trick of the week: beebeeka opens hives :)

[Hivemaker.]

For those that lack the will power or self control to simply not bother reading posts from certain members, and even more so giving obnoxious replies to them, then the ignore facility is a reasonably good option.

 

[Erichalfbee]

For those that lack the will power or self control................................................then the ignore facility is a reasonably good option.

You miss my point HM
It was a joke to imply that if everybody ignored beebeeka he would only have himself to post to.
Personally I find little use for the ignore button. Being extremely nosy I hate missing anything.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Unfortunately some poor newbie might think that this behaviour is the norm, and if nobody points out the foolishness of it, may go and do the same to his/her bees with disastrous consequences.

 

[Plenty of honey]

BeeBeeKa Its obvious in your detailed post your bounding with enthusiasm, but...Messing with hives this time of year is futile. A dead hive now, or in the spring is still a dead hive in the spring , if its alive and thriving and now seriously stressed, what have you achieved!! zilch!! leave them alone until their more active and fly regularly! I can see you very keen, but just hold back and use your winters wisely, get in you shed, garage or workshop. Use your enthusiasm to plan ahead and just leave your girls alone. Your energy is better spend getting your equipment ready for this coming season.
"jenkinsbrynmair" is so right!! Inspecting hives now is not the norm and never should be construed as being so!!

inspections are for March and early April if weather permits, not now for pics and medals!!

 

[For want of a better word]

Unfortunately some poor newbie might think that this behaviour is the norm, and if nobody points out the foolishness of it, may go and do the same to his/her bees with disastrous consequences.

JMB see my post #6 (and #3 ) on this thread.

I am quite astounded that so may new beekeepers follow the threads on this forum, my own Association group is quite small... yet I have now had a dozen telephone calls from concerned newbees, that they should be inspecting their wee charges... AS THEY SAW IT ON THE BEEKEEPING FORUM !! have suggested a 1lb slab of fondant atop the crownboard over an opened feedhole is as much as dare be done without too much disturbance.
Valentines gift for the "Girls" if you must!!

Mytten da

 

[Erichalfbee]

I am quite astounded

I am even more astounded that any thinking and observant human being would not be able to sift through the thread, instead, picking one comment out and ignoring the tidal wave of proper advice.

 

[For want of a better word]

I am even more astounded that any thinking and observant human being would not be able to sift through the thread, instead, picking one comment out and ignoring the tidal wave of proper advice.

E1/2 bee.. true... but postings like this place an element of doubt of doing the right thing.. or doing the wrong thing... by doing nothing!

Nos da

 

[BeeBeeKa]

Ok ladies and gentlemen. Here beebeeka drives again Why drives? Because our small children call a car – beebeeka (beebee – a sound of a horn ) Thus, having no relation to BBKA I find the coincidence amusing. End of story
Now. Let` s get back to our business
As I said before, I open hives about once a month. It has not killed my bees so far and the vast majority of them is feeling great, you can see it on the pictures. I do it for a purpose, and those who can read well are well aware of the purpose. The only thing I do not know for sure: if 5-6 frames of bees is good enough for this time of the year… But it looks like no one can say for sure… It also may greatly depend on location IMHO…
I never suggested doing an inspection of the hive in winter. I`m always very careful when I remove some spare frames and reset the dummy board. But once I`ve disturbed a cluster of bees in a hive №8. As result: I have only 3 frames of bees (in a far corner in the hive), where could be 4 or 5( it was not the strongest hive anyway). After disturbance plenty of bees left the hive and died on the ground because of cold( just another example how crucial is the warmth for the bees), end there were plenty of [FONT=&quot]faeces on the hive and the ground. Highly not recommended!!! [/FONT]

There is a flaw in your hive construction ..

There is, or there is not. 10kg of honey produce 7 liters of water, thus there should be a system in place that can cope with water. I mentioned already that design of my floors solves this problem pretty well, regardless of how the problem appears. You can just tilt the hive towards a bit to solve it, my system is for ventilation and ease of usage during transportation mainly. Water removal is a sub product

You appear to be reluctant to accept any constructive advice offered so ... they are your bees ... do what you will but keep it to yourself ...

No. A constructive advice is always very welcomed. I`m not afraid of my ideas to be criticized. So, please, be a brave man too

What word comes to mind about both the thread and the originator? Any suggestions? Mine begins with an 'i' and ends with a 't'.

