MB hive - winter management

[SteveHLD]

I have several queries:
1. In the Autumn one of my hives was short of space so I added a box to keep them busy. I continued giving them thick syrup until they took no more as advised "to dilute the ivy nectar". The bees filled some frames with stores but left an area of nectar around the honey cells. Since then they have done nothing to remedy the situation. I have been advised to leave the combs in front of the hive on sunny days. I can not see why this will help as it will still be too cold to turn the nectar into honey. What should I do?
2. I have the entrance reduced to the 6mm height setting. Should I block most of it up so that the hive is less draughtly?
3. Should I put the varroa board in place in the spring to help them build up?
4. My hives currently have plenty of stores but if they do need fondant where should I put it?

 

[Swarm]

Do you think they have enough stores? Have you hefted to check? If yes, leave them to it.
No draught from the entrance, they already have a hole in the floor with an OMF. My floors are under entrance and 6mm by full width.
The board is for checking mite drop during treatments, leave it out otherwise.

 

[enrico]

At this time of the year you don't want to be messing around with them. They will sort out the honey/nectar problem. If they have all these stores you probably won't need fondant. Keep it well wrapped and/or in the freezer.
Don't leave the frames out in the sun! Are all the frames still on the hives? You don't make that very clear. Depending on that answer as to what you should do with the frames.
Keep an open floor, reduce the entrance or add a mouse guard to deter mice.
That's about it. Leave them well alone until a warm day in feb or mar. Just give an odd heft to make sure they are not feather light. If they are that is when to add fondant but otherwise let them beeeeeee!
E

 

[La Folie]

I agree with Enrico, leave them be and let them sort it out. With regard to using fondant in MB hives, this has been the only real problem I have experienced with the hive. You can use a super as an eke and lay the fondant directly onto the frames or, as I have done, make your own smaller eke to fit with the MB boxes.

 

[Erichalfbee]

OR you can put the fondant in an empty ice cream tub over the hole of a feeder board and surround the whole thing with insulation in an empty super.

 

[itma]

Leave them alone now!

When doing Oxalic dribbling you should get an idea of where the bees and stores areas are and that the hive is still bloody heavy.
That's an opportunity to fix any real problems.

Utter tosh about "diluting Ivy nectar". The bees can handle it just fine, though a safe and close and sunny (so warmer) water supply can be helpful to the bees towards the end of winter.

The entrance - a 6mm slot should be mouse-proof - shouldn't need reduction for warmth, but it wouldn't do any harm.
The main time for reduction is at the end of summer, when there are wasps around, and a real risk of robbing.
Dishwashing sponge is a readily available material. You could reduce it to an inch of open width.

Some folk do put in the inspection board for a couple of weeks at the end of winter, in the hope of stimulating brooding. Me, I don't bother - but I have a benign climate and no Oil Seed Rape within range, so getting a specially early (or even just earlier) start isn't as important for me as some others.

 

[tidymeup]

I have 20 of the langstroth MB hives and I made a simple eke with a 4mm sheet of ply over it.

This makes a base for the fondant to sit on, after that I made 4 holes in each corner and 1 in the middle.

This allows bees to reach the fondant no matter where they cluster, I then line the tray with some form of plastic leaving enough to wrap over the top.

Slice the fondant and fill the tray up and cover over with remaining plastic to seal it.

When your ready to use it simply make a small hole so the bees can access the fondant through the feed holes.

Works a charm.

 

[SteveHLD]

Thank you for your replies.
I removed the box a couple of weeks so I am left with some incompletely filled frames of 50:50 nectar & honey which will go mouldy in due course. I think removing the box must have been the right thing to do because it was almost a total void on top of the brood boxes. What shall do with the frames? I have plastic frames (seeing eggs is no problem at all, I vowed I will reduce my use of plastic recently, but it is so versatile I am not making much headway). So i could scrape it all off, pressure spray the frames, dry them, end of problem. I would quite like a very little honey harvest . Could I crush and sieve ? My original hope was that the bees would just build some comb. I obviously don't think like a bee!
A while ago I did taste some honey from some well sealed brace comb. I had disturbed it for the second or third time within a month or so. It tasted intensely sweet, then very floral followed by a prolonged most unpleasant musty, sweetcorn taste, it lasted for many minutes. Could this have been mouldy nectar?
The hive is very heavy, I can barely make any impression when I attempt to lift it.
What is an OMF?
I've read that swarms prefer to colonise spaces that have a small entrance. I think a poly hive emulates the insulation afforded by a tree trunk . So why not be more "natural" and cover the mesh floor in winter with a good insulating material, & close up most of the entrance? Can you work out the logic behind why Paradise hive design - why such a wide entrance?
Thank you for your fondant suggestions. I thought of putting fondant in the rapid feeder, but I'm not sure the bees would find it? Perhaps in future I should keep some frames of stores back rather than extract them all. But maybe this is not easy to do, as they must not contain nectar?

