What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Monsieur Abeille]

Final inspection of one hive. Appear healthy and good for stores and brood. QE and feeder removed. See you in Spring (barring any mid-winter oxalics or fondant feeds). Other hive due for same process on Monday.

 

[Tonyatcwfarm]

Took 15lb of honey from 2supers before naidiring
Very dark and definitely not disgusting to taste,very slightly medicinal but not overpowering,something else oboviously mixed in among the ivy
We have been having a really good spell of weather on this side of the pond and all hives seem to be still packing it in,don't think I'll need to feed this year
All seven colonies are now naidired, insulated and closed up until spring,will vaporise with oxalic in jan
Been a good year
Thanks for all the info both direct and indirect

 

[YorkshireBees]

Jarring some of this years honey ready for distribution.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Jarred another shedful of the association's honey ready for the Neath food fair (171 in total now).
Another meeting in a car park accompanied by exchange of cash

 

[Michael Palmer]

All seven colonies are now naidired,

I read the naidiring thread, and I'm still not sure...

Did you add a super of empty combs at the bottom of the hive?

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

No.

Nadiring is a way of managing the progression from harvesting honey, to feeding, to settling them down for winter.

After we have taken the honey harvest, there are always plenty of frames which cannot be extracted. The bees are unlikely to complete filling/reducing water content/capping them. What's to be done?

At the same time, we need to ensure they have plenty of stores in the brood box, for winter.

The solution is to make up a 'super' of these frames (completing them with other, perhaps extracted frames). Then, put this below the bb. As described passim the bees will take this up into the bb or, if the bb is full, process and cap it in situ as an extension of the colony stores.

And, if they are still struggling to set aside stores, they can be fed from above at the same time.

If you don't have any half-filled frames, there is no real point in putting another empty super below the bb.(You could argue that a super of empty frames might make a baffle against wind/draughts, between the entrance and the bb, but this is a marginal benefit.)

So, if you have left over, half-full frames, make up a super full of them and put it under the bb. If not, don't.

Dusty

 

[oliver90owner]

You could argue a super of empty frames might make a baffle against wind/draughts, between the entrance and the bb.

I most certainly would, for National deeps wintering on only the brood box. Maybe not so important if left with a super over the brood or, as in my case, running 14 x 12s. It was just one of the considerations when I changed from deeps to 14 x 12.

I reckon in really hard conditions the cluster may need to move upwards, away from the coldest area, and clearly there is not so much opportunity if the crownboard is only around 250mm from the OMF. The extra c.100mm of empty comb below must be an asset in very cold conditions.

In our rather temperate climate it may make the difference between survival, chomping through far more stores than otherwise, or losing a few bees through them dropping away from the cluster. Every little helps; in colder climates they may need more protection from the weather conditions - like a good covering of snow!

I often leave them with a shallow with frames widely spaced - perhaps only 7 or 8 in the box. No (well, much reduced) risk of wax moth invasion during the winter, should conditions turn out very mild.

It is also somewhere to store a few shallows and frames during the winter, as long as the hives are sheltered (from getting tipped over) or are securely fastened together. All helps to avoid keeping all stored supers and frames in one place ('eggs and basket' comes to mind).

RAB

 

[wessexmario]

You could argue a super of empty frames might make a baffle against wind/draughts, between the entrance and the bb.

I most certainly would, for National deeps wintering on only the brood box. Maybe not so important if left with a super over the brood or, as in my case, running 14 x 12s. It was just one of the considerations when I changed from deeps to 14 x 12.

I reckon in really hard conditions the cluster may need to move upwards, away from the coldest area, and clearly there is not so much opportunity if the crownboard is only around 250mm from the OMF. The extra c.100mm of empty comb below must be an asset in very cold conditions.

In our rather temperate climate it may make the difference between survival, chomping through far more stores than otherwise, or losing a few bees through them dropping away from the cluster. Every little helps; in colder climates they may need more protection from the weather conditions - like a good covering of snow!

Thanks for that, as a beginner it's good to have confirmation on my decision to convert to periscope entrances and OMF in a floor box the size of a shallow (based on JBM's design ). As it's my first winter I'm starting without the experience of local weather on hives, but I want to prevent winter chill and damp before it happens rather than have to try to fix the problem if happens.

The one thing I need to resolve with my floor design is the shape of the air space or the possible addition of baffles under the OMF to reduce wind induced drafts into the hive. (just empty box space under the OMF at present) The design will need to allow mite and debris drop when the varroa screen isn't in place, not prevent the bees from ventilating the hive, but also not act as a venturi and make a mild situation worse.
Any wind tunnel engineers or mining ventilation engineers on the forum?

 

[Tonyatcwfarm]

I read the naidiring thread, and I'm still not sure...

Did you add a super of empty combs at the bottom of the hive?

