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Author Topic: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?  (Read 59828 times)

Online The15thMember

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Re: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?
« Reply #340 on: December 16, 2022, 06:34:08 pm »
15th
Is your small hive small enough to pack into a 5 frame nuc.
We winter nucs very successfully overwinter
Or packout their hive with blocks/sheets of polystyrene to reduce their volume. they stay in all winter and in spring when you find them throwing bits out you know they need more room. Our blocks are 65mm thick and replace 2 frames in the hive,
Maybe, although it's kind of too late now.  I don't actually have any nuc boxes, I usually use a foam divider board to make the space in a big hive body smaller when I need fewer frames.  I thought about doing that, but I only realized their population was so low on my last inspection of the year, after they had already sealed up their cracks good with propolis, so I figured that too much room well-sealed was better than the right amount of room but drafty. 
I come from under the hill, and under the hills and over the hills my paths led.  And through the air, I am she that walks unseen.

Online The15thMember

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Re: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?
« Reply #341 on: December 17, 2022, 07:32:35 pm »
15th
Is your small hive small enough to pack into a 5 frame nuc.
We winter nucs very successfully overwinter
Or packout their hive with blocks/sheets of polystyrene to reduce their volume. they stay in all winter and in spring when you find them throwing bits out you know they need more room. Our blocks are 65mm thick and replace 2 frames in the hive,
Maybe, although it's kind of too late now.  I don't actually have any nuc boxes, I usually use a foam divider board to make the space in a big hive body smaller when I need fewer frames.  I thought about doing that, but I only realized their population was so low on my last inspection of the year, after they had already sealed up their cracks good with propolis, so I figured that too much room well-sealed was better than the right amount of room but drafty. 
Well, it's 100% too late now.  I found them dead today.  Not really surprising.  I unfortunately treated them with OAV before I realized they were dead, so I did waste 2 grams of OA.  On the plus side, when I took the hive apart, I was able to see that my OAV spread isn't coating the whole interior of the hive, which isn't ideal.  I'm not sure if it's my wand or if I just need to use a little more OA.  I also found a burn mark on the slatted rack from my wand, so I'll be more mindful about that in the future.  I had one more hive to treat when my battery, like my hive, died.  I wasn't aware it was so low, so I'll have to charge it before I can treat that last colony.         
I come from under the hill, and under the hills and over the hills my paths led.  And through the air, I am she that walks unseen.

Offline TheHoneyPump

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Re: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?
« Reply #342 on: December 19, 2022, 03:45:18 pm »
30 below and blowing snow.  Nothing that can be done in the beeyard.  Soooooo ..

https://youtu.be/fLexgOxsZu0
When the lid goes back on, the bees will spend the next 3 days undoing most of what the beekeeper just did to them.

Online Ben Framed

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Re: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?
« Reply #343 on: December 19, 2022, 07:01:09 pm »
2 Chronicles 7:14
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Online The15thMember

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Re: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?
« Reply #344 on: December 19, 2022, 08:06:37 pm »
https://youtu.be/hOOHeOgavYE

.
I LOVE Johnny Horton!

30 below and blowing snow.  Nothing that can be done in the beeyard.  Soooooo ..

https://youtu.be/fLexgOxsZu0
Bruno Mars I can take or leave.  :grin:
I come from under the hill, and under the hills and over the hills my paths led.  And through the air, I am she that walks unseen.

Offline TheHoneyPump

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What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?
« Reply #345 on: December 19, 2022, 08:11:06 pm »
Am not much of a Mars fan myself. But that specific tune does capture the ambition level and couch surfing that was going on here today ;)
When the lid goes back on, the bees will spend the next 3 days undoing most of what the beekeeper just did to them.

Online Ben Framed

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Re: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?
« Reply #346 on: December 19, 2022, 08:17:39 pm »
Hang in there HoneyPump...   :grin:
2 Chronicles 7:14
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Online The15thMember

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Re: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?
« Reply #347 on: December 19, 2022, 08:23:15 pm »
Am not much of a Mars fan myself. But that specific tune does capture the ambition level and couch surfing that was going on here today ;)
Sounds like a good day of vegging!

