@@SaveOurBees I wintered my hives by reducing the entrances, elevating the rear ends and putting mats between the brood boxes and supers then left them alone until last week when the weather got quite hot. I'm a bit alarmed that both the supers have mould in them and one has slugs as well. The brood boxes are strong with plenty of bees but the supers are a worry. I've taken out the mats and opened up the entrances to let more air in but want to know if I just leave the supers for the bees to tidy up, or is more drastic action needed? I have killed the slugs.
@@gjdsffk when you say you put mats between the boxes did you leave enough space around the matts (say 5cm on each edge at least) for the bees to travel up and down through the boxes?
@@SaveOurBees Yes, I left a gap but only on 2 sides as I thought that was enough. I'll cut them and make them smaller for next winter. In the meantime what do I do about the mould. The internet is divided between: 1. Lucky you - penicillin mould prevents ABF 2. Remove the frames, render the wax and bleach everything 3. Leave them alone - the bees know what to do and will fix it. You are a source I trust, so what should I do?
I have 2 new hives, one package from Georgia; one a local nuc (NE PA). I have a deep hive body and medium super on each. I treated for mites twice with oxalic acid vapor back in late October. I was feeding syrup until late November. I wrapped each hive in 1" styrofoam with feeding ring and vivaldi board, plus 1" foamboard on inner part of outer cover. During a warm spell in early December, I checked both top supers quickly. I didn't see any real activity or bees. Some pollen patty had been eat, but little fondant. Do you think I should leave the hives alone and hope for the best, or should I cut the styrofoam down to the hive body, remove it and the medium super. Then put fondant and winter pollen patty on top of hive body and close everything up. Not sure if there are any stores left in the mediums. Very difficult decision. Don't want to lose a fairly lage investment. Any advice will be appreciated.
Really helpful video. thank you. Are those bees Italians? Question. Do you find that you get stung on the hands a lot working with bare hands? Or not? If you keep a queen excluder on during winter won't the queen end up dying? How will she move up with the bees?
yes mostly Italians. they are the most widespread in Australia As you get more experienced and confident with your bees you will find getting rid of the gloves will make it easier to work. work with your bees often, and you'll know when the time is right. there are a few schools of thought on queen exluders and we believe in general it's better to use them. when using an excluder there is no brood above it unless you've moved brood frames up yourself. so the bee clusters used to keep the.bood at 34c is going to happen in the blood box and that's where your queen will be when using an excluder. best of bees to you 😊
Why winter losses of bee colonies are so high in U.K and U.S, is there any easy, meaningful explanation of the situation? I mean in comparition to other countries…
Ants are not a common problem. If your colony is strong, it will defend against ants well. However, there are areas a "mechanised" hive that bees can't get to thet ants may gather.
