New Hobby: Bee Keeping

[Dux]

Originally Posted by massphatness

Sad news in the world of bees: as I feared, the ladies did not survive the brutal cold snap we had to start to the winter. I peeked in the hive yesterday as temps got up to 50* and was concerned I didn't see any activity. Even in the winter months, the bees will leave the hive when the temps get way enough in order to make cleansing flights to relieve themselves.

Looks like the entire cluster froze to death in a big ball.

Plenty of honey stores in the hive, so I know they didn't starve.

Grace & I are going to give things another shot this spring. Going to order a nuc instead of a package. A nuc is a working mini-colony of bees: 4-5 frames of bees who have already drawn out comb and are working with their queen. You slide the frames into the hive, and away they go. They'll have a head start on honey stores from last years hive -- I think I have 6-8 full frames of honey still in the hive -- so the hope is this helps them to rapidly build up & strengthen the hive.

Look forward to continuing the adventure, but kinda' sad about losing the bees.

Vin, sorry to hear you lost the bees. fingers crossed for the next attempt!

[357]

Originally Posted by massphatness

Sad news in the world of bees: as I feared, the ladies did not survive the brutal cold snap we had to start to the winter. I peeked in the hive yesterday as temps got up to 50* and was concerned I didn't see any activity. Even in the winter months, the bees will leave the hive when the temps get way enough in order to make cleansing flights to relieve themselves.

Looks like the entire cluster froze to death in a big ball.

Plenty of honey stores in the hive, so I know they didn't starve.

Grace & I are going to give things another shot this spring. Going to order a nuc instead of a package. A nuc is a working mini-colony of bees: 4-5 frames of bees who have already drawn out comb and are working with their queen. You slide the frames into the hive, and away they go. They'll have a head start on honey stores from last years hive -- I think I have 6-8 full frames of honey still in the hive -- so the hope is this helps them to rapidly build up & strengthen the hive.

Look forward to continuing the adventure, but kinda' sad about losing the bees.

Take heart brother, losses in northern states like ours are averaging near 50% across the board. That goes for little guys like us and big commercial guys (as in the professionals). I lost all my hives last year (only 2). The year before I lost 5 of 6. This year I have 7 going. I should have a lot of honey to sell even though many of them are drawing out foundation. At least two are working with fully drawn comb.

Just a word of advice, be careful with queen excluders. Sometimes the workers won't draw out new frames above it. Other times they will. Sometimes, it can give them a swarm trigger as they feel like there is not enough space since they don't want to work through it. That said, there is a saying amongst beekeepers. If you ask 10 beekeepers the same question, you'll get at least 12 different answers. Do what works for you. I just offer when I've learned from others and from what I've learned on my own.

Also, if your hives are in the woods, like mine, at some point you'll likely start seeing some small hive beetles. I'm not sure how well established they are in your part of the country. 5 years ago they were unheard of in Michigan and were considered a southern states issue. Not anymore. SHBs aren't the end of the world, just make sure their larva aren't tunneling through your comb. Typically SHB are just a nuisance to a normal bee colony but if the colony is weak for whatever reason, the SHB can take over and ruin your comb and honey (making it unfit for human consumption).

Anyway, keep the pics and info coming. I love to see other folks beekeeping.

[markem]

Sorry about the bees, Vin. Glad that you are going to continue.

[icehog3]

You'll tweak it a little and have better success next winter, I am sure, Vin.

[CigarNut]

Sorry to hear about this, Vin — I hope your next attempt is much more successful!

As others have said, I really looked forward to reading this thread and am saddened. Looking for to future updates later this year.

[AdamJoshua]

Sad news indeed, maybe their memory bee a blessing.

Seems like they didn't give their tiny lives in vain as you are already researching and looking to improve next time!

[Dave128]

Sad news, Vin. May round two bring better success.

[8lug]

Vin, sorry to hear that you lost the hive. I'm sure you'll have much better luck this time around.

[shilala]

Sorry to hear it, Vin-Bob. That sucks.
You can wrap the hives come winter, insulating them.
Or build a break with hay bales, or do a lot of other stuff.

Think about the size of the hive vs. the size of the colony (which I think you already have a good grasp on).
There's gotta be enough bees to keep the heat up in the hive. If the little buggers are already chilled, they'll bite the dust on cleaning trips even though they'll shorten them.
Consider maybe even a styrofoam cover you can cob out of blue construction foam and tack on, or remove a section?

[massphatness]

Bees 2.0

Having successfully managed to freeze my bees to death over the winter, I was left with a hive full of comb and a lot of usable resources like pollen & honey, but no ladies to work their bee magic.

The pic on the left shows the bees basically frozen in place between frames all bunched together as you might expect for warmth. Pic on the right is after I pulled the frames apart.



This time around, since my first batch of bees had already laid a lot of the groundwork, I opted to go with a nucleus (or "nuc") which is basically a mini working hive of five frames complete with bees and a queen already making brood and storing honey and generally doing bee things.

It comes in a box like this, and thank god I brought bungee cords because one big bump on the road and that top comes flying off. Then voila -- bees in the Jeep!



And with that, I was ready to transfer the frames from the nuc to the hive ...



More later.

[BigAsh]

Originally Posted by massphatness

Bees 2.0





More later.

so much win here!

[stearns]

The hive is alive!

[Dave128]

Sweet! Maybe you should let the new hive winter in the Jeep?

[sigsauer]

I will definitely buy honey

[sigsauer]

man I would love to have the time to do this

[icehog3]

Can't wait to meet the new bees!

[jonumberone]

Originally Posted by icehog3

Can't wait to meet the new bees!

Meet the new bees... Same as the old bees.

[icehog3]

Originally Posted by jonumberone

Meet the new bees... Same as the old bees.

Damn, I got fooled again!

[IBQTEE1]

So sorry Vin about the ladies. So, cool that you are trying again. Can't wait to see the progress.

[markem]

Sweet! We have bee sign!