I come from under the hill, and under the hills and over the hills my paths led.  And through the air, I am she that walks unseen.

Online The15thMember

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Re: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?
« Reply #348 on: December 21, 2022, 04:26:29 pm »
I added some more chips to my moisture quilts today, in preparation for the extreme cold weather we are expecting over Christmas.  I also looked at my mite drops on my bottom boards post my OAV treatment again, and most hives were showing SIGNIFICANT drops, including, very oddly, the hive I didn't successfully treat.  As I mentioned a few posts ago, when I went to treat my final hive, my battery ran out of juice and the OA never vaporized, it just smoldered.  After a few tries I gave up, but in spite of that, the hive dropped a TON of mites.  Anyone else find that strange?  I mean, some of the OA must have reached the colony obviously, but either this hive is LOADED with mites, or that small amount seemed to work just as well as a full dose, based on the similarity between the bottom boards.   
I come from under the hill, and under the hills and over the hills my paths led.  And through the air, I am she that walks unseen.

Offline Michael Bush

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Re: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?
« Reply #349 on: December 23, 2022, 07:54:29 am »
I think about the bees when the weather is like this.  -13 F and blowing 45 mph winds...
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
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Online Ben Framed

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Re: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?
« Reply #350 on: December 23, 2022, 08:00:04 am »
2 degrees F here at my location, here in the Sunny South as we speak. Wind chill is -15F i.e. ll.  (ll little laughter)  :cheesy: :grin:

Phillip

2 Chronicles 7:14
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Online The15thMember

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Re: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?
« Reply #351 on: December 23, 2022, 12:02:40 pm »
It's 13F here right now, and not going to get warmer.  Our wind chill is in the single digits.  It was extremely windy overnight, but it seems to have died down now. 
I come from under the hill, and under the hills and over the hills my paths led.  And through the air, I am she that walks unseen.

Online BeeMaster2

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Re: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?
« Reply #352 on: December 23, 2022, 02:06:06 pm »
It is 48 degrees F here now, was 67 when we got up this morning. Winds are 7 to 16 mph. Temperature is constantly dropping and will bee in the low 20s tonight we won?t see 40 until next Wednesday. I have been draining hoses and blowing out water pipes all morning and covering up well heads.
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Offline Lesgold

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Re: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?
« Reply #353 on: December 26, 2022, 03:37:35 am »
Was working on making a jig for safely cutting timber for bee frames. Unfortunately I had a bit of a mishap and had an argument with the bench saw. Won?t be able to count to ten anymore but I should be good with fractions. 9.25 will be my best count. I should be under the knife tomorrow morning.

36 years years of teaching woodwork without a single incident and then one mistake ended up costing me my middle finger. We are never too old to stop learning.

Online Ben Framed

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Re: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?
« Reply #354 on: December 26, 2022, 04:19:09 am »
Sorry Les. Even with experience it can happen to anyone. brucesbees, a nice guy from Alabama which makes some interesting videos, met with a similar fate.

Phillip
2 Chronicles 7:14
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

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Re: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?
« Reply #355 on: December 26, 2022, 04:50:48 am »
Wow, sorry to hear that Les. Is it your index finger that you lost?
Jim Altmiller
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Offline Lesgold

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Re: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?
« Reply #356 on: December 26, 2022, 04:53:29 am »
Middle finger Jim. At least it will have minimal impact on what I?ll be able to do. The worst part will be the down time waiting for the finger stump to heal.

Offline NigelP

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Re: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?
« Reply #357 on: December 26, 2022, 05:05:49 am »
Sorry to hear of your loss Les..... :sad:

Online The15thMember

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Re: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?
« Reply #358 on: December 26, 2022, 01:09:05 pm »
Oh no, Les!  That's terrible! 
I come from under the hill, and under the hills and over the hills my paths led.  And through the air, I am she that walks unseen.

Offline saltybluegrass

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Re: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?
« Reply #359 on: December 26, 2022, 06:41:53 pm »
Great news! The temps touched 50 today and the girls were busy!
Nothing but warmer temps here on out
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
Then all else falls in line
It?s up to me