The Honey Factory

[duluthralphie]

Funny but thinking starving.

My thoughts too, and so much honey close to them too.

 

[Ascholten]

maybe it was worth a pollen paddy or two to keep then alive instead of having to get all new bees now. Hopefully you have better luck this time around.

Aaron

 

[duluthralphie]

maybe it was worth a pollen paddy or two to keep then alive instead of having to get all new bees now. Hopefully you have better luck this time around.

Aaron

The problem with a pollen patty is the queen starting to lay eggs too soon.

Also once winter started last October there has not be a day I dare open the hive. This is a lot different than Florida. We just finished three weeks where the temperature did not get above 0. Much of that time we were 25-35 below zero.

The one hive was doomed when they swarmed in August. They simple did not have enough stores left after the runaway bees took their share.

The other hive has enough honey left. They should have survived. That hive was extremely strong. Lots of bees in it.

I did not take any honey from them. I fed them from August until I had to close the hives in October.

Moisture did not seem to be a problem. I think the three weeks of sun zero temps forced them into a tight Cluster and the ate all the honey around them. But it was too cold for the cluster to move to another area of the hive that had honey.

Btw this is what my mentor an 80 year old guy that has had bees for years thinks also. I have not talked to anyone that’s hives made it through this cold snap.

 

[Kusanar]

maybe it was worth a pollen paddy or two to keep then alive instead of having to get all new bees now. Hopefully you have better luck this time around.

Aaron

The one he mentioned that died earlier and he could have fed but didnt because it would be a waste of time were agressive and would have been killed if they had survived the winter so no point in feeding them to keep them alive.

 

[Ascholten]

How do the bees in the wild make it then, also on that, lets say this was your livelihood, or you just really liked bees or something, could you have moved them into a garage or something until it got warmer or does it just not work that way? Dribble sugar water into the hive around where they were clustered? Im just really curious if anything could have been done to save them. I don't have any specific love for bees but it's just such a shame to see you put all that work into something and it goes the route this did.

Aaron

 

[MarkJr]

How do the bees in the wild make it then, also on that, lets say this was your livelihood, or you just really liked bees or something, could you have moved them into a garage or something until it got warmer or does it just not work that way? Dribble sugar water into the hive around where they were clustered? Im just really curious if anything could have been done to save them. I don't have any specific love for bees but it's just such a shame to see you put all that work into something and it goes the route this did.

Aaron

Sugar water still has to be pre digested, then thickened.

Feed time is before it gets cold. Almost all commercial beekeepers feed. It's less for corn syrup than it is for honey. Steal all the honey, feed corn syrup to pack into now empty combs to survive the winter. Definite balancing act.

Wild bees propigate by swarming. They swarm when the hive runs out of room. They will have lots of honey and healthy numbers. They raise a new queen and when she's about to hatch, the old queen takes off to set up camp in a new spot. If it's early enough in the year, they put up enough stores to make it. A lot of late season swarms won't.

It's actually better to keep them cold and clustered VS try to warm them up they consume less as a cold cluster.

If it's under 40-45 they typically won't break cluster for any supplemental feed. Flying for defication runs are about it.

 

[CLSranch]

Moisture did not seem to be a problem. I think the three weeks of sun zero temps forced them into a tight Cluster and the ate all the honey around them. But it was too cold for the cluster to move to another area of the hive that had honey.

It makes since. This last cold spell was almost nation wide. We hit -17 in North OK. Your mentor is probably right. And like you said You can't switch frames of honey to the top after it's waaay below freezing.

 

[duluthralphie]

The one he mentioned that died earlier and he could have fed but didnt because it would be a waste of time were agressive and would have been killed if they had survived the winter so no point in feeding them to keep them alive.

I would have re-queened it at the very least. I don’t feel bad about losing them. That hive did not have many bees in it.

That hive was the one that had the queen cells on it. They might have been queen less going into winter for all I know.

They just weren’t healthy after that late summer swarm.

How do the bees in the wild make it then, also on that, lets say this was your livelihood, or you just really liked bees or something, could you have moved them into a garage or something until it got warmer or does it just not work that way? Dribble sugar water into the hive around where they were clustered? Im just really curious if anything could have been done to save them. I don't have any specific love for bees but it's just such a shame to see you put all that work into something and it goes the route this did.

Aaron

As above post says, once winter hits there is nothing we can do. We just have to hope we did enough before winter hits.

I originally was going to kill them last fall. I wish I had now.

However, I will try again next fall.

There is no way I am moving them inside. None of my buildings are heated except the house, and I really don’t think the WW would share the house with 80,000 bees.

 

[CLSranch]

I originally was going to kill them last fall. I wish I had now.

well IF they made it you would know you had good bee's going into next year. I guess it's a toss up of take ALL the honey so they have no stores and you have all profit vs leaving food stores for the winter.

There is no way I am moving them inside. None of my buildings are heated except the house, and I really don’t think the WW would share the house with 80,000 bees.

Oww my wife would Love for me to bring in a bunch of girls into the house.lol

 

[duluthralphie]

Question for you bee geniuses..

I am thinking about the dead bees. They were not dried out so they were not dead long.

They needed a slight break in the cold to move to another place. I am wondering if I put a pet heater pad in the hive and used it during the extreme cold would of give them a chance to move if need bee.

Or would it fool them into thinking spring as come and they would either break cluster or would they think it’s warm enough to make a poop flight and freeze to death?