Checked on the bees today

[Jo Sommers]

Our old hive (in to it's fourth year) is looking good. Lots of bees came to the top hole when we removed the outer cover.   Our other hive - the split - is not showing much life.  Just lifted the top lid, so don't really know if they are in there someplace, but in the 30 seconds we had it open no one came to see us.

[Matt H]

Yea, yesterday was a nice day to have a look and provide extra sugar cakes if nessesary.

My streak of 100% survival is over. It was only a matter of time and this winter has been much harsher than the previous two.

Of my full size production hives (>3 deep) 7/9 are still alive. Of the two that died one very few bees and the other looked like they started rearing brood and then half bees moved off the brood and half stayed. Both had plenty of honey left.

Of my late start hives (<3 deep) 3 of 5 are alive. One was a Styrofoam hive that had an untouched full super of honey on top and a ton of dead bees on the bottom board.

Of my multiple deep nucs (~2 deep equivalent) 3/5 are alive. Those that died still had food.

I also tried experimenting with some single deep nucs that were pushed together, insulated, and given sugar on top. Unfortunately only 1/9 are still alive. Some ran out of stores but most still had sugar. It looks like mice got into a few. If the one survives the winter I'm definitely grafting queens from it. Going forward I'll stick to trying to overwinter multiple deep nucs; single deep just isn't enough even if they are insulated and pushed together.

My take home lesson so far is bigger the better. My big hives are still going strong.

[lin...@tds.net]

What was your mite treatment system. Sounds like mite issues to me. Larry

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[Matt H]

While always possible, I think it's unlikely a mite issue.  Treated 4x (weekly) with OAV through August and then with MAQS mid September.  Ether rolls at the end of September showed mite infestation of 1% or less (3 per half cup).  All the hives went into winter with lots of honey and dry sugar on top.  

I had issues all year long with the styrofoam hive.  I purchased it used from a guy in Madison and hived a swarm/cutout in it.  They immediately requeened themselves and then constantly were trying to requeen themselves throughout the year.  Eventually I combined a strong queenright nuc with them and they stopped that, but I suspect some of the frames/comb that came with the equipment may be impregnated with some old mite treatments (fluvalinate, coumaphosos, etc).  I'll be burning those frames this spring.  I didn't see any sign of brood disease, they just kept requeening.  

[Dale Marsden]

I lost 3 hives out of 46 prior to my check on Saturday. One due to starvation as it was originally culled, then fed 20 lbs of syrup. The other two were lost due to mites, leaving lots of honey.  The rest were alive. A few clusters were small but they may still survive. I have been making sure they have sugar on top but have held off on feeding  sugar syrup.  I added some winter patties on the strong ones that are heavily feeding on the sugar.   About a third of the hives have not accessed the sugar yet.

Check your bees often and fed. 

Dale

[mar...@chicagobees.com]

Dale,
how do you feed sugar syrup at this time?

For the longest time I've been told, and read, that bees won't take syrup under 50 degrees. Then 2 years ago a beekeeper with over 30 years of experience said that he feeds sugar water in January and February if needed. Last year I heard the same from another long time beekeeper. They feed in small amounts and replace as needed but it works for them.

[Dale Marsden]

I am not recommending feeding sugar syrup at this time of year because it is so much work and time consuming when dry sugar and/or winter patties can accomplish about the same thing.

Also it does rain the humidity level in a hive so insulating and venting the top of the hive is a must.

If you want to feed syrup, you need to only feed heavy sugar syrup in small amounts that they can take in before it gets too cold for them to take. The jar should be above the cluster on an inner cover and insulate with a sheet or block of insulating material above it under the cover. An enclosed space like this can be above 50 degrees an I found that if I wrapped insulation loosely around a small jar the bees would tend to keep it warm enough to finish it by covering it with bees.  Good sized cluster can take in a half a pint  in a few hours so using a pint or quart are is possible. A pint will feed a cluster for up to a week.   You need to check the bees weekly and refill jars weekly as needed. 

By mid March you can start thinning the syrup to stimulate brood rearing.

Dale

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From: "mar...@chicagobees.com" <mar...@chicagobees.com>
To: 'Dale Marsden' via madbees <mad...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, January 23, 2017 4:46 PM
Subject: Re: [madbees] Checked on the bees today