The Bee Thread

[violet]

Today I released the queen into the hive.

hopefully they did not attack her.

I am seriously stressed this year about my bees. Last year, it was all good, I was relaxed. This year, I am like a tense spring ready to pop as I am realizing that these things are not easy to keep alive.

We do have a local bee club, but they all had the same fate as me....one lady had 21 hives perish! That is unfathomable to me. I don't see a whole lot of help coming from a club of people who cannot keep their bees alive.

There is one local guy, the good Samaritan that gave me a chance with my queen, but he is pretty much in retirement mode with keeping. He has three small hives and pretty much just has them around. I don't think he would mind me calling every now and then with a question, but I don't think he is looking to make a "bee friend." And, I can respect that.

So, I watched a ton of you tube videos.

I think my mistake last year was that I did not add a secondary box soon enough, which made mine swarm (twice) and then they were too small to make it through winter. Even though, I did feed them last year, I think I need to up the game and make sure they have food throughout the winter. I am reading about "feeding boards" and I am not so sure that will work, but, I don't know.

So, do tell...what are the top three tips for taking a hive and keeping it strong enough to make it through a winter?

I am concerned that the bigger guys have big losses and they just combine well and make it look as though they have bees that really thrive through winter. But, that is just a hunch and I may be wrong.

[Szdfan]

Szdfan,



I need some advice.

My hive did not make it through winter. So, I ordered a new batch in hopes that the learning curve won't be so steep this year. On Thursday UPS delivered and entire box of dead bees. I have the queen and maybe two dozen alive. I called Mann Lake and they told me that UPS destroyed over a thousand shipments this spring and I am completely out of luck.

I have contacted the complete group of bee keepers in my area and apparently, they all had hive loss this year too. One local man was going to give me a slat of brood and some nurse bees but unfortunately his swarmed this morning. At this point everyone that I can think of has sold out of their bees and I am sure there are a thousand other people looking for some thanks to Mann Lake and UPS.

So, I have my queen still caged. I am feeding them sugar water and put some pollen out.

What am I to do? Advice from someone who actually has alive bees would be a good thing. If I could find bees, any bees, within reasonable driving distance, I would go and get some. But, I am out of leads.

Thoughts?

Violet, I read your post to my wife, who is the beekeeper in the family.

Her response:

Where are you located? You can DM me and we can figure out if there are any options.

If you absolutely cannot get bees, Emma recommends getting amini-mating Nuc, which would allow at least the Queen to start laying eggs. One the Queen got established, you could wire the mini-mating Nuc to a larger frame or a Nuc.

Have you talked to any local commercial beekeepers to see if you could purchase some bees from them?

It’s been a really rough spring for bees. We’re hurting too.

Jeremy

[Szdfan]

Today I released the queen into the hive.

hopefully they did not attack her.

I am seriously stressed this year about my bees. Last year, it was all good, I was relaxed. This year, I am like a tense spring ready to pop as I am realizing that these things are not easy to keep alive.

We do have a local bee club, but they all had the same fate as me....one lady had 21 hives perish! That is unfathomable to me. I don't see a whole lot of help coming from a club of people who cannot keep their bees alive.

There is one local guy, the good Samaritan that gave me a chance with my queen, but he is pretty much in retirement mode with keeping. He has three small hives and pretty much just has them around. I don't think he would mind me calling every now and then with a question, but I don't think he is looking to make a "bee friend." And, I can respect that.

So, I watched a ton of you tube videos.

I think my mistake last year was that I did not add a secondary box soon enough, which made mine swarm (twice) and then they were too small to make it through winter. Even though, I did feed them last year, I think I need to up the game and make sure they have food throughout the winter. I am reading about "feeding boards" and I am not so sure that will work, but, I don't know.

So, do tell...what are the top three tips for taking a hive and keeping it strong enough to make it through a winter?

I am concerned that the bigger guys have big losses and they just combine well and make it look as though they have bees that really thrive through winter. But, that is just a hunch and I may be wrong.

Top three tips for wintering:
1) Make sure you don’t have Varroa.
2) Feed the bees tons in order to establish a nest in the fall before it gets told. Feed them a 2:1 ratio of sugar to water.
3) Make sure whatever size of hive you’re using is not too big. Emma thinks that empty space needs to be insulated. If you only have five frames with brood and feed, use a Nuc box over the winter instead of a hive.
And 4) You really need at least two hives. It is always a good idea to have at least two because then you have options to fix problems with one hive with bees from the other one.

Emma really likes the Canadian Beekeeper Blog from Manitoba on YouTube. He has good advice.

[violet]

Thank you for all the wise suggestions.

I am going to write them down and make sure I follow them!

[wesleyb]

Violet, where are you located? I could help you out, but I have the feeling you're pretty far away. I'm in western Virginia.

I have a very strong hive I've taken one split off already and I'm still crossing my fingers that it won't swarm.

[violet]

what type of treatment for varroa do you like to use? and, when do you typically use it?

Steve, the beeman who helped me out locally, told me he only treats late July and late August because this will be the winter bees. He did not specifically tell me what treatment method he choose though. He did mention that the treatment needs to be "hot" though.

And, are there any thoughts on the more natural approach of using powder sugar?

[wesleyb]

A quick question for any experts reading here.

I made a split off a strong hive. They raised a queen, I checked last Saturday and verified there were eggs and young larvae. They were in a 10 frame medium and seemed pretty crowded so I added a 2nd medium on top. I have been feeding some. Yesterday, 5 days later, I checked again and found at least one capped queen cell and several open ones, also at least a small amount of eggs and young larvae, so the queen is still laying.

My question, are they trying to swarm because I let them get too crowded in which case I should tear out the queen cells, or do they know something I don't about the health of their current queen in which case I should leave them alone to do their thing?

[Ken]

A quick question for any experts reading here.

I made a split off a strong hive. They raised a queen, I checked last Saturday and verified there were eggs and young larvae. They were in a 10 frame medium and seemed pretty crowded so I added a 2nd medium on top. I have been feeding some. Yesterday, 5 days later, I checked again and found at least one capped queen cell and several open ones, also at least a small amount of eggs and young larvae, so the queen is still laying.

My question, are they trying to swarm because I let them get too crowded in which case I should tear out the queen cells, or do they know something I don't about the health of their current queen in which case I should leave them alone to do their thing?

I usually always destroy queen cells when I find them. Do you know how old your existing queen is? If she is the new queen from the recent split then I'd keep her. The swarming instinct is usually just seasonal.

[wesleyb]

I usually always destroy queen cells when I find them. Do you know how old your existing queen is? If she is the new queen from the recent split then I'd keep her.

Yes, definitely the new queen. Thanks for the input!

Hmmm. . . . It's tempting to take more frames from my strong hive and start another nuc with that queen cell.

[Ken]

I usually always destroy queen cells when I find them. Do you know how old your existing queen is? If she is the new queen from the recent split then I'd keep her.

Yes, definitely the new queen. Thanks for the input!

Hmmm. . . . It's tempting to take more frames from my strong hive and start another nuc with that queen cell.

I think the swarming instinct is usually seasonal, not related to things like the health of the queen.