Didn?t Expect To Find This

[.30WCF]

I may try to go in on Thursday. It?s supposed to be sunny and 70*F. If I need to do some splits I?ll have some time to do that.
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Temperature is not the trigger for bees, sunlight is.  Just like vegetation, what ever grows in your area is accustom to temperature swings.  Timing is controlled by the number of daylight hours.

Yes. Next year I need to look a couple weeks earlier. It seems they got the jump on me.
I just meant that if it?s 70* Thursday, it will be a good day to go in the hives. Today it?s raining and 41*.


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[.30WCF]

I started with 2 Italian Nucs three years ago. The end of that first year those 2 nucs turned into two double deep 10s and a double nuc.
The three wintered over just fine. Those three turned into (6) 10 frame hives 4 boxes high and a handful of nucs the second year. I gave 2 double 10 frame hives to my brother in Philly, did some splits to try to keep them from swarming, then crushed some queens and combined them in the late fall. That got me back down to 3 hives and 2 nucs for last winter. So far it looks like all five have made it and I already split one nuc. I should have some Queen Cells in the works, and can probably do some more splitting later this week and add a QC to the other half of the split hives if it looks like the extra room I gave them came too late.
It?s a little early for splits I imagine, but I can recombine them, or keep them going with a frame here and there from the other hives if the queens come back unmated, and they need to try again. If the first attempt fails, the second round of queens should be prime time for mating. In late March or April.


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[Acebird]

Today it?s raining and 41*.

It is not the 41 degrees.  It is the rain that will kill them.  At 41 you are just going to have guard bees in the air.  If you hold a box of honey back you can supplement hives that are light in Feb and March.  You also can redistribute frames if the cluster chimneyed by the honey.

[.30WCF]

Things looked ok today. Two or three Queen Cells in the one half of the walk away split.
Painted a few boxes.
Moved a couple nucs into 10 frame boxes and did some brood reversal.
The new color is the red, mustardy/yellow, and I did some in blue like the bottom boards on the left. I?ll work my way through the rest. Next inspection I?ll swap a few boxes, paint and swap them out the next time.
So far it looks like we are going 5 for 5 this year for overwintering. I did move a little honey over to the queenless half of the nuc split( which is now in the single red medium box ).






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[The15thMember]

Things looked ok today. Two or three Queen Cells in the one half of the walk away split.
Painted a few boxes.
Moved a couple nucs into 10 frame boxes and did some brood reversal.
The new color is the red, mustardy/yellow, and I did some in blue like the bottom boards on the left. I?ll work my way through the rest. Next inspection I?ll swap a few boxes, paint and swap them out the next time.
So far it looks like we are going 5 for 5 this year for overwintering. I did move a little honey over to the queenless half of the nuc split( which is now in the single red medium box ).






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Ooh, I like those new colors.  They have kind of a southwestern vibe about them.

[.30WCF]

Things looked ok today. Two or three Queen Cells in the one half of the walk away split.
Painted a few boxes.
Moved a couple nucs into 10 frame boxes and did some brood reversal.
The new color is the red, mustardy/yellow, and I did some in blue like the bottom boards on the left. I?ll work my way through the rest. Next inspection I?ll swap a few boxes, paint and swap them out the next time.
So far it looks like we are going 5 for 5 this year for overwintering. I did move a little honey over to the queenless half of the nuc split( which is now in the single red medium box ).






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Ooh, I like those new colors.  They have kind of a southwestern vibe about them.

Thanks. The white ones are probably good for a year. They were painted last year. I do like the stained ones, but they are drying and checking. I?m not gonna wax them, so they need a coat of paint. The rest need a top coat since their paint is three years old. I?m trying to tone them down and might move them towards the wood line next winter.


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