More Tasks. February.
It snowed, a little, maybe two inches.
I've stacked all the supers, and pushed a colored push pins into each one, to indicate what's inside, a red one for plastic foundation that's been drawn, a purple one for all wax ones from 2012, a green ones for ones that need repair, a blue one for empty frames, and a clear on for empty supers. This makes sense for later, when I am trying to pull out the appropriate super. Its better then writing on them in tape, which inevitably gets stuck and messy, and is hard to switch out. This is easy. Office supplies: useful everywhere.
The bee weighing machine, which seemed so simple in concept in the drawing stage, turns out to be more complex than I thought. I have to keep adding fixes to it, to make it work better, in ways I couldn't predict in drawing it. The goal is to get consistent, and not necessarily, accurate, readings. But there are, it turns out, a lot more variables than I thought there would be in such a simple concept. The biggest one being how the operator uses the machine. So- its going to take more work, dang it, as this is right at the time I wished it were working.
I have this faith that a "real" number will be helpful, and that I will be able to deduct out the dead weight (that's an architectural term, not a reference to death), of the hive, and calculate the "live" weight, of the bees, and stores. I guess what I'd be looking for is change, not necessarily the gross weight. So there'd have to be some sort of chart and calculation, which I think I can derive by experiments of weighing things accurately.
I have my hives all set so that they will pivot on the front edges, which should give consistent readings for comparison.
This goes back to the idea that I have of being able to visualize the interior of each hive, as a collection of bees, and brood, and eggs, and stores, and trying to see where each of these are located, and what their shape is. I don't think that would be super helpful, just interesting. But weight changes- in bees, stores, or brood, would be helpful, I think. Especially now, as its this time when they are active, but have not food out in the field. So, although I can pick up a hive- and can feel it- I no longer trust myself to get it right. They ALL feel light right now, except a few. So, I want to know how to track this in a more quantitative way, so I don't stress out and feel tempted to dump in more sugar. Its a long way between now and the first Maple.
I
I've stacked all the supers, and pushed a colored push pins into each one, to indicate what's inside, a red one for plastic foundation that's been drawn, a purple one for all wax ones from 2012, a green ones for ones that need repair, a blue one for empty frames, and a clear on for empty supers. This makes sense for later, when I am trying to pull out the appropriate super. Its better then writing on them in tape, which inevitably gets stuck and messy, and is hard to switch out. This is easy. Office supplies: useful everywhere.
The bee weighing machine, which seemed so simple in concept in the drawing stage, turns out to be more complex than I thought. I have to keep adding fixes to it, to make it work better, in ways I couldn't predict in drawing it. The goal is to get consistent, and not necessarily, accurate, readings. But there are, it turns out, a lot more variables than I thought there would be in such a simple concept. The biggest one being how the operator uses the machine. So- its going to take more work, dang it, as this is right at the time I wished it were working.
I have this faith that a "real" number will be helpful, and that I will be able to deduct out the dead weight (that's an architectural term, not a reference to death), of the hive, and calculate the "live" weight, of the bees, and stores. I guess what I'd be looking for is change, not necessarily the gross weight. So there'd have to be some sort of chart and calculation, which I think I can derive by experiments of weighing things accurately.
I have my hives all set so that they will pivot on the front edges, which should give consistent readings for comparison.
This goes back to the idea that I have of being able to visualize the interior of each hive, as a collection of bees, and brood, and eggs, and stores, and trying to see where each of these are located, and what their shape is. I don't think that would be super helpful, just interesting. But weight changes- in bees, stores, or brood, would be helpful, I think. Especially now, as its this time when they are active, but have not food out in the field. So, although I can pick up a hive- and can feel it- I no longer trust myself to get it right. They ALL feel light right now, except a few. So, I want to know how to track this in a more quantitative way, so I don't stress out and feel tempted to dump in more sugar. Its a long way between now and the first Maple.
I
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