The Honey Factory

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duluthralphie said:
Rofl!!


There is no way I could keep them at 30-40 degrees.

People that haven’t lived in the north don’t understand our temps.

We have very short days most with a weak sun and lots of 20 below.

There is no way a green house or one I could afford will keep 30 degrees all winter long.
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Yeah, ya'll are def more consistently cold than we are. We had -30°x 3 nights but that is (and shall remain I hope :fl) unusual for us. Typically our normal (occasional) lows are in the -15° range + or -.

I'm thinking I might wrap my hypothetical bees and put them in the greenhouse for winter. I can open the big roll-up door on sunny days. The greenhouse is now filled with big, fat, tall raised beds that should provide thermal mass to modulate temps at least a little bit...
 
R2elk said:
If you need to order bees online rather than locally. both TSC and Mann Lake are still selling 3 lb. packages.
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Cool! I shall stop in. I didn't know about TSC. Our Runnings carries them for sure, and there's a local guy. I think I want the MN hygenics since I really would like to keep them over winter if possible, plus there's the grooming thing. Plus if I order them I will have the necessary motivation to get my hive built... :oops:
 
CindyinSD said:
Cool! I shall stop in. I didn't know about TSC. Our Runnings carries them for sure, and there's a local guy. I think I want the MN hygenics since I really would like to keep them over winter if possible, plus there's the grooming thing. Plus if I order them I will have the necessary motivation to get my hive built... :oops:
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TSC orders are online and delivered overnight by UPS. If you can get them locally, they will cost less then the $200 that TSC charges. With TSC you are paying for shipping even though it isn't a separate charge.
 
I was wrong, tore down both hives today. Zero brood, full boxes of honey, no resident bees. Tons of transient bees.. We are going to start over with all fresh frames and foundations.
There was some white stuff on the honey, I'm going to try to find out online what the heck it is.
 
CindyinSD said:
Just from my reading, the cluster of bees will only move up to feed and in extreme cold, can starve to death within inches of abundant honey, which is one of the advantages touted for the alternative deep box hive designs such as Layens. There is more "upness" to be traversed than in a standard Lang hive.

You can also build the Layens type double-boxed with rigid insulation between (but protected in the cuts for entrances & exits; they will chew it). One hive design I saw had round holes not slits, with pvc pipe bits lining the vulnerable surfaces. I'm sure pex would work fine, too. The holes can be modified by putting plates overtop to change the opening shape/size if needed. I will change the dimensions from https://horizontalhive.com/how-to-build/layens-beehive-design.shtml to accommodate two side-by-side-standing-on-end deep frames, fastened together. Otherwise not sure you could use a standard extractor.

I need to find out whether I can still get bees. It's getting late, isn't it? :oops:
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I can get them here without a problem. I am looking for a queen from an over wintered hive, in a nuc, for one of mine.

I an going try another Saskatraz package from the same place as the hive that just died on the other one.
 

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