it was a very successful treatment. Fast forward to Dec13th and did an OAV treatment on a 65 degree day. 24 & 48hr IPM board results turned out great with only a few (5-10 mites) on the boards. My hives are 10 frame deep and medium with a honey super that I removed before OAV treatment and then put back on after a couple hours. All hives had 6-7 frames of bees that I could observe from the top of the medium.
One question that I have for you all is: Would you all recommend a follow up OAV treatment in January or February due to the amount of mites that were observed.
I did the OAV treatment from the top. I built a 3in shim and cut a slot in it big enough for the bowl of the vaporizer to slide through. on top i attached clear lexan so I could observe the OAV vaporizing. It was my first time doing the OAV thing and I definitely know that it will be my go to mite treatment in the future. Sorry for the long winded post. Thanks.

 

[Ranger N]

Late entry. It is 51 degrees today, 12/27/20 and i am observing the bees out flying and some are bringing in pollen. I have several winter camellia varieties that are busting with the blooms this winter and the bees are loading up on pollen from them for sure.

 

[JWPalmer]

It is 51 degrees today

What a difference a few hundred miles can make. The day started out a "brisk" 19F and gradually warmed up to 42F. I was supposed to treat the girls today but next week will be in the mid 50s, so I decided to wait. The Christmas holiday period marks the beginning of a new bee year so it is a good time to take stock of what you have, what you need, and what needs to be fixed. For me, this included getting my mating nucs cleaned up, finally putting the aluminum flashing on some of my nuc tops, and scraping down a bunch of hive bodies. There is enough work to keep my busy doing "bee stuff" until the real bee work begins in March.

 

[Ranger N]

JW, Based on my first OAV treatment on 12/13/20 and the results (5-10 mites per hive), would it be advisable to do a follow up treatment in JAN or FEB? As per my discussion above this was the 1st time I have used OAV treatment and am extremely satisfied with the results.
Now that the Christmas holiday is past I am working on NUC boxes as well. I built some 5 frame deep NUCs and am now building some 5 frame medium NUCs. one of my goals this year is to Donate a NUC to a young new bee keeper after they have finished the certification in MAR here at our bee club. Additionally, I am over wintering my first 5 frame NUCs this winter. So far, so good. Thank you sir...

 

[Murdock]

Yes, treat to get all of them but you won't.

 

[JWPalmer]

Ranger, since you are in SC, I would advise doing another OAV round as soon as you can. You probably already have some capped brood in your hives so get those straggler mites now. As Murdock says, you won't get them all, but the idea is to go into spring with as few mites as possible. 5-10 mites for a drop is good in the fall, with the expectation of doing the follow up treatments in late Nov, and Dec. when the hives are broodless, but it is not the best for a Dec. treatment, especially this year since the bees continued to brood pretty much continuously.

 

[Ranger N]

Thanks gentlemen, I reckon I will do another treatment this saturday as it is supposed to be in the 60s.. Happy New Year everyone.....

 

[missybee]

Our temps have bounced so much we decided to do a quick food check (sugar blocks on the top of the hives) 5 of our hives had eaten it all! They all started with almost two full boxes of capped honey.
More food put in right away, now on the check often list.

They were all out flying yesterday, 55F, looked like summer.

 

[JWPalmer]

Mixing up syrup today to feed the bees myself. Mid fifties and sixties for the next week's highs. I use hive top feeders and they typically will consume syrup all winter on the warmer days.
Counting down the days until acer rubrum marks the beginning of spring.

 

[Murdock]

ME TOO! The FLOW just makes things easier if you are ready. This kind of wx can cost you bees and a crop if you don't stay alert. I'm using quart jars inside a feeder box and that makes me look often.

 

[missybee]

We are staying in the low 40's with a occasional pop up to low 50 like a day. Nights still in the 20's low 30's
At this time sticking with the sugar blocks.

 

[JWPalmer]

Updating. So far in Eastern VA, the temps have not dropped below 25 degrees. I am now certain that the bees did not go broodless this year. I checked several hives yesterday and saw capped and emerging brood in all but one of the hives I checked.That hive appears to be queenless.
Now is a good time to check stores of honey/syrup and to make sure the bees have an adequate supply of pollen or pollen sub. If either are lacking, you need to feed.
It is also time to check your supplies of woodenware. Build frames and boxes according to anticipated need, and then build a few more.
Plan your swarm control measures. Snellgrove board? Artificial swarm? Swarm cell culling? Have a plan before the bees start heading for the trees.
You may also need to treat this Spring, even if you have never needed to before. Just something to think about.

 

[LarryBud]

Updating. So far in Eastern VA, the temps have not dropped below 25 degrees. I am now certain that the bees did not go broodless this year. I checked several hives yesterday and saw capped and emerging brood in all but one of the hives I checked.That hive appears to be queenless.
Now is a good time to check stores of honey/syrup and to make sure the bees have an adequate supply of pollen or pollen sub. If either are lacking, you need to feed.
It is also time to check your supplies of woodenware. Build frames and boxes according to anticipated need, and then build a few more.
Plan your swarm control measures. Snellgrove board? Artificial swarm? Swarm cell culling? Have a plan before the bees start heading for the trees.
You may also need to treat this Spring, even if you have never needed to before. Just something to think about.

So JW-I'm thinking the same thing, girls were flying again today-lower 40's and they seem to be wondering around the yard and the neighborhood. I don't think they're broodless and I am concerned that with double deeps of full frame and start pollen in February, will I get an early swarm? It's still not spring and I feel some manipulation might be in order but when?

 

[massbee]

It’s been unseasonably warm here in New England as well. This is usually the time we get really cold in the negative temps. It’s been mostly just above freezing all month. I threw a pollen patty on one hive as they have been clustered in the top and had already eaten one sugar brick I left in there.

 

[Murdock]

JW / Larry same situation here in Eastern NC. We have had frost the last 5 mornings but bright sun by 10:00 and bees flying & pollen coming in. Red Maple & Blueberry buds are swelling but not open yet. I've completed 2 rounds of OAV 4 days apart and I'll do 2 more. I have double deeps and feeding cautiously to NOT have too much syrup "honey" in the frames. I'm a little ahead in my schedule but You can get behind really fast. I'm waiting for a warming trend in February to hive dive to check resources and see what frame manipulations need to be done. To me getting hives right in February sets up the whole spring; swarm management, hive health and numbers,reducing feeding enough to make them use syrup resources before the flow, making sure there is plenty of laying room. It's hectic but makes things easier in April. I want to have my bottom brood box ALL BROOD and the top brood box half brood and half "honey" a couple weeks before honey supers go on when the Red Maples are blooming about March 1st. We generally have a cold snap that interferes with foraging the Maple but If I'm ready and everything comes together they can do a bang up job with a big hive. If you don't get a brood break that means you will have a big hive. I really get excited this time of the year thinking about 50,000 + bees in each hive.

 

[JWPalmer]

Well guys and gals, winter weather has finally hit the southeast. It has been snowing for several hours now and has just turned to sleet with rain forecast for later this afternoon. Looks like 4-5 inches has fallen. For us, this classifies as significant snowfall as they will close schools and government buildings once we get 1/2". Hope this causes our more northerly friends to laugh a little.

 

[LarryBud]

Just started in central NJ about an hour ago. Forecast for here is 10"-20", panic grocery shopping has begun! Years ago when I lived year round in midcoast Maine, 10-20" was just a Tuesday in January...