Peter Cox
New Bee
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2010
- Messages
- 87
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- NE Massachusetts
- Hive Type
- Langstroth
- Number of Hives
- 12
A cheap stethoscope from fleabay makes listening for life in the hive much easier.
Wintering bees, how many dead?
- Thread starter kazmcc
- Start date
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- Joined
- May 29, 2010
- Messages
- 6,213
- Reaction score
- 2
- Location
- Norwich
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 3 National Hives & 1 Observation Hive.(Indoors) & lots of empty boxes..
after de-icing and cleaning snow off car this morning I think I need one myself to see if I am still alive.....
- Joined
- May 29, 2010
- Messages
- 6,213
- Reaction score
- 2
- Location
- Norwich
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 3 National Hives & 1 Observation Hive.(Indoors) & lots of empty boxes..
Went and gave the hives a little tap this morning....
Ok from one but couldnt hear anything definate from the other one.... Problem is I have tinitus and cant always hear some noises with certainty..
Decided to pull the quilt box off and see if I could see what was or wasnt happening... Didnt really want to as it was about zero degrees.
This colony was quite big in October and I left them with all that they had produced from July onwards.
(For those who dont know,,,, a Warre quilt box is a 6" deep box which sits on top. It has a cloth floor and is filled with insulation, like wood shavings, and a roof assembly sits on top of that.)
They were flying last Monday for about 3 hours as if it was a sunny summer day.
3 boxes. Top box 75% full of capped honey. Lifted it off and could see that there were no bees in second box but that it was over half full of uncapped stores.
Couldnt see too far down but heard a some buzzing. Put quilt box back on and went indoors for a think.
My thoughs were that there was a lot of heat being lost into the top box, therefore needed a plan to remove it altogether,, but the next box down (middle) is not standard Warre size because that was the one I made to put national frames from nuc into.(plus 3 more frames) which meant that I couldnt leave top box off because the bottom of it has been altered to fit on top of national length box..... With me so far?
Two cups of coffee later..
Got everything together and went into action....
Removed roof and quilt box, took top box off, put towel over top of middle box, put top box back on top of towel, so it is now seperated using the towel as a floor. Took bars out of top box and put into spare box.
Tipped wood shavings from quilt box into top box and put roof back on..
Probably all a waste of time because they are probably mostly dead (couldnt see) or they have cleared off at some time after the middle of October...
They certainly havent been as active as the other hive, apart from last week when the temperature was a bit higher...
Ok from one but couldnt hear anything definate from the other one.... Problem is I have tinitus and cant always hear some noises with certainty..
Decided to pull the quilt box off and see if I could see what was or wasnt happening... Didnt really want to as it was about zero degrees.
This colony was quite big in October and I left them with all that they had produced from July onwards.
(For those who dont know,,,, a Warre quilt box is a 6" deep box which sits on top. It has a cloth floor and is filled with insulation, like wood shavings, and a roof assembly sits on top of that.)
They were flying last Monday for about 3 hours as if it was a sunny summer day.
3 boxes. Top box 75% full of capped honey. Lifted it off and could see that there were no bees in second box but that it was over half full of uncapped stores.
Couldnt see too far down but heard a some buzzing. Put quilt box back on and went indoors for a think.
My thoughs were that there was a lot of heat being lost into the top box, therefore needed a plan to remove it altogether,, but the next box down (middle) is not standard Warre size because that was the one I made to put national frames from nuc into.(plus 3 more frames) which meant that I couldnt leave top box off because the bottom of it has been altered to fit on top of national length box..... With me so far?
Two cups of coffee later..
Got everything together and went into action....
Removed roof and quilt box, took top box off, put towel over top of middle box, put top box back on top of towel, so it is now seperated using the towel as a floor. Took bars out of top box and put into spare box.
Tipped wood shavings from quilt box into top box and put roof back on..
Probably all a waste of time because they are probably mostly dead (couldnt see) or they have cleared off at some time after the middle of October...
They certainly havent been as active as the other hive, apart from last week when the temperature was a bit higher...
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2010
- Messages
- 11,241
- Reaction score
- 2,899
- Location
- Stoke on Trent
- Hive Type
- Langstroth
- Number of Hives
- 6 to 8 Langstroth jumbos, a few Langstroth and National nucs.
My Top Bar Hives make it easy to tell if bees are alive in frost. No frost marks on sides = bees alive.
We have lots of frost with -12C forecast..
We have lots of frost with -12C forecast..
madasafish,
If your hives are losing that much heat energy, you may have a problem before the end of the winter.
Regards RAB
If your hives are losing that much heat energy, you may have a problem before the end of the winter.
Regards RAB
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2010
- Messages
- 11,241
- Reaction score
- 2,899
- Location
- Stoke on Trent
- Hive Type
- Langstroth
- Number of Hives
- 6 to 8 Langstroth jumbos, a few Langstroth and National nucs.
RAB
Thanks
I'll be feeding fondant early January when hopefully we have a frost free spell..
Snow on tops of hives is unmelted.. Just the sides where the cluster is appear frost free.
Thanks
I'll be feeding fondant early January when hopefully we have a frost free spell..
Snow on tops of hives is unmelted.. Just the sides where the cluster is appear frost free.
