The Honey Factory

[duluthralphie]

I really like that feeder you’ve got clipped on the landing board, where did you buy that?

I like that feeder too.

Do the bees eat inside the hive or do they need to come outside to eat?

 

[blackandtan]

They don’t want them back. Would not take them.

The cost of overwintering the bees must be less than the cost of me replacing them in the spring.

This would include heat, food, disease and mite protections.

According to most articles 30% of all bee hives die overwinter in the USA. I assume the southern states lose a percent or two, as their winters are warmer than our summers.

Which means the northerns states do much worse on survival. Even amongst the northern states we are special, as in colder than most.

Killing off the bees in the fall is a very common practice up here. My guess is half of the keepers kill their bees.

To me it is not worth the money, time and effort to try and keep the bees alive over winter when their is a greater than 80% chance they will die anyways.

If you want my bees come and get them in after September 20th. Bring your own box and honey.

I dunno ralphie, all the beekeepers I’ve met around here winter their bees, and before they started dealing with mites had winter success over 90% - and Thunder Bay winters are a bit colder and a fair bit longer than Minnesota. One old guy who’s had bees his whole life puts some of the hives in an unheated shed, and he has it set up so that they’re against the west-facing wall and each hive connects to a little pvc runway so come March they can come and go as required. Most others I know leave the hives outside and have a plywood box that goes over for snow protection, and that’s it. The place we’re getting nucs from this year is in Quebec and has similarly harsh weather, he has thousands of hives that he rents out to pollinate blueberry fields, those hives just get bigger lids and they’re left out in a snowy windswept field all winter.
Around here there’s always the potential for winter loss but folks seem to think that’s a better risk to take than bringing in new bees and possibly new diseases or pests

 

[R2elk]

I really like that feeder you’ve got clipped on the landing board, where did you buy that?

Mann Lake

Entrance Feeder

Bee Bar Cap

With our cold night temperatures and sunny days, I remove the jar of sugar water before night or the first thing in the morning and wait for it to warm up before putting the jar back in the feeder. If I don't do this, the temperature increase will cause a pressure build up in the jar and force the sugar water to run out.

 

[blackandtan]

Mann Lake

Entrance Feeder

Bee Bar Cap

With our cold night temperatures and sunny days, I remove the jar of honey before night or the first thing in the morning and wait for it to warm up before putting the jar back in the feeder. If I don't do this, the temperature increase will cause a pressure build up in the jar and force the sugar water to run out.

Thank you!!

 

[R2elk]

I like that feeder too.

Do the bees eat inside the hive or do they need to come outside to eat?

They only have access from the inside of the hive. Your feeding set up is more efficient because you don't have to worry about the temperature change causing the sugar water to be pressured out of the jar.

One year my bees came in during a blizzard. I put an empty hive body on and set up the feeder inside the hive body. It did great other than having to check on it frequently to make sure they didn't run out of syrup.

It was amazing when it warmed up enough for the bees to venture out. They must have been holding it in because there was massive amounts of bee crap everywhere. It really showed up disgustingly well on top of the snow.

 

[R2elk]

I dunno ralphie, all the beekeepers I’ve met around here winter their bees, and before they started dealing with mites had winter success over 90% - and Thunder Bay winters are a bit colder and a fair bit longer than Minnesota. One old guy who’s had bees his whole life puts some of the hives in an unheated shed, and he has it set up so that they’re against the west-facing wall and each hive connects to a little pvc runway so come March they can come and go as required. Most others I know leave the hives outside and have a plywood box that goes over for snow protection, and that’s it. The place we’re getting nucs from this year is in Quebec and has similarly harsh weather, he has thousands of hives that he rents out to pollinate blueberry fields, those hives just get bigger lids and they’re left out in a snowy windswept field all winter.
Around here there’s always the potential for winter loss but folks seem to think that’s a better risk to take than bringing in new bees and possibly new diseases or pests

I used to be able to over winter my bees until I made the mistake of using Sevin on the slug worms. Last year's bees did not make any honey for me and pretty much cleaned out the old honey that was in the hive bodies. I am hoping that they got rid of any Sevin contaminated honey and start surviving the winters again.

