Accidental beekeeper in Sussex

[jenkinsbrynmair]

only lift if a few millimetres off the floor, any further and your mind will play tricks with you.
Mine does anyway
And I won't mention the voices in my head

 

[pargyle]

Thank you for your explanation regarding number of fingers - makes sense
Luggage scales are on order as I like to be accurate.

A record of weight is a useful tool for overwintering. I have a couple of screw eyes on either side of my stands, hook the luggage scale over the eye, weigh both sides and add them together. After a year or two of hefting though you get to know what you should expect and just use the luggage scales for weighing your honey crop and then after a few more years you get to know what to expect by the number of buckets of honey you fill and the scales become redundant !

 

[Sutty]

With a rotting brood box and maybe super, I'd have a low threshold to leave the queen excluder in if it's very stuck in place.
Can you tell what sort it is? Eg see a wood plastic or metal layer between brood box and super?
Have a roll of duct tape and maybe some plasticine handy to patch up holes if needed.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

before you get a total meltdown about the QX.
I'll just like to mention that a fellow beekeeper who like in Southern Hampshire has never removed her queen excluders in winter and has never had any issues, so don't go trassing the whole colony if you're not entirely comfortable about messing around with the bees midwinter

 

[Robert Clark]

Update;

Todays objective was to see if the super had any stores and to feed if necessary.

After a few days of low temperatures and heavy frost the temperature overnight had increased to 14 and the bees were active (despite the wind)

I hefted the hive and could easily lift it with two fingers, possibly one.

I remove the super to find a single frame with capped stores in the centre only, all the other frames appeared empty.

I decided to proceed with feeding so removed the super and placed it on the adjacent abandoned hive. (The left one in the pic below)

With the queen excluded removed I placed 6kg of fondant directly on the top of the brood frames and placed an upturned Poly Ashforth Feeder on the top.

The bees appeared a tad grumpy and I got covered in them, however I kept breathing and worked quickly to get them covered up again.

Looking closely at the brood box it seems in better condition than the super so will leave alone until the new hive arrives and I swap it over in the spring.

I placed the super on top of the abandoned hive adjacent so that the bees can salvage any remaining stores.

I strapped up the hive and have called it a day until Thursday when the colony gets its second treatment of ApiBioxal

And breathe ……

 

[Lolly Bee]

Thank you for your explanation regarding number of fingers - makes sense
Luggage scales are on order as I like to be accurate.

Very good luck Robert. It will be interesting to see how you get on. Keeping fingers crossed for you this end!

 

[pargyle]

Actually, those boxes don't look as though they are too bad - I've seen ones in regular use that are in a lot worse state.

It's a bit odd that there are so little stores in there - down here in the South it was a lousy spring but virtually everyone reported a real boom over the summer and there were some good honey crops. Don't panic but it may be a sign of a colony that is not that strong - if they have not been treated for varroa for three years could be varroa - or they could have swarmed one or more times during the summer. Feeding them and treating them is wise.

Is the second hive abandoned completely ? ie: No bees in residence ? If so you need to seal it up and also (if you are going to save the brood frames) treat it for wax moth. Cheapest solution is a sulphur burn - you can use your new brood box on the top to contain the sulphur burner. Thornes sell the burner and discs but you could make your own out of a tin can. The sulphur burn will kill any resident wax moth larvae and eggs .. to be sure a second burn in a couple of weeks is a good precaution.

Those boxes will be useful spares with a bit of fettling ... don't consign them to the bonfire - you will always need more kit than you have !

Well done by the way ... a fairly daunting experience as a first time hive opening. I'd make some plans to replace the folding stand on the RH hive - something a bit more solid would be better even if it just a couple of concrete blocks and a plank or two ..