Not empty but after extraction the supers probably had 10/12lb weight of crystallised honey left in them so it was these I placed under the bb
I tried one super over the feeder board but they continued to store in it

 

[user 6228]

You could argue a super of empty frames might make a baffle against wind/draughts, between the entrance and the bb.

I most certainly would, for National deeps wintering on only the brood box. Maybe not so important if left with a super over the brood or, as in my case, running 14 x 12s. It was just one of the considerations when I changed from deeps to 14 x 12.

I reckon in really hard conditions the cluster may need to move upwards, away from the coldest area, and clearly there is not so much opportunity if the crownboard is only around 250mm from the OMF. The extra c.100mm of empty comb below must be an asset in very cold conditions.

In our rather temperate climate it may make the difference between survival, chomping through far more stores than otherwise, or losing a few bees through them dropping away from the cluster. Every little helps; in colder climates they may need more protection from the weather conditions - like a good covering of snow!

I often leave them with a shallow with frames widely spaced - perhaps only 7 or 8 in the box. No (well, much reduced) risk of wax moth invasion during the winter, should conditions turn out very mild.

It is also somewhere to store a few shallows and frames during the winter, as long as the hives are sheltered (from getting tipped over) or are securely fastened together. All helps to avoid keeping all stored supers and frames in one place ('eggs and basket' comes to mind).

RAB

In still air a nadir box makes very little difference (measured) to heat loss. I haven't had the facilities or opportunity to test the forced convective losses.
But i would concur that a longer baffled path with increasing height between the outside and the occupied comb is going to be useful in windy conditions


I would caution about it needing low temperatures to be of danger. Its high heat loss that kills rather than really low temperatures, Exposure to high winds and rain at moderate temperatures can be very deadly to any creature needing to retain a minimum body temperature

 

[Michael Palmer]

The solution is to make up a 'super' of these frames (completing them with other, perhaps extracted frames). Then, put this below the bb. Dusty

Ah, thank you Dusty. I guess bb is brood box...here it might mean bottom board.

I've wintered with multiple boxes since I started keeping bees. 2 brood boxes and a super. The bottom box would be mostly empty brood comb after brood rearing ceases for the year. They do winter well this way and right now, with this year's huge clusters going into winter, I think they need the extra room. With the excellent goldenrod/aster flow we had this august/september, the hives are way overweight...imagine them weighing in at 200+ lb. ...they need the extra room.

 

[user 6228]

...

The one thing I need to resolve with my floor design is the shape of the air space or the possible addition of baffles under the OMF to reduce wind induced drafts into the hive. (just empty box space under the OMF at present) The design will need to allow mite and debris drop when the varroa screen isn't in place, not prevent the bees from ventilating the hive, but also not act as a venturi and make a mild situation worse.
Any wind tunnel engineers or mining ventilation engineers on the forum?

cover the bottom with the expanded metal they use under plaster to hold it on

http://www.jewson.co.uk/building-ma...ucts/HWSDML26/simpson-expanded-metal-lathing/

 

[wessexmario]

another layer of mesh at the bottom, yes good idea Derek, thanks.

I had been thinking of different configurations of vanes/screens/baffles but each time came up with problems where it would just redirect rather than reduce, or obstruct varroa drop. I can see that a mesh will work, the solid surface area of the mesh would deflect/resist gusts, and the bigger cross section area of the open space after the mesh compared to the area of the apertures in the mesh would reduce the air speed as it goes through.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Begged an old fridge and removed all but bottom shelf. Put a 12" 60 watt tubular heater in the bottom and stc thermostat to use as a honey warming cabinet. My August honey batch has granulated in the bucket and I plan to liquefy it then make soft set.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

I've wintered with multiple boxes since I started keeping bees.

Oh wow! I am standing on the shoulders of giants! This always made sense to me.

Nothing in the apiary today, but hopefully "Quinn" (my 21 Sept-emerged Queen) is working on her makeup and skinny jeans to go out and bag her "Puck" (hopefully a dozen of them) tomorrow (22C, Sunny, in theory).

 

[TOBY-3652]

just finished scraping combs and putting the heather honey in buckets... 270 pound off 6 hives.. 3 supers not capped. so put on hives to cap so a very good year 4 me. varoa treatment on tomorrow

 

[Mrs Shoot]

Had a virgin emerge in hive 3, 3 weeks ago. Still nothing last week so added a test frame (has been doing the trick of bringing on the queens). Had a look and no QC's drawn, lots of polished cells, and then YAY eggs on 3 frames, she has been busy. Won't be looking in any of the hives from now on.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Made up the last three hives of shook bees for the season and added new queens straight away.

 

[Headnavigator]

Had my first encounter with wax moth - in one of the last pair of supers I'd left several weeks to extract due to time constraints. Won't be doing that again, lesson learnt.
All frames now taking their turn in the freezer before storing for the winter.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Made up the last three hives of shook bees for the season and added new queens straight away.

Pete I try to emulate you with fuss-free unites and Q-adds. Working so far.