Thinking Out Loud
By ekpeach in General | 2 comments
I guess that I have not gotten too far behind in posting. I see that the last post was on the first of this month so that means that I need to think of some reason to post another one soon. I have let the bees rest for 3 1/2 weeks since I split and/or went through them. I did put the honey I took off of the bees on the new split so the beetles wouldn’t get too rambunctious. However, since the split was really a nuc, I may not have had enough bees to patrol all the extra rooms and space. I may have let the honey be destroyed! That would be my fault, and my just reward. I knew better. Well, since I have not yet looked at the honey, I may be surprised.
My thoughts were to extract this past weekend, but my darling spouse decided that we could afford to take off the weekend and go to Texarkana to a family reunion that had been brewing for some time. We rented a little Chevy compact, I forget what model, and left here about 7:00 am and arrived about 7:30 pm. For a trip that was supposed to take 9 hours, it wasn’t hard to make it last over 12 hours, but we did get 30.9 mpg. My brother-in-law rented a midsized sedan and got 35+ mpg. Who would have guessed? Anyway, we had a grand old time and renewed acquaintances and shared memories with several people.
The trip back was just as uneventful as the half going up there. We took all of yesterday and this morning just resting up from the trip. Now it is time to get to planning my visit to the bee yard on the other side of the swimming pool in my back yard. Probably wouldn’t hurt to mow the grass so I can at least walk on the grass rather than through it. hehe.
Be sure to not take all the honey from your bees at this time. In some places it is a drought from now to November. That is unless you are planning to feed sugar syrup or corn syrup. Then you need to keep on top of the situation so your bees will not starve to death. Also check the pollen supply. You may have to think of feeding some pollen substitute.
Otherwise, sit back and enjoy your little girls. Sometimes I set a chair close to the hives so I can just sit there and watch the little buggers come and go and watch the interactions at the doorways. You can learn a lot if you just sit back and smell the roses and watch.
Until next time, keep your veil handy, your smoker lit, and your hive tool sharp.
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Bill | May 19, 2011 | Reply
I have be reading over most of the previous entries and have really enjoyed the blog. I am a newbee, live in south Alabama, and got two nucs in March. I am interested in following the no treatment approach. Can you tell me what you would recommend as a hive configuration for my location. Currently I have a screened bottom board, 10 frame- 9 5/8 inch hive body, queen excluder, 6 inch super, inner cover, and migratory lid. One of the 2-hives has about 20-30% of the super with drawn comb, some capped honey and they are filling the other. The second hive seems to be about 2-3 weeks behind the 1st hive, 15-20% drawn comb and some stored and capped honey. Does the hive body need to be expanded or is 1-brood chamber OK for south AL? What would you recommend in south Al for an overwinter configuration?
Looking forward to your advice,
Bill
ekpeach | Jun 8, 2011 | Reply
Bill,
I am ashamed that I did not answer your questions sooner. I should be shot!
Where abouts in South AL. are you? If you are North of Montgomery, then I would think that two deep brood boxes are in order, but again, that is just my opinion. If you are in the line near Brewton and Dothan, then one deep or two or three medium brood boxes would do just fine.
Your screened bottoms and migratory tops are just what the doctor ordered. I only use the queen excluder between the brood chamber and first honey super until it is capped over, then I take the queen excluder out and store it until next Spring.
The first honey super is to be left with the hive so the bees can use it for winter food. The queen will eventually move up into that super and probably lay eggs. Bees rarely move down, so the thing to do would be to reverse the honey super with the brood box so the bees will move up into the brood box. Then you can reverse again and put the excluder between the brood and the first honey super until it is full again.
As far as getting ready for the Winter, that is still dependent on where you live. Give me a comment or email me at ekpeach@dpeach.com and I will try to help you out. Until then–