RE: [madbees] Re: Why new bees fail?

[Brad Krantz]

I have 3 hives

I have had problems with winter kill,

last year I did not harvest any honey,

I had two hives going into the winter, and both made it thru.

I split one hive, getting me to 3.

I am not going to harvest much honey this fall, and will feed them plenty of sugar.

We will see how it goes,

Are we not leaving enough food (honey) for them to survive.

Will they do better on honey rather than sugar?

 

Thanks

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Brad Krantz

U W Provision Company

PO Box 620038

2315 Pleasantview Road

Middleton WI 53562

800-832-0517  x3129

Brad....@uwprovision.com

You run with those that “Run with the Bulls”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I3A-4pR_vo

 

From: mad...@googlegroups.com [mailto:mad...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Greg V
Sent: Friday, August 19, 2016 9:14 PM
To: madbees
Subject: Re: [madbees] Re: Why new beeks fail?

 

So yes, here is one case:
a dead, very tall Lang hive with dead Italians (from what I saw);
why they got the bees? - because bees are cool and help to pollinate and the bees are dying (from the talk);
after they got the bees, the garden of their parents about a mile away got better crop - must be that the hive helped;
then they got too busy to watch the hive (young parents - totally understand);
then bees died;
Pretty much it.


On Friday, August 19, 2016 at 9:07:51 PM UTC-5, Greg V wrote:

I know two cases off hand this summer (they are not on this forum even).

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[harold steinberg]

This is not meant to sound preachy… the point is to manage your bees based on a bunch of different factors that you personally have chosen as you moved into keeping bees. It’s different for all of us based on the choices we have made.

Before new beekeepers adopt the management strategy of "not harvest honey in the fall" (thinking that the bees might need all of it), take the time to assess how much honey your bees have going into fall, and rationalize that amount of honey over the type of hive you have, the strain of bees you have, and the setup of your hive. We keep honeybees because they make more honey than they need to make it through winter. In a bad year that is not always true, this year has been a bumper year! And just because your hive may have been new this year, or from a split, that doesn’t mean they don’t have enough honey. You have to look and assess.

For example, I have three deeps. My Italian mutts need to almost completely fill that upper deep with honey to make it through the winter (and they have almost already done that). I will also give them 10 lbs of sugar on top of the hive, mainly to absorb moisture but also to serve as a honey backup. Additionally I will have to treat them for mites if they are to make it through the winter.

My Russian mutts need 50-60% that amount of honey (but they already have the entire top deep full of honey) because they overwinter in a much smaller cluster and don’t start brood in January/February. They will also get the sugar to absorb moisture but they generally do not eat any of it. They are more hygienic and don’t need mite treatments because they have very low mite loads.

Cooler temps start tonight and I will be closing my propped open tops, removing all my supers, and installing my entrance reducers to cut down on robbing. The rest of the honey harvested will go toward packing that upper deep and the sides of the two lower deeps.

[jeanne hansen]

Very nice analysis, especially the part about the mites.

Living as I do in a neighborhood with hives in every other block, I ALWAYS have lots of mites.

Having fed pollen substitute all summer, my bees are the strongest they have ever been at this time of year.  Let's hope it allows more of them to survive winter.  I'm thinking this may have been the bigger issue for my bees than the amount of honey, since they ALWAYS have had excess honey during winter.

 

Thanks!
Jeanne Hansen
824 Jacobson Ave
Madison, WI 53714
608-244-5094

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From: harold steinberg <h.adam.s...@gmail.com>
To: "mad...@googlegroups.com" <mad...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, August 20, 2016 9:03 AM
Subject: Re: [madbees] Re: Why new bees fail?

[Philip Parker]

I'm afraid to look in my bottom deeps to see how much honey is there. Just took my four supers off my "strong" hive, and I know three of them were nearly full a month ago, and now they are nearly empty! Strange. I guess the bees got hungry and there wasn't enough nectar flow. I'll look inside next weekend to see what other bad news awaits me!
philip

[Greg V]

Are your bees Italian?

It is sounds as if this is an Italian trend to burn through the carbs as if the winter will never come.

On Saturday, August 20, 2016 at 7:59:01 PM UTC-5, Philip Parker wrote:

....... and now they are nearly empty!  Strange.  .............

[Joseph Bessetti]

I'd find it very strange for three full supers to get eaten up in the last month.  You should look in your bottom deeps to see if you're even still queen-right.  Perhaps the supers have been robbed out.  That would seem like a more likely explanation to me.

Joe

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From: mad...@googlegroups.com <mad...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Philip Parker <par...@uwplatt.edu>
Sent: Saturday, August 20, 2016 7:59 PM
To: madbees
Subject: Re: [madbees] Re: Why new bees fail?

 

I'm afraid to look in my bottom deeps to see how much honey is there.  Just took my four supers off my "strong" hive, and I know three of them were nearly full a month ago, and now they are nearly empty!  Strange.  I guess the bees got hungry and there wasn't enough nectar flow.  I'll look inside next weekend to see what other bad news awaits me!
philip

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[Philip Parker]

Yep, I'm guessing it's robbing, but didn't have the heart to look in the deeps yesterday!
Yes, they are Italians.
philip

[Greg V]

jeanne hansen

Jul 29

.................. but my scale hive is losing weight instead of gaining (east side of Madison.)  At first I hoped it was moisture being removed from the last bits of nectar.  Now I think I will take the honey off the hives before the bees eat it all up!!

Here Jeanne on Jul 29 said she was loosing honey too.
This was even before August.
Pretty sure she has Italians too.

[Joseph Bessetti]

This trend to burn carbs (by raising brood at great amounts all the time) isn't necessarily just an Italian thing.

This is what the commercial pollination industry is demanding, so it's what the breeders are selecting for, and that's where your packages are coming from.

Joe

Sent from my U.S. Cellular® Smartphone

-------- Original message --------
From: Greg V
Date:08/20/2016 22:35 (GMT-06:00)
To: madbees

[Greg V]

This is a good point, Joe.
I never thought of this, but this makes sense and probably true.
Looks like another reason to avoid buying the non-local packaging of who-knows-what.

What is good for large-scale, mono-culture nomadic pollinators is NOT good for small-scale, back yard, local beeks.