What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?

[Terri Yaki]

We're in the upper 50s here this afternoon and my hive is active. It looks to me like they're flying orientation flights. I gassed them about two weeks ago and am wondering if I should give them another gassing. I could go out right after dark and block 'em in and let 'em have it. Would this be needed at this point?

[The15thMember]

Sorry, I'm chronically incapable of remembering if you have screened bottom boards or not.    If you do, are you seeing any passive mite drop?  What was the drop like last time you did OAV? 

[Terri Yaki]

Nope, not screened and I forgot to shove some cardboard in there when I gassed them last time.

[The15thMember]

Well, in the absence of data, it's kind of up to you.  Will you be able to sleep better having treated again or not? 

[Terri Yaki]

Well, in the absence of data, it's kind of up to you.  Will you be able to sleep better having treated again or not? 

That depends on whether or not I find all my bees dead one day.

[The15thMember]

Ah, the million dollar question.    I'm not a fan of over-treating, at all, but I will say this: this is your only colony at the moment, so there is probably more risk to you losing them from varroa than from the OAV.  Just try and get some data this time, and then you'll know for the future. 

[beesnweeds]

Would this be needed at this point?

Most beekeepers in the north will treat once between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  If your mite count was low in September, you should be good.  I just treated mine because single digit temps are on the way.  I won't need to look at my hives again until March.

[Terri Yaki]

I was/am hoping to gas them today but they're out hot and heavy right now. It's mid 50s out there. I found a couple filling up. It's been raining so they don't have to go far to get a drink.

[Terri Yaki]

And I gassed 'em. Two shots for two minutes each, which cooked off all of the OA. Afterwards, there were a few deaths noticed. Two straggled out and fell off the porch and one was pulled out by two others. Is this normal or is this an indication of an OD?

[The15thMember]

I often have a bee or two burned to death from the wand.  I'd imagine the same could occur if a bee was too close to the hot gases as they sublimated.  Unless you are seeing significant numbers of dead bees, I wouldn't worry. 

[Occam]

Finally got around to feeding the bees, set up some mountain camp style feeding since they were light this fall. I'll check back in a month if the weather stays warm, we haven't had any cold weather yet here, just a few frosts. Was a poor year for nectar, each hive had only a few frames of capped honey when I went to harvest, they never built up well. I pretty much left them everything. At any rate feeding went smoothly and easily, they were busy and enjoying the sun after a week of rain and clouds.

[bwallace23350]

I fed the bees hive alive the other day. Had trouble with my smoker and it was overcast so they got a little testy on me.

[The15thMember]

We have a long stretch of very cold weather being forecast, so I hefted and checked moisture quilts today, while it's still high 50s F and sunny.  I have two colonies that I have sugar balls on, and both appear to be eating them, although one colony had a good bit of sugar dropped on their bottom board.  One colony needed a quilt changed, which I had been anticipating, since this hive always seems to run wetter than the others for some reason. 

The colony on the leaning stand looks worse today, the top box has almost slid far enough forward for me to see inside.  I'm not sure if I should straighten it out or not.  I mean, I obviously would rather the box be properly squared, but I'm worried if I crack the propolis seal when it's chilly like this that the box will be even more unstable because the propolis won't be holding it together anymore.  On the other hand, I'd rather try and straighten it out when it's 50F than when it's 30F.  Everyone else is either not home or really busy today, but maybe I should get someone to help me move the hive to another stand tomorrow.     

[Terri Yaki]

Since it's warm again today, I lifted to top off of mine and looked in. I have a sheet of insulation under the outer cover and that's it. I saw no signs of moister in there. If it's going to sweat, should I have noticed it there? There don't seem to be any bees in the top box.

[The15thMember]

My sister helped me put a piece of wood under the front end of the bottom board to re-level the leaning hive.  I decided not to crack and re-center the box, since I don't want to have the propolis seal destroyed with this cold weather coming.  I just took a piece of duct tape and sealed up the little gap that had developed at the back of the hive.  They should be able to make it to spring this way, when I can move them to another stand and requeen them at the same time, hopefully. 

[Terri Yaki]

Last night I checked them with the IR camera and the cluster is still in the same place it was the last time I checked. There were a couple of dead bodies on the porch but it warmed up to a little over 40 today and some of them were flying and the dead were removed. I guess all is good for now.

[Terri Yaki]

Cold weather is here with more coming so I went out last night and took more IR pictures of my hive. This IR camera is neat.

[Terri Yaki]

I went out early this morning to verify life and it is still there. Not showing as much contrast as the pictures above in the cluster but the top is still showing well.

[The15thMember]

I hefted and checked quilts today, since it's finally significantly above freezing.  I had one colony flying and, even more surprising, bringing in what appeared to be pollen!  I'm wonder if they have found someone open feeding pollen sub or something, because I really don't think our maples are open yet. 

One colony had some honey spilled on their bottom board, not a ton, but not none either, maybe, I don't know, two teaspoons.  I'm not sure what that's about, so I'll be keeping an eye on that.  What do you think would have caused a spill like that? 

[Terri Yaki]

Just verifying that they made it through the cold snap and it looks like they did. There is one dead body on the porch that hasn't moved for a day or two.