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Winter advice

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Crysalismum:
I have a 8 frame Langstroth hive with two deep brood bases and they were completely full (frames covered in bees with a decent mix of capped honey nector and a lot of good brood and about two upper edges (about 2 inch band) of the edge upper outer frames having some drawn comb that was uncapped/covered about 6 weeks ago and I was worried about late fall swarming & was given advice by a local beekeeper to put a queen excluder and another on- I put a 8 frame ideal./half sized & used a combination plastic frames & foundations painted in wax as there was a shortage of supply of the timber ones & I was a bit time poor and didn?t have a wiring jig set up etc.

Its getting cold and I checked on the hive today and they have not touched the top level at all - no bees in there -no drawing out nothing all the bees are below the queen excluder and thickly covering all the frames ( I didnt pull a frame out because I didn?t want them to loose the hive heat and I was already tossing up whether it was a good day to even open the hive) but I could see that they had made some excess comb on the tops and sides of the frames and walls below and up to the excluder- initially I thought is the excluder to thin and they are ?stuck? down there until they all saw my big head and came pelting at me annoyed at my intrusion !!!! 

Have I made a mistake adding a top honey super? I wanted to get be them room to store honey for winter and not swarm - but  Should I just take the top ideal super off?? Or will that cramping cause them to late swarm?? Is the empty super going to just make the whole hive too cold??

Do I feed?? I have no experience with feeding .

What are the general thoughts on insulating the hive with hay bales etc for winter? We get a few days of snow a year but regularly can get some -12?C nights when winter really hits.

220:
So let me get this right, the hive as it currently sits is 2x 8 frame deep boxes as a brood chamber, a queen excluder above this then a ideal super.

The 2 x 8 frame deeps are full
The ideal is undrawn.

If the above is correct I would pull off the ideal super and leave them alone until spring.
If the 2 deeps are full their should be at least 8 frames of honey probably more as they would more than likely be backfilling areas that were used for brood during peak brood production.

Crysalismum:
Exactly right on the configuration & the2x8 are full and the ideal undrawn and not even 1 bee in there after 6 weeks.

Thanks - I will take it off in the morning.


What do you think about adding hay bales for insulation? Necessary in this climate or not?

Feeding yes/no?

I?m unsure of how much ?help? my lil bees actually need- or whether I should just let them bee 🐝 (sorry irresistible  😂😂)

Acebird:

--- Quote from: Crysalismum on May 05, 2018, 05:36:16 am ---What do you think about adding hay bales for insulation? Necessary in this climate or not?

--- End quote ---
Do you have mice?  It makes a nice winter home.

220:
I don't have anywhere near the experience of most on here but I wouldn't worry about insulation for the climate at Bathurst.
If you have the bales and want to use them a windbreak from the prevailing winter breeze might help.

Your climate is very similar to mine, after a bit of an experiment last winter nearly all my hives have been packed down as double 8 frame deeps for winter this year. Mine really go through stores in winter, I think it is due to the fact we drop below freezing most nights and then regularly get into the low teens c quite often of a day. The bees are constantly clustering and then breaking with the temps high enough for them to leave the hive probably 50% of days but zero forage for them.

Just keep an eye on the hive weight if it feels like it is getting light through winter or early spring then feed although if both boxes are full you should be OK.

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