Let me guess…’’[FONT=&quot]intelligent’’?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Ogh… You`re blatantly spoiling me, old solder [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]

[/FONT]

Wow, I can't believe what I just read, 30% bee losses, make that 31%

It`s made worse already in 2013. Another shot?

[FONT=&quot]
http://www.-------------/files/pressreleases/bbka_winter_survival_report_25_june_2015_1435172870.pdf

[/FONT]

Unfortunately some poor newbie might think that this behaviour is the norm, and if nobody points out the foolishness of it, may go and do the same to his/her bees with disastrous consequences.

Where did you see disastrous consequences in my pictures, my dear and permanent beebeeka`s fan club member? [FONT=&quot]Hypocrisy is a real name of the phenomenon above, and you won`t foolish a rational man with this. Abandon you hope.

[/FONT]

A dead hive now, or in the spring is still a dead hive in the spring

The point is I`am trying to save my hives №2 And №8, and improve brood rearing conditiones. If I leave a full box for the bees occupying only 2 or 3 frames I may get them dead in spring. A dead hive is a dead hive, who argues?

inspections are for March and early April if weather permits, not now for pics and medals!!

Inspections yes. But medals…Hm… No… You better keep you medals for your self, guys and lads, as I know you [FONT=&quot]

[/FONT]
That`s it for now, I get to go, thanks for cooperation

 

[Plenty of honey]

Three words: Cloud Cuckoo Land !!!

 

[Anduril]

Now. Let` s get back to our business
As I said before, I open hives about once a month. It has not killed my bees so far and the vast majority of them is feeling great, you can see it on the pictures. I do it for a purpose, and those who can read well are well aware of the purpose. The only thing I do not know for sure: if 5-6 frames of bees is good enough for this time of the year… But it looks like no one can say for sure… It also may greatly depend on location IMHO…
I never suggested doing an inspection of the hive in winter. I`m always very careful when I remove some spare frames and reset the dummy board. But once I`ve disturbed a cluster of bees in a hive №8. As result: I have only 3 frames of bees (in a far corner in the hive), where could be 4 or 5( it was not the strongest hive anyway). After disturbance plenty of bees left the hive and died on the ground because of cold( just another example how crucial is the warmth for the bees), end there were plenty of [FONT=&quot]faeces on the hive and the ground. Highly not recommended!!! [/FONT]

Disturbing the bees this time of year and moving the dummy boards, you risk killing your queens, by squashing them or they could be dead on the ground. You have elderly winter bees who do not want to be disturbed, leave well alone.
Your meddling risks heavier losses.

 

[pargyle]

Disturbing the bees this time of year and moving the dummy boards, you risk killing your queens, by squashing them or they could be dead on the ground. You have elderly winter bees who do not want to be disturbed, leave well alone.
Your meddling risks heavier losses.

Everyone agrees with you ... except Beebeeka - who has his own ideas. I think he's had enough good advice now and we should just let him get on with what he wants to do.

 

[Anduril]

Everyone agrees with you ... except Beebeeka - who has his own ideas. I think he's had enough good advice now and we should just let him get on with what he wants to do.

Whether he has 5 to 6 frames or 2 to 3 of bees he should be pleased. Maybe as an experiment he should follow the advice on the Scientific Beekeeping website. But even that website suggests 2 to 3 frames is fine.

 

[ugcheleuce]

It was a calm, sunny, and relatively warm day on Wednesday this week. The forecast however promised that the following days will be cold, with frost on every single night up to a middle of the next week. Thus, it was a perfect day to me for taking actions.

When I get the urge to look at my bees in wintertime (and I do get that urge), I specifically look out for days that are followed by warm[er] days, not colder days. See, when you open the hive, the bees lose a lot of warmth, and I theorise that it'll be harder on them to replace it when the day or two after the inspection is cold. What do you think of that theory?

I ... take off crown boards from overwintering hives once a month, in order to check colony size shrinkage...

Doing this is only useful if you can correlate what you see with something that you can expect or with something that you can do. Did you read anything anywhere about how the speed of shrinkage correlates with anything else that you might have control over?

Local wisdom (local where I am) is that if your hive has at least 5 straits of bees by mid-December, then there's a good chance that the hive will survive the winter.

Beekeepers hereabouts typically don't inspect the hive between mid-January and mid-March, because that's when the colony is at its most vulnerable, and due to the low temperatures (which means that the bees won't take up anything you give them), there is nothing you can do even if discover that disaster looms.