 

[La Folie]

Can I ask how long you have been keeping bees because you seem to want to do an awful lot in a season when the bees really need to be left alone to get on with winter. There is no chance of them swarming for many months so I suggest you let thinks sit and do what the rest of us do and read up until spring.

 

[SteveHLD]

I only got my Nucs this year so yes I am a newbe which is why I am posting in the beginners section. I'm not sure how you got any impression that I 've written about swarming. I am very grateful for the replies I've received.

 

[SteveHLD]

I had a nightmare last night: I put the varroa tray in and then placed the hive under the Christmas tree. The cluster was as wide as a dinner plate and gave out so much heat that the hive and tree ignited! I put the fire out but my hive was gone
Perhaps I should not think too much the MB hive configuration, just accept received wisdom.
I think I will harvest what honey I can, and then scrape the wax off the frames.
I've read about using an eke, I was hoping for a lazier solution! Perhaps I will try the inverted ice-cream tub technique.
I'll answer my query about keeping frames in reserve to use if they get short of stores in the spring, must just make sure that completely filled with stores, I suppose.
OMF must = open metal floor!
If LaFolie can recommend some good books I would love to read them. I have read all the books in my public library. I guess my local association may have some I can borrow.
To be fair the guy who gave me the advice about autumn feeding really meant something along the lines of "feed syrup to try and reduce ivy honey crystallisation", he did not mean dilution per se. Does this make more sense?

 

[Little John]

I removed the box a couple of weeks so I am left with some incompletely filled frames of 50:50 nectar & honey which will go mouldy in due course.

That depends on what you do with them. If you put 'em in the freezer until spring, they could be 'recycled' back to the bees then ...

What is an OMF?

Open Mesh Floor.

I've read that swarms prefer to colonise spaces that have a small entrance.

A lot of people think that - but preference implies having a choice. But sometimes there's no choice - and so we see homeless swarms setting up shop under the branches of trees and within bushes.
Ultimately, all the bees really want is to get out of the weather - everything else (entrance size/location, cavity size etc) is so much 'icing on the cake'.

To be fair the guy who gave me the advice about autumn feeding really meant something along the lines of "feed syrup to try and reduce ivy honey crystallisation", he did not mean dilution per se. Does this make more sense?

He probably meant that the syrup might get mixed-in with the ivy nectar, thus reducing it's tendency to crystallise - yes, that makes sense as an idea - but would the bees consume that syrup whilst genuine nectar was coming in ? Dunno - maybe.

Having some uncapped stores isn't of itself a problem at this time of the year - as the bees will be starting to consume stores, and will uncap them as they need them - so I'd bet money that they'll be consuming the open cells first. No guarantees mind - but they're pretty smart cookies.

LJ

 

[La Folie]

Try the Haynes Bee Manual as an easily followed starter book, nice pictures too. Otherwise everyone will advise Ted Hooper's Guide to Bees and Honey.

 

[enrico]

You are doing ok Steve, the secret is to know when to leave them to their own divices. It took me a while to realise that your nightmare was a dream and not in real life! Phew!
They clearly have enough stores for now so leave them to get through the majority of winter. As for the frames that are part filled. You can scrape out the good stuff, you can freeze the lot, you can give them back to the bees in spring who will sort them out for you. The choice is yours really. Just don't fret over it, enjoy your Christmas. And look forward to next ŷear!
E

 

[Arfermo]

What is an OMF?
QUOTE]

Open Mesh Floor.