Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: Sniper338 on March 16, 2017, 07:07:50 pm
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How cold is cold enough to kill bees, such as over wintering?
When going into winter how much honey should a colony have to go through winter? I have 10 frame deeps. If the neat is in the middle should it have 2 frames of honey on each side or 4 frames? How much is enough to sustain them speaking frame wise?
(Im in texas, winter is only below 30 degrees a few days a year).
When making a split of a hive, you split in two, leave the queen in the old hive with half the bees and goodies, other half goes into another nuc or hive... Does that new split thats queenless need to be moved a few miles away right away so all the bees dont just go back to their old hive? Or can they be kept in the same bee yard? I read different opinions. Then wait a few days to start them on a new queen..
If you find wax moths/larva in your hive what do you do? All you hear about is methods and treatments for shb and verroa mites...
If you have ants around your hives how do you/what do you use to kill nest?
When harvesting honey through out the year, do you harvest supers when different things bloom? Or just harvest when they are capped and full? I cant figure out how you get different honeys when everything goes nuts blooming at the same time, or if its all really just a mix and just harvested different times of year..
How often should you open a hive to check it? Once a week? Once a month? I understand you dont play with them everyday, and i understand if you find something wrong you may need to get in there a few days straight or so. But im asking about regular check ups..
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How cold is cold enough to kill bees, such as over wintering?
With enough bees and adequate stores bees can survive much colder than you will ever receive in Texas.
When going into winter how much honey should a colony have to go through winter? I have 10 frame deeps. If the neat is in the middle should it have 2 frames of honey on each side or 4 frames? How much is enough to sustain them speaking frame wise?
(Im in texas, winter is only below 30 degrees a few days a year).
That is very location dependant. I would ask someone near you with more experience. In my area I can get by with a deep and medium(or equivalent).
When making a split of a hive, you split in two, leave the queen in the old hive with half the bees and goodies, other half goes into another nuc or hive... Does that new split thats queenless need to be moved a few miles away right away so all the bees dont just go back to their old hive? Or can they be kept in the same bee yard? I read different opinions. Then wait a few days to start them on a new queen..
If you are splitting in half I don't see the need to move the split to a new yard. I would add extra bees to the split(or which ever half that is no at the original location) because the field bees will return to the original location. If you are adding a queen to the split(not letting them raise their own), don't let them be queenless too long or they will start their own and reject the introduced queen. A couple of hours is long enough for the split to realize that they need a queen. Some will introduce the queen sooner than that.
If you find wax moths/larva in your hive what do you do? All you hear about is methods and treatments for shb and verroa mites...
Wax moths are usually a sign of a very weak or dying hive. If you have a hive that is full of bees you will not have a problem with wax moths. The biggest problem with wax moths is with empty equipment. No bees to protect the drawn comb.
When harvesting honey through out the year, do you harvest supers when different things bloom? Or just harvest when they are capped and full? I cant figure out how you get different honeys when everything goes nuts blooming at the same time, or if its all really just a mix and just harvested different times of year..
You can get different types of honey by noting what is blooming when you add supers. To me all the flavors are good when they come out of your own hives. I'm not experienced enough to say exactly what the variety of honey is. I just tell my customers when I pulled the honey and let them figure out what was blooming then.
How often should you open a hive to check it? Once a week? Once a month? I understand you dont play with them everyday, and i understand if you find something wrong you may need to get in there a few days straight or so. But im asking about regular check ups..
As a new beekeeper I would advise once a week or once every two weeks. It may not be ideal for the bees but the first year is more for the beekeeper to learn. And you can't learn much without getting into the hive. After you get your feet wet you don't need to completely go through the hive every time you inspect them. You can recognize alot of what is going on with the hive by just lifting the lid and taking a peek. After making spring splits, some of my hives only get looked at to see if they need more boxes and to remove honey.
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For wax moths, do a search on Beemaster for Bacillus
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The only way I can keep ants out of my hives is having the legs of the stands in butter containers of burnt motor oil.
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Wow this is like 15 topics that have all been answered in separate discussions. Normally I don't suggest using the search function but with 5 different answers probable for each question this thread is going to be quite the jam session.
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This may help you Wtih local questions. Such as weather and timer Floral blossom..
BRAZORIA COUNTY BKPRS ASSOC
Angleton, TX
http://www.brazoria-county-beekeepers-association.com
CENTRAL TEXAS BKPRS ASSOC
Brenham, TX
www.centraltexasbeekeepers.org
COLLIN COUNTY HOBBY BKPRS ASSOC
McKinney, TX
http://cchba.org
EAST TEXAS BKPRS ASSOC
Whitehouse, TX
http://www.etba.info
HOUSTON BKPRS ASSOC
Houston, TX
http://www.houstonbeekeepers.org
METRO BKPRS ASSOC
Burleson, TX
www.metrobeekeepers.net
MONTGOMERY COUNTY BKPRS ASSOC
Conroe, TX
http://www.mocobees.com
TEXAS BKPRS ASSOC
Round Rock, TX
http://texasbeekeepers.org
TRINITY VALLEY BKPRS ASSOC
Dallas, TX
http://www.tvbees.org
WILLIAMSON COUNT AREA BKPRS ASSOC
Georgetown, TX
http://www.wcaba.org
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :smile:
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>How cold is cold enough to kill bees, such as over wintering?
It depends on the size of the cluster and also on whether condensation is an issue in your hive design or your climate. Also on decisions the colony makes such as raising brood.
>When going into winter how much honey should a colony have to go through winter?
It depends on the size of the cluster and you location.
>(Im in texas, winter is only below 30 degrees a few days a year).
In other words you don't have winter. We would call weather were it is only 30 degrees or so occasionally late spring. Early spring could be as cold as -10 F...
When making a split of a hive, you split in two, leave the queen in the old hive with half the bees and goodies, other half goes into another nuc or hive... Does that new split thats queenless need to be moved a few miles away right away so all the bees dont just go back to their old hive? Or can they be kept in the same bee yard? I read different opinions. Then wait a few days to start them on a new queen..
If you find wax moths/larva in your hive what do you do? All you hear about is methods and treatments for shb and verroa mites...
If you have ants around your hives how do you/what do you use to kill nest?
When harvesting honey through out the year, do you harvest supers when different things bloom? Or just harvest when they are capped and full? I cant figure out how you get different honeys when everything goes nuts blooming at the same time, or if its all really just a mix and just harvested different times of year..
How often should you open a hive to check it? Once a week? Once a month? I understand you dont play with them everyday, and i understand if you find something wrong you may need to get in there a few days straight or so. But im asking about regular check ups..
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The only way I can keep ants out of my hives is having the legs of the stands in butter containers of burnt motor oil.
Mine are on a table so I put Vaseline on the legs, I leave the bottom 4" bare, then put the Vaseline on the next 4 inches..........haven't seen an ant since.