 

[duluthralphie]

I dunno ralphie, all the beekeepers I’ve met around here winter their bees, and before they started dealing with mites had winter success over 90% - and Thunder Bay winters are a bit colder and a fair bit longer than Minnesota. One old guy who’s had bees his whole life puts some of the hives in an unheated shed, and he has it set up so that they’re against the west-facing wall and each hive connects to a little pvc runway so come March they can come and go as required. Most others I know leave the hives outside and have a plywood box that goes over for snow protection, and that’s it. The place we’re getting nucs from this year is in Quebec and has similarly harsh weather, he has thousands of hives that he rents out to pollinate blueberry fields, those hives just

get bigger lids and they’re left out in a snowy windswept field all winter.
Around here there’s always the potential for winter loss but folks seem to think that’s a better risk to take than bringing in new bees and possibly new diseases or pests

I am not saying it’s not possible to over winter.

I just think it is too long a shot to try. How close to the lake are the bees? Lake Superior mitigates the winters some.

I have looked at the pros and cons and for me, the cons outweigh the pros of trying to winter them.

If I had a different set up and if I had a place inside for them, I might look at it differently.

I thought about sending my bees south, but I don’t want to lose them in August. Also I worry about disease and mites they could get down there.

I thought about taking them to my Brothers in NC. But that would be more expensive than buying new and the disease risk is there.

I am willing to listen to what others say and maybe I will change my plans. But for right now they are chicken food this fall.. (I am being a tad facetious about the chicken food)

 

[duluthralphie]

They only have access from the inside of the hive. Your feeding set up is more efficient because you don't have to worry about the temperature change cause the sugar water to be pressured out of the jar.

One year my bees came in during a blizzard. I put an empty hive body on and set up the feeder inside the hive body. It did great other than having to check on it frequently to make sure they didn't run out of syrup.

It was amazing when it warmed up enough for the bees to venture out. They must have been holding it in because there was massive amounts of bee crap everywhere. It really showed up disgustingly well on top of the snow.

Bee poop!!

I never gave it a second thought. Duh

 

[blackandtan]

I am not saying it’s not possible to over winter.

I just think it is too long a shot to try. How close to the lake are the bees? Lake Superior mitigates the winters some.

I have looked at the pros and cons and for me, the cons outweigh the pros of trying to winter them.

If I had a different set up and if I had a place inside for them, I might look at it differently.

I thought about sending my bees south, but I don’t want to lose them in August. Also I worry about disease and mites they could get down there.

I thought about taking them to my Brothers in NC. But that would be more expensive than buying new and the disease risk is there.

I am willing to listen to what others say and maybe I will change my plans. But for right now they are chicken food this fall.. (I am being a tad facetious about the chicken food)

The big pond does create a bit of a buffer, but it only extends about five miles or so, I’m well outside of that, as are many keepers I’ve talked to. No one heats their hives, not even with a lamp in the shed if they’re kept in one. They just move them out of the wind or block the wind with a foam or plywood box and ensure that they have enough food to overwinter
The place in Quebec we’re buying from said that they had the best winter ever, few days below -40 and plenty of snow to insulate his hives - he sent us a pic of them, they’re all out in the field and have snow all built up around, I mean almost over the hives, and all he does is scoop out the entrance once in a while to keep them ventilated and allow them to get out to potty on a nice day, it’s always in March.
Lol the March poop flight is a thing, and it’s hilarious! I got to see it first hand when I had my first couple hives...that I later murdered....and the snow was pretty dirty!

 

[R2elk]

The bees polished off the first quart of sugar water and have made a dent in the second quart. I will have to make more tomorrow.