Maggiesdad
Loving the herd life
Y'all gonna get snow, Latestarter? Or are you out from under that one...
Hive inspection and box reversal
- Thread starter Happy Chooks
- Start date
Weather report says low tonight of 33 with 100% chance of rain/snow... which way it goes... flip a coin and welcome to Colorado! Tomorrow chance of snow and more rain. Monday Clear w/high mid 50s, then Tuesday clear w/highs of 70+... Colorado in the spring.
Went down by the South Plate river today after work... It's out of it's banks in many places. Reminiscent of the floods of Sept/Oct 2013 out here. It's been raining virtually non stop for a week plus. Guess they were getting snow most of this time at the higher/est elevations... Good for summer water supplies I hope. And this has been an "up-slope" event meaning coming in from the east/northeast, so the majority of the moisture has stayed on this side of the continental divide
I believe I said "let it rain, we need the moisture"...
OK, I think we've had enough now for a little while... My bees did get a chance to come out for a little while during a sun shine break of about 2 hours yesterday late afternoon... The temp was right at 60, and too late for me to chance opening the hives 
I really need to go in and make sure the queens survived their release and are laying
Wow Chooks, that's a LOT of bees! I think were it me, I'd split and not even chance a swarm. With a hive that healthy, chances are good you'd still get as much honey as you would have without the split and perhaps even more. Side benefit would be a break in the laying cycle to help break the varroa mite cycle as well, helping both hives remain at peak health. Think of it this way... we aren't even 1/2 way through May yet and your hive is FULL! The main nectar flows are in June and July! If you want/need to split, now is the time to do it. It the swarm happens, there's a better than even chance you'll lose them. And there goes the best 60% of your bee population, which will definitely hurt your potential honey harvest!
Maggiesdad, seeing those top bar hive frames makes me a slight bit jealous... All that nice fresh new drawn comb and how fast they are building... You gotta be proud of your girls! Working as advertised! and looking closely at your (very nice resolution) pics, I have yet to see a mite on any of your bees or in any of the cells! You're doing something right!
Sigh... hopefully in the coming days I'll be able to get some pics of my own to put up here. Mean time, so happy you both seem to be thriving!
Went down by the South Plate river today after work... It's out of it's banks in many places. Reminiscent of the floods of Sept/Oct 2013 out here. It's been raining virtually non stop for a week plus. Guess they were getting snow most of this time at the higher/est elevations... Good for summer water supplies I hope. And this has been an "up-slope" event meaning coming in from the east/northeast, so the majority of the moisture has stayed on this side of the continental divide
I believe I said "let it rain, we need the moisture"...
OK, I think we've had enough now for a little while... My bees did get a chance to come out for a little while during a sun shine break of about 2 hours yesterday late afternoon... The temp was right at 60, and too late for me to chance opening the hives I really need to go in and make sure the queens survived their release and are laying Wow Chooks, that's a LOT of bees! I think were it me, I'd split and not even chance a swarm. With a hive that healthy, chances are good you'd still get as much honey as you would have without the split and perhaps even more. Side benefit would be a break in the laying cycle to help break the varroa mite cycle as well, helping both hives remain at peak health. Think of it this way... we aren't even 1/2 way through May yet and your hive is FULL! The main nectar flows are in June and July! If you want/need to split, now is the time to do it. It the swarm happens, there's a better than even chance you'll lose them. And there goes the best 60% of your bee population, which will definitely hurt your potential honey harvest!
Maggiesdad, seeing those top bar hive frames makes me a slight bit jealous... All that nice fresh new drawn comb and how fast they are building... You gotta be proud of your girls! Working as advertised! and looking closely at your (very nice resolution) pics, I have yet to see a mite on any of your bees or in any of the cells! You're doing something right!
Sigh... hopefully in the coming days I'll be able to get some pics of my own to put up here. Mean time, so happy you both seem to be thriving!
- Thread starter
- #33
Happy Chooks
Loving the herd life
Thanks latestarter. I am thinking about splitting it anyway. I couldn't find the queen today. I just have to decide whether I move the queen to the split or leave her where she is.
And yes, there are a lot of bees in my hive.
And yes, there are a lot of bees in my hive.
If you split, with that many bees, why worry about the queen? Just make sure you have frames with fresh eggs/larva in both hives and the one without a queen should make one. You obviously have very good stock, so chances are they'll produce a better queen for you than one you'd buy. Good luck! Wish I had your "problem" to deal with! Maybe, with any luck, next year
- Thread starter
- #35
Happy Chooks
Loving the herd life
I've done so much reading my eyes are starting to cross, and I think you are right Latestarter, it's better to split them now before they get the idea to swarm. I definitely don't want to lose my bees if I can help it. With all of the capped brood, the population is going to get even higher soon. The queen has not yet laid in the empty frames I stuck in the middle of the brood box.
We are very windy today, so not a good day for splitting. I was thinking Wednesday, but then I just checked the weather and we are supposed to get a rainstorm Thursday and Friday. Maybe that would be a good thing to keep them in the hive, temps aren't supposed to be that low. (high 40's) I would be feeding the split of course.
We are very windy today, so not a good day for splitting. I was thinking Wednesday, but then I just checked the weather and we are supposed to get a rainstorm Thursday and Friday. Maybe that would be a good thing to keep them in the hive, temps aren't supposed to be that low. (high 40's) I would be feeding the split of course.
Got home early enough today to get a peek inside my hives. There was a T-storm coming in and it was more windy than I wished, but the temp was mid 70's so I risked it. No smoke and again, just the veil. Very happy at what I found
They had emptied the sugar water drinkers due to the weather we've been having (a week of rain followed by freezing temps and snow) so I refilled them and re-installed them.
The bees immediately started drinking up the spillage. The 2nd hive bees were a little less accommodating and were less happy at my interference, but no stings and they were doing just as well.
They had emptied the sugar water drinkers due to the weather we've been having (a week of rain followed by freezing temps and snow) so I refilled them and re-installed them.
The bees immediately started drinking up the spillage. The 2nd hive bees were a little less accommodating and were less happy at my interference, but no stings and they were doing just as well.
- Thread starter
- #37
Happy Chooks
Loving the herd life
Looks great! 
- Thread starter
- #38
Happy Chooks
Loving the herd life
The weather hasn't been cooperating for a split. Hopefully Sunday will be a good day and I can get the split done. They are certainly bringing in a lot of pollen and nectar. A lot of orientation flights today too, so the population is still increasing. I can't wait to get in there and see what is going on.
I saw a new color of pollen a couple of days ago, so orange it's almost red. Makes me wonder what source that is from.
I saw a new color of pollen a couple of days ago, so orange it's almost red. Makes me wonder what source that is from.
Weather seems to be in some weird pattern all over... Anyway, hope you're able to get it done as planned! Good luck!
Maggiesdad
Loving the herd life
We are having our normal 'blackberry winter'. Nights in the low 40°s, days low 70°s. My strong TBH started it's 12th comb, they are taking on the shape of the hive now. Pulled the feeder out of it, and put the follower in the 13th slot to get them to pull the combs on down. There is an ancient holly at that site... 30' at the base, between 50-60' tall. It was humming today! I'll inspect the other two hives tomorrow, maybe take some pics.
