The Honey Factory

[WallyG74]

Checked my hives and 2 of the 3 were dead outs.
The long hive overwintered again fine. One of the hives was out in the open in my orchard without a windbreak. I did cover my hives with the flannel cover thing but a week of -43'F windchill was just too much for them. The were sitting on their honey reserves in the cluster dead.
I have a lot of cleaning to do. For now, I sorted the stuff that was fine and the stuff that needs cleaning. That will have to be for another day.
The surviving hive was robbing the dead outs which is fine too.

I forget way more than I remember. Have you ever posted pics of your long hive? I really want to build one but I feel I need to establish that I can keep them alive in a simpler hive first.

 

[5Australorpasaures]

Weather has been in the 50s a few days ago. I had to sneak a peek and the frames are solid with miserable cranky bees, no gear so they got a couple good whacks in .No big deal plus I hear stings are good for Arthritis. Hopefully the middle/third week of March I can start stimulating brood with some pollen patty. Realistically, another 7-8 weeks. I want to do at least two splits when the Blue Berries start to "bud", bloom comes just days after. Have a four day run this week of high 40s to 60+ by Saturday. Going to give them some insurance sugar blocks.

 

[Apis mellifera]

In another thread, someone said that honeybees were getting into the chickens' feed, looking for protein. I asked if I should save the fines in the bottom of my chickens' bowls and put them where the bees could find them, but never got an answer. Any thoughts here?

Any commercial or homemade subs dont have ground corn in them, mostly soy, yeast, irradiated pollen. Nobody knows for sure if they benefit from ground corn even though they will readily take it until pollen is available, then they abruptly stop. That tells me its not on the top of their list to collect. Its possible they are also collecting the soy in the feed too. I dont feed anything, maple is the first pollen for my bees.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

I forget way more than I remember. Have you ever posted pics of your long hive? I really want to build one but I feel I need to establish that I can keep them alive in a simpler hive first.

Post in thread 'Who Keeps Bees and Poultry?' https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/who-keeps-bees-and-poultry.1346104/post-24370910
My husband changed the top cover boards to be screened. I should get a picture some time. I can open up the hive lid and just see how they're doing now.

 

[R2elk]

No big deal plus I hear stings are good for Arthritis

I have plenty of experience that says there is no truth to this old wives tale.

 

[Sally PB]

If using an entrance feeder and feeding outside the hive, I remove the jar of sugar water in the evening and put it back the next day after it warms up. If I leave it in place, when the suns warms it up, it increases the pressure inside the jar and forces the sugar water to run out.

This is from that other thread.

How warm does it need to be to put on a liquid feeder? I'm guessing the liquid would freeze a little bit below 32F.

 

[5Australorpasaures]

I have plenty of experience that says there is no truth to this old wives tale.

I'm there with ya! To the point now a blip is no more than a mosquito bite. I work gloveless so it's a given and don't really get hit that often.

 

[Sally PB]

We're in our first year with bees. Neither hubby nor I have been stung yet. We don't *think* either of us is allergic... but we have a bottle of children's liquid Benadryl in the ned cabinet, just in case.

 

[Apis mellifera]

We're in our first year with bees. Neither hubby nor I have been stung yet. We don't *think* either of us is allergic... but we have a bottle of children's liquid Tylenol in the ned cabinet, just in case.

I believe it's benadryl that some keep on hand in case of allergic reactions.

 

[Sally PB]

benadryl

Duh, you're right! Thank you. That's what we have. Don't know why I typed Tylenol. I'm going to go edit my post.