Hive inspection and box reversal

Latestarter said:

A typical package of 3 pounds contains ~ 4-5000 bees. It's real easy to estimate too high Based on your frame layout, they really don't need another box yet, but they can grow pretty quick, so yuou'll need to keep an eye on them. When you have 6-7 frames completely drawn, it's time to add another box above. But keep feeding them syrup...

Click to expand...

The place i got them from has 2lb and 3lb packages and it says a pound of bees is 3,00-4,00 bees... i got 3lb so i would have between 9,000-12,000 bees. Is that not correct? If not they are ripping people off and completely lying to them when they purchase bees. i didnt think they needed another box...i just thought maybe they wanted a super to start storing honey in but im fiarly sure they have plenty of room on the bottom for now.

The beekeeper I got my bees from said there are roughly 10,000 bees in a 3 lb package. I didn't count them though.

I haven't been into my hives since I extracted in mid July. I put the super back on the hive for the bees to clean up the mess, and that was the last time I was in there. I'm still a bit concerned about being stung again after my last reaction, so I forgot all about the super on the hive.

So today, I got a bit of a surprise. I decided it was time to treat for mites, so I had to get the empty super off of the hive. BUT................the super was not empty. The bees packed it full of honey again! When I extracted earlier this summer, the privet was blooming. And then the mustard and the star thistle. I was seriously not expecting a full super this time of year! I took the super off and checked the top brood box quickly, and it has a lot of capped honey as well. So they have more than enough for winter.

Needless to say, I did not treat for mites. I now need to pick a day this week to extract again. Then I'll remove it and treat the hives for mites. I did a quick check in the other 2 hives, and they are doing well also. I shouldn't need to feed this winter, but if I do, I have plenty of honey to do it.

What a 'sweet' surprise I haven't been in my hives in about a month and it is time. Right now it looks like I will have 5 hives spending the winter with me. Three of them I need to get on stands and I would like some screened bottom boards but those can wait until spring. The hives were just placed on the ground in a hurry when I captured the swarms and they stupid chickens will scratch right in front of the hive and kick dirt into the entry. They have FIVE acres to play on...why right in front of the hive ???

I wasn't planning on five hives, hopefully one of them will have some honey for me. Need to decide on mite treatment too, thinking oxalic acid dribble if I can buy the stuff in California. I have some hopguard and some apivar (?) or some such stuff. Just need to get it done.

I got Apiguard. I bought it from Dadant and had no trouble having it shipped to me.

That was it...Apiguard. I think I am going to try oxalic dribble. I found out after I posted earlier that oxalic acid is wood bleach so easy to find. It looks like 50 ML per hive done in Nov. ought to do it. It needs to be done where there is no brood present, or a little as possible. The guy I got my nucs from did Nov. last year so I will do that again. We'll see.

babsbag said:

That was it...Apiguard. I think I am going to try oxalic dribble. I found out after I posted earlier that oxalic acid is wood bleach so easy to find. It looks like 50 ML per hive done in Nov. ought to do it. It needs to be done where there is no brood present, or a little as possible. The guy I got my nucs from did Nov. last year so I will do that again. We'll see.

Click to expand...

Babs,

I have used the OA vaporization in the past and it was quite effective in the fall and the winter.

In the spring, it did not appear to work so well and I am not sure why. So we used Apivar. The Apivar was incredibly effective...treated in March, and still have a near zero mite count.

Hope this helps!

Soar

PS Pics of new bee hives and stands and some OA vaporization

If the OA vapor is like the dribble it can't kill mites on brood so won't be as effective during the spring when there is a lot of brood. I believe you need to treat again in something like 12 days in the spring, but I won't swear by that so don't try it without more research.

Where did you get the vaporizer?

I love those stands, and what are the tags and screens?

babsbag said:

If the OA vapor is like the dribble it can't kill mites on brood so won't be as effective during the spring when there is a lot of brood. I believe you need to treat again in something like 12 days in the spring, but I won't swear by that so don't try it without more research.

Where did you get the vaporizer?

I love those stands, and what are the tags and screens?

Click to expand...

Hi babs!

The OA dribble method has some scientific documentation of the possibility of having an adverse effect upon the viability of the queen [may affect her egg laying capacities].

The OA vaporization method has scientific data that reveal there are no adverse effects upon the bees at all. Sorry, I do not have the data readily available, but I read for days on end about it last year. You can check Randy Oliver's site for more info.

For the OA vaporization to work well for us, we had to treat every 5 days for 4-5 treatments. This way the newly hatched larvae are also freed from the varroa mite.

OA vaporizers can be purchased through Ebay or online at several of the major bee supply shops.

Tags were to see if the queens could comprehend preschool level cognitive levels. Ok, just joking. Tags were suppose to help the new virgin queens we made to find her way back to the correct nuc.

Screens were to protect against robbing from stronger hives.

Have a nice day!

soarwitheagles said:

Tags were to see if the queens could comprehend preschool level cognitive levels.

Click to expand...

You might be able to get a grant to study that idea.

I will do some more research on the OA. I was on Randy's site just today looking for information on the dribble. I had contacted him last winter about buying nucs and he was already sold out but he gave me the name of another beekeeper from Nevada City where I got my nucs; he was the one that mentioned the dribble. Either one sounds pretty easy.