...and resetting dummy board in accordance with that size.

I would have asked "why???" if I hadn't read the rest of your post and replies.

You seem to think reducing the size of the cavity in winter will improve the temperature of the cluster (or the cluster's ability to maintain temperature).

Well, there are many opinions about that, and some studies have been done about the various temperatures in the hive at various distances from the cluster.

If you have ever been in a warm house when the temperature is cold outside, and someone opens the door but does not close it immediately, you will have experienced just how fast cold air travels horizontally, and if the door remains open for over a minute, also how fast cold air displaces warm air in a room entirely. When you remove the top cover, can you imagine how long it would take for most of the warm air in the hive to disappear into thin air? Seconds.

Elsewhere you mention that the reduced cavity will aid temperature regulation in the presence of brood, but when do you expect brood?

A very good local beekeeper uses 12-frame hives in summer and double-storey 6-frame hives in winter. That way, the bees have a small cavity at the start of the season, but without having had to open the large hives and move the dummy frames in the middle of winter. Perhaps an idea for you?

Thus an experienced beekeeper will probably be able to assess both: a level of dampness and a general situation in the hives...

What would knowing the level of dampness mean to you?

If a colony is strong and is eating a lot of honey, there will be more damp, so... is "more damp" an indicator of a stronger colony in winter? If the cluster is well-formed, they will not need to consume as much honey to stay warm, so there will be less damp, so... is "less damp" an indicator of a stronger colony in winter?

As for the "general situation", unless you know the shape and size and position of the cluster, it helps little to see what you can see in the photos.

It`s obvious to me that cold, damp and wind are those chilling factors that dramatically weakens immune system of many organisms, and bees are not an exclusion.

Cold suppresses the immune system but does not weaken it. This may sound like splitting hairs, but a weak immune system does not become strong again simply when the cold is gone, but a suppressed immune system does bounce back when the warmth returns.

If the immune system is suppressed for a day or two (because someone let out all the warm air out of the building, and the only source for warming up the room again is one's own body heat, and the house has holes in the floor), that can certainly affect the occupants' ability to withstand opportunistic infections.

Damp by itself does not affect the immune system. Damp is only a factor if it leads to mould, and mould (fungus, spores) is only a factor if the air is warm, or if the occupants already suffer from respiratory illness.

I don't see how moving the dummy boards will affect wind.

Your thoughts?

Samuel

 

[ugcheleuce]

You risk killing your queens, by squashing them...

And queens typically stick to the edge of the cluster in winter...?

You have elderly winter bees...

These bees may be a month or two older than summer bees, but they're in much better condition because they never had to feed brood. Humans who are elderly are weaker. Google "anthropomorphic error" -- very common in beekeepers.

 

[Anduril]

And queens typically stick to the edge of the cluster in winter...?



These bees may be a month or two older than summer bees, but they're in much better condition because they never had to feed brood. Humans who are elderly are weaker. Google "anthropomorphic error" -- very common in beekeepers.

I did not say the queens stick to the edge, you are just playing with Russian Roulette manipulating the hive this time of year.

Anthropomorphic error I think not. Winter bees have been in the hive for 4 to 5 months now, some will be feeding brood and some will be out foraging on the odd warm day.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

save your breath (or your digits) Anduril - there are some on here who are determined to bugger around with their bees for no good reason even in winter.

#POORBEES​

 

[domino]

I crack the crown board if they are flying just to look between the frames to make sure they are on the stores. Takes less than 30 seconds.

I don't need to inspect the frames until they start building up late April(ish)

 

[Anduril]

Shouldn't this thread be in the, Pesticide, Environmental and Political section.

 

[ugcheleuce]

I did not say the queens stick to the edge, you are just playing with Russian Roulette manipulating the hive this time of year.

Well, it's not clear from the original post if the original poster actually takes out frames with bees on them, or simply removes frames with no bees on them, but if it's the former, then I agree that the queen can definitely come to harm.

Winter bees have been in the hive for 4 to 5 months now, some will be feeding brood and some will be out foraging on the odd warm day.

My apologies -- I clearly did not consider the possibility that winter started much earlier in your region than in mine, and/or that you may have warm weather/brood at this time of year already.

 

[ugcheleuce]

I crack the crown board if they are flying just to look between the frames to make sure they are on the stores.

What do you mean by "on the stores"?