LittleBittyBigJohn
Veteran Member
It warmed up to a little over 60 this weekend. I mixed up some 2:1 sugar water and open fed. My 3 hives took in 60 lbs of sugar in 2 days. They were very active.
Honey bees
- Thread starter m1garand762
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CloverKnollFarms
Elite Member
Wow. All seven of mine are flying. Praise God. I was told they would never survive without feeding and treatment. In two years, no losses.
LittleBittyBigJohn
Veteran Member
2 of my 3 probably would have been fine without feeding. They were established, strong and had a reasonable amount of honey stores. 1 of them had been weak all year, barely grew, then immediately shrank down at the end of fall. I'm just trying to get them through winter so I can re-queen that hive and hopefully save it. I found mites in that hive during a routine inspection, which caused me to go ahead and treat all 3 hives. The mites could have been the cause of the colony being so weak. With that suspicion in mind, I'm going to start a nuc with her instead of killing her. If she's still not producing much brood in the nuc I'll go ahead and pinch her.
Hoot Owl
Bronze Member
Checked 60 hives yesterday. Intending on adding Mt. camp sugar. 40F when I started, 64F when I finished and very windy. Lost 3 more hives in the first yard. All 3 had 3 frames of brood and that is were they froze last week. They each had a 10 frame deep full of honey and 2 also had a supper full. All of the other 57 are looking good. only 1 felt light. 2 still had stores in the bottom box, with a 2nd deep and medium full. Did not feed them.
It felt GOOD to get back in the hives.
Also sold some equipment for an 83 year old beekeeper who just cant do it any more.
It felt GOOD to get back in the hives.
Also sold some equipment for an 83 year old beekeeper who just cant do it any more.
LittleBittyBigJohn
Veteran Member
Did a little work this weekend. It got warm enough to check on the hives. I was by myself so I just snapped a couple pics when I first started.
Random frame of bees. Lots of brood and pollen coming in already. No idea where they are finding pollen. This was an end frame, most are drawn fuller than this.
Found Momma
And assembled a few more hive bodies. I'm so ready to build a shop.
Random frame of bees. Lots of brood and pollen coming in already. No idea where they are finding pollen. This was an end frame, most are drawn fuller than this.
Found Momma
And assembled a few more hive bodies. I'm so ready to build a shop.
CloverKnollFarms
Elite Member
LittleBittyBigJohn
Veteran Member
I have 160 frames to assemble still... I'm sure I won't need them all this year. But, as soon as I decide not to build them all I'll need them.
CloverKnollFarms
Elite Member
This is true. I can never have too many frames or hives on standby. Right now my hive capacity exceeds the # of frames I have. 11 hives is equal to 220 frames of full capacity. Most hives only fill out to about 15-17 frames… but then there are swarm traps!
HawkinsHollow
Veteran Member
I have never been interested in beekeeping, but this thread might be changing my mind. I guess we can never have too many beekeepers in this world, right? On a scale of 1-10 where 1 is "Eh, I spend a couple hours a month on this" to 10 which feels like a full time job is having enough hives to supply my family with honey all year and have plenty to give away. (does that question make sense?) Basically how much work is it to have a nice little supply of honey for me and my friends?
CloverKnollFarms
Elite Member
With a couple horizontal hives? An hour per month? I’d keep two hives. With a Langstroth it could be more. Two hives would produce 60 pounds reliably. Up to 80 perhaps.