Breaking the propolis seal...

[Bob Wilson]

Temperatures drop into the 30s at times during February. Last year I waited til March 1 to open my hive, and found QCs. 7 days later it swarmed.
Just how warm do nighttime temps need to be, before you beeks feel comfortable breaking the propolis seal on your hives to check on winter stores and brood nest conjestion?

[Brian MCquilkin]

If I suspect that the stores are critically low Ill pop the lid right away, better to do it than let them starve just need to do it fast. I have some nucs I'm really worried about,  so as soon as it's above 32F ill be adding granulated sugar to them. Not going to check the brood nest till it's about 50f

[Hops Brewster]

Your night time temps are much less important at this point than the daytime temps when you inspect for QCs.  If you have early tree bloom now you probably should be peeking in to check stores anyway, probably wouldn't hurt to take a quick look at the brood. 

You southerners always make me giggle when y'all get worried about a little bit of morning frost.

[The15thMember]

I agree with Brian that a stores inspection and a nest inspection are 2 different things, in my opinion.  I'm keeping tabs on my stores by hefting, but I guess you don't have that option with a long hive.  I also agree with Hops that it's more of a daytime temperature issue for an inspection, as long as the hive's population is strong.  I usually do my first inspections when I see it'll be in the 60s for a couple of days straight, just so they can get things in order when/if it gets cold again.  If you are worried about QC's, I'd let the flying drones tell you when you need to check.   

[van from Arkansas]

Temperatures drop into the 30s at times during February. Last year I waited til March 1 to open my hive, and found QCs. 7 days later it swarmed.
Just how warm do nighttime temps need to be, before you beeks feel comfortable breaking the propolis seal on your hives to check on winter stores and brood nest conjestion?

Look at those temps, my oh my, how beautiful.  I will not see 70F  until April, IF I am lucky and have a warm spring.

Mr. Wilson, to answer your question:  I don?t open hives for full inspection until I see warm days followed by a warm night.  I want to see at least 50F or higher for the low temp.  Let me define a full inspection: every frame is viewed, every beetle killed, eyes on the queen, brood check etc.

Consider a fella is doing partial inspection: quick view of brood, food frames, then I would consider as Hops or Member texted.  For poping the lid as some say, literally tilting the lid for checking on bee numbers then a 55F sunny day would work without much concern for night low temp within reason.  Remember, the higher the number of bees, the better the hive can deal with broken seals.

Hops, agreed, I get a chuckle too, when the Florida beeks are worried about 34F and oh my gosh, the bees might have to cluster.
Cheers

[rast]

Mr Van it was 29F on my front porch yesterday morning, I had to let my truck run long enough for the defrost to melt the ice on my windshield. I never gave my bees a thought , it was me having to go out in it that I was worried about .

[Bob Wilson]

Well,
I went into the hives yesterday. This is the first early spring inspection I have made. Last year I was ignorant about spring management. I don't know why I have been spazzing about it. Just afraid of screwing up.
Anyway, there seems more resources now, than there was last fall when I closed them up. Whole frames of capped honey that wasn't there earlier. I am sure they finished consolidating some nectar, but it still seems more.
Anyway X2. Hive B is busting. I inserted an empty comb frame and a foundationless frame between the brood and honey stores. Hive A is small but clean. Hive C seems weak and dirty somehow. Not nosema dirty, more like bad hygiene. At any rate, they have enough resources and I can leave them alone for another week or two.

[Acebird]

That frame looks to be bulging out into the next frames space.  Slice it off and harvest the honey and keep your frames tight together.  If this is a long hive where you are adding frames as you go do not put an empty frame in the last position.  Separate the last drawn frame and put the empty between the drawn frames.

[Bob Wilson]

Yes. Those frames are the result of not understanding that I needed to insert foundationless frames within the broodnest during the nectar flow. That practice will migrate nicely formed, straight, and tight brood comb frames to the back of the hive, which the bees will fill with honey.
Even though I did not understand to do that last year, those old frames are overall much straighter and well formed than I expected.

[Acebird]

those old frames are overall much straighter and well formed than I expected.

First year honey frames can be fixed.  Slice an X in the cells of warped comb after harvest and straighten.  The bees will fix the broken cells and the comb will be perfect for the next fill.

[van from Arkansas]

That is a beautiful pic of honey comb.  Agreed not the most uniform, but very nice to see full comb this time of year, even with the bulge out comb.  Will be months before I see such.  I am just waiting on warm weather so I very much enjoy viewing the pics from beeks of the warmer climates, on this cool January day in N. Arkansas.
Cheers

[Ben Framed]

Temperatures drop into the 30s at times during February. Last year I waited til March 1 to open my hive, and found QCs. 7 days later it swarmed.
Just how warm do nighttime temps need to be, before you beeks feel comfortable breaking the propolis seal on your hives to check on winter stores and brood nest conjestion?

Bob, I will attempt to roundabout answer you question as far as my area is concerned and considering my limited experience. I am in zone 7 and this is my third winter of beekeeping. The first two years I was really concerned about breaking the top (seal). To be clear, I do not use an inner cover. My tops are made of Advantech Flooring board. These boards have proven to hold a steady and true level, non warping top making a good top in my opinion for bee hives. This makes for an easy seal of the edges for the bees. However, I have (one) plywood top. It is slightly warped with a gap. Just today I added 2 1/2 rims on each hive for the purpose of using granulated sugar in the mountain camp style for added insurance of non-starvation. Just incase stores get to low before spring. I do not want to lose a hive to starvation if that can be avoided.

To my pleasant surprise, not only was the warped hive top doing well, they seemed to be thriving, having the most bees! I did not dig into this hive but noticed the bees present on top of the frames when the top was removed. I will no longer worry about breaking the seal in winter, if for some reason I feel I just have to go inside for such a reason as today.

This was a slight concern going into winter, (the warped hive top). But I remembered Tim Durham in one of his videos, telling of an old man in North Carolina who had what Tim described as the old mans best hive. Tim said (chunks) had rotted out in places so large that you would be shocked that bees could survive the cold of that area. I am now a believer. lol

PS I would like to add, I did not see a small hive beetle in this hive. Coincidence? Or are we on to something? Also could this aid in the death of varroa mites? Outside of the box questions I know. lol





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