Two Light Hives

[Millet]

Weighed them all today and all but two where punching well above there weight... the 8 frame dummied down single brood box has 45lb of stores and looking good..one brood + half had 70lb stores..the double broods had more..
However two Brood + half hives have gone down hill fairly quick and destroyed there stores...one has 20lb left and one has 25lb.. both have 2kg of fondant on them and in poly hives with closed floors.. what are there chances of surviving..bearing in mind one looks like it would fill a 6 frame nuc..

 

[Poly Hive]

The blunt answer as you well know is maybe.

It's like asking what the lottery numbers will be and if I knew that do you think I would say??

PH

 

[enrico]

As long as they have access to food there shouldn't be a problem. I used to have a hive that regularly reduced to a three frame cluster in the winter. It always survived and was my best producer.
E

 

[Millet]

Thank you for that it reduces my anxiety a little.. i bought in four mated Queens this year from a well known breeder...three of them are doing brilliant but the fourth is in the lightest of the two hives and i really want this one too make it..the other is a feisty F2 Romanian buckfast x Mongrel which i am not so worried about...
As you say PH i suppose it is like a lottery and in the hands of the gods now..fingers and toes crossed..

 

[Cuckmere couple]

can you point me to the posts which discuss weight/hefting hives

ive started to get the feel for weight but at weekend got a hand held (fishing) scale from christmas fayre for £!

weighted 3 hives from single location i.e. middle of back of hive

1 = 18kg
2 = 16kg
3 = 15kg

these were single national BB with roof and eke

any ideas?

 

[Cuckmere couple]

found my original post on it

thoughts on my weights above helpful

single heft point, middle of back

 

[madasafish]

I double heft. This year, no hive started winter weighing less than 40kg# (Lang jumbos).
Some I decided not to bother weighing as they were too heavy..

# Floor +BB+super +CB

 

[Eyeman]

Would recommend you weigh either side as the difference can be 5-10kg depending on stores location. Also, hive weight is the summation of the 2 sides.

 

[enrico]

can you point me to the posts which discuss weight/hefting hives

ive started to get the feel for weight but at weekend got a hand held (fishing) scale from christmas fayre for £!

weighted 3 hives from single location i.e. middle of back of hive

1 = 18kg
2 = 16kg
3 = 15kg

these were single national BB with roof and eke

any ideas?

Is that the single weight shown on the scales when weighed from one side or have you doubled it up? Just for clarity.
E

 

[Cuckmere couple]

single weight Enrico, obtained by lifting at centre of rear of hive

 

[Hebeegeebee]

One of the selection criteria for breeding bees is the size of the winter brood-nest. Ligusticas (Italians) are reputed to have large winter clusters so consume a lot of honey. Others (AMM's) are more frugal.

 

[Beefriendly]

They also continue to be on "Italian time" and use stores for raising even more brood right into the later months of the year...hence requirement for extra food.
Whereas, your typical Amm/mongrel/Carniolan has practically shut down all brood rearing.

One big difference between winter store usage is type of hive. In general bees in wooden hives use far more than stores than an equivalent sized colony in poly. My main spring job is often removal of store clad brood frames to give the queens room to lay.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Millets hives are poly ones - so the queens must be laying when we would perhaps not want them to be. I would not breed from these queens if they don't know when to stop!

 

[Beefriendly]

Millets hives are poly ones - so the queens must be laying when we would perhaps not want them to be. I would not breed from these queens if they don't know when to stop!

Does it matter if they are brood rearing 365?
Worst case scenario you stick some fondant on which is not very arduous or difficult.
Good case scenario is big colonies in spring.

 

[enrico]

single weight Enrico, obtained by lifting at centre of rear of hive

Then your weights are almost identical to mine and I reckon mine are fine!!
E

 

[Cuckmere couple]

thanks Enrico

do you weigh in middle of rear of hive too rather than each side and average etc

 

[Millet]

thanks Enrico

do you weigh in middle of rear of hive too rather than each side and average etc

I weigh the middle of each side and then add the two weights together.. i very rarely do anything at the front of the hive for obvious reasons..also i have a landing strip that would get in the way and the bottom of the legs on my stands point out over front and back so i am not sure if that would give a false weight..my hives are strapped to the stand so the stand weighed is subtracted with the rest of the hive parts..

 

[Poly Hive]

I remember a BF telling me that if I wanted to run Italians then to buy shares in Tate and Lyle. However, he added that if you wanted brood to play with then a few were worth having. Make your own minds up on that one. I did not buy in the Queens I was discussing with him.

PH

 

[Beefriendly]

I did not buy in the Queens I was discussing with him.

PH

Why not?
And I doubt I said you would need to, buy shares in T&L. Something more likely to be said by an anti-importer.

 

[Hivemaker.]

R.O.B Manley was very fond of his Italian bees, so much so that he was the first bee farmer to manage 1000 colonies in England, probably also had shares in T & L as he was the source of the practice of feeding sugar to bees in its modern form, apparently.