Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: tefer2 on January 07, 2013, 05:42:44 pm
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for all you Michigan beekeepers. This weeks weather is going to be close to 50 degrees by Friday.
Should be a great time to check those honey balls, candy bricks, and mountain camp sugar.
I really thought that we were to have our normal winter this season. Sure seems like a repeat of last year, no ice fishing again. Darn it all.
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Wow, I’m seeing mid 50s on Saturday. The bees will be pooping up a storm it is gets that warm.
I'll finally get to peek in on my other mating nucs and see if they're still alive or not.
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we have 3 -4 inches of ice up here Terry. No driving on it but they are walking everywhere
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We had a few inches here, 4 people fell through in just a few days. What a bunch of idiots. The ice will be long gone shortly. We can always jump in the truck and find ice somewhere up north.
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Feel for you fellows, by this weekend our lows are to be in upper 50's, with high in the upper 70's. It had been colder or rainy for a few days, yesterday was nice, girls were going every where. Good luck to you and your bees.
Joe
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It's easy to see who's alive and who's not when we have this warm of temps. A walk around the hives to mark the ones with no activity. Hope I don't find any!
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when I find mid winter deadouts I load them up right then and there. Take them home and take them apart looking for problems. 99.9 % of the time I find a patch of bee's head down in cells. I clean up the frames best I can and store them away for next spring. All frames of honey are stored seperate so I can divide them up for spring splits
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I load up the dead outs when I find them too. Sometimes there is no answer, a bunch of maybe's.
Should not be the weather this winter though. Eating themselves out of house and home more like it.
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Today will be the last day of this warm weather. Let's hear what you all found in your bee yards.
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Should get to 73 today here. (dang global warming) I got some pics this morning of bees on some flowers feeding like mad.
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If we don't get some cold weather soon, there won't be a peach in the Peach State this summer.
Steve
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Transferred a nuc today. Every forager coming was loaded with pollen. Loving this nice warmer weather.
Bailey
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Been driving around from yard to yard today. It's warm enough for every hive to be flying. If there is no traffic today, they are dead for sure. All full size hives have not been into the candy yet. Still seems to be some weight to them. About 70% of the double decker nucs are picking at the candy bricks now. Only found 3 dead outs today, bringing my total so far to 6. The strange part is that we have only lost one nuc. I normally lose about 30% of them. Today was sure a teaser, hope mother nature will let us have some tree fruit this year.
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Bailey-
The girls in their new home. The ride home with the two Nucs was uneventful, which is a good thing! Got them in place around 10:00 Saturday night, I took this video of them yesterday morning. As soon as the weather permits, I'll transfer them to a hive box like we discussed, but it's looking like that might be a while.
My first Bees! (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4z23cd87841vic6/5J2WHYMhYN/Bees)
It was a pleasure meeting and doing business with you, thanks again for the time you took to share your knowledge.
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Moots, sounds like Bailey hooked you up. I like the 2x6 hive stand, that's the way I build them when they are at a fixed location.
Were back to snow and cold weather here today. I just thank mother nature for the break in our winter weather.
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tefer2,
Thanks for the props on my hive stand, I was pleased with how it turned out.
(http://i1311.photobucket.com/albums/s664/jeffrobert41183/9A31A5D7-E428-4C10-B666-18E73A9B1392-441-00000028FB2E544C.jpg)
I used a 10 foot length...My plans are to start with 3 hives. I went with a modified Langstroth design on my medium 8 frame equipment, putting the hive entrance on the long side instead of the narrow side. This will cost me a little more space on my stand, but I bought the argument that it puts you in a better, more comfortable position for working the hives. That still allows me a little room for growth, I can fit four hives leaving 12 inches in between boxes, or five hives leaving 5 inches of space between each hive.
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I keep 5 hives on my 8 footers side by side. Work them from the back with no problems. I cement 4x4s into the ground for supports. They can get heavy with 3 supers a piece on them.
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Are those nuc boxes from Bailey? Someone did a nice job on those too. Everyone always says, the bees don't care what the hive looks like. But, the beekeeper sure does. Great job! :th_thumbsupup:
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tefer2,
No, I built those...Thanks! :)
While doing research, I figured at some point I would need a Nuc box, so I built those two. It worked out perfect for picking up my bees from Bailey when I found out he had a couple Nucs available a lot sooner than I expected. Currently I'm mulling over the idea of doing an observation hive at some point, but figure I need to get my feet wet first and learn a few lessons dealing with the basics.
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I hope you have some swarm traps built and ready to go. You folks have an early season down there. Does it really ever stop? Wish I was in some heat today. I'm freezing my tall off up here.
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Hey moot. Glad they worked out well.
Was proud to get you started this early :-D
Tfer. We really don't have much of a shut down. Brood always being produced.
I'm expecting swarms by mid feb if we don't get a cold snap. Went scouting trap sites 2 days ago.
Traps will go up first week in feb if this weather holds.
Bailey