I'm new to beekeeping, so there are still a lot of things I need to learn. Mites... Last year, my mentor recommended Apiguard in late summer (which I did) and OA around Christmas (which I also did.) However, she didn't say anything about treating in the spring. Is this something extra you do or have I neglected an important step this year?
Well, I didn't hit my hives in the winter, had I done that we'd have had a much longer leash this year. Your system sounds fine, if your area supports it. Up here that system would work great, in the lower peninsula I think that system would be a bit on the short side. The best thing you can do is to perform a mite wash on your colonies before the start of Fall. If the load is low, you're good, if it's not, hit 'em with OA until it is.
Look back at any of my other recent videos and you'll see production hives. At most you'll only see me working a single though, I don't let the brood area get bigger than that.
@@BKBees Nuks grows fast, and they need a lot of attention. It is better to use only 10 frame boxes and you will have very efficient and productive apiary. Less time per colony=more money for you :). Any way, every beekeeper has his own preferences. It is not the same technology when you have 10 or more then 50 colonies. I had 100 at the moment, and 5 framers did not help :))). Trailer was always full with equipment and I had to carry it. Happy beekeeping !
I did not shake the bees off, they won't ball the queen. The foragers, the ones that would ball the queen if they got the opportunity, will get up and go right back to their hive. The nurse bees will stay, and they'll just work the same way they were in their old hive. Now if you took tons of frames you might overload them and get a balled queen, but one or two from the same yard won't cause any issues.
It's has become surprising easier to kill queens and cull bad colonies; what I'm left with is strong and healthy. "Promote Brilliance" I heard someone say once. My experience open feeding on a flow only attracts robber bees and most of the syrup is wasted, frame feeders or interior feedings work best on a flow. I use new queens to draw foundation, they have less tendency to swarm and tolerate cramped conditions, a reason why you are not seeing swarm cells maybe.
Production duds get culled. Nuc duds that didn't get a fair shot don't, especially when I am not going to pull anything else to make those slots back up. Yeah, in hive feeders would have been a better idea for sure.
Dodged a bullet! Ever think about just using 10-frame deeps and 1.5gal frame feeders for your nucs? That’s my preference. Plenty of space to expand. Pull the feeder for emergency space. Add a deep to make it a double. No need to screw-around with nuc boxes, transfer into 10-frame, etc.
Yeah, I do that if I'm splitting into the same yard. These splits came from different yards though, so I nuc 'em at 3 frames per, move them, put 'em in tens at some later point.
You had some nice looking nucs there that did well without feeding. You can lead the horse to the water but you can't make it drink. What was the reason for boosting the dud? She should have had the same opportunities as the others but didn't. I'd have been tempted to shake them out or merge it with a different hive after dispensing the dud queen. Just asking. Your wife is such a great help, you're a lucky man. Have a great week.
If it was a production hive that did truly have the same opportunity I'd combine them and replace with a split. This is a split that was neglected for 5 weeks, plus I really hate to have the empty slots on the pallets.
We're supposed to be in the middle of it right now, although it's like 50 degrees and rainy right now. We'll hopefully pull honey this upcoming weekend for the first time this year, and another pull towards the end of August.
