Closing Up For WInter
It might be the last day of good weather for the year in the PNW. The clouds are bunching. And a big storm is supposed to be in tonight. I buttoned up my hives this evening.
My hives are all three supers tall, and I just went through them and added a 4th round of Api-Life Var. Sure- its not on the label that this is ok- but I feel like I had this incredible amount of mites- and they need to DIE and round 3 still saw a ton-so, round 4.
I have this new method of installing the medication it. I take my tool and just crack up the supers where I want it- and I toss in 1/4 chunks at the end, then go to the other side, crack it with my tool, then pull up and toss in the other two. Way faster. Way less intrusive. And very few bees come out.
I put reduced entries on all the hives, and I am now screwing them in, so I can have them hang out while I use boardman feeders. I understand that other beekeepers hate them- as they cause robbing- but I have never noticed this. I put on the reduced entry, that makes it tougher for a robber bee to get over to the feeder, and it seems to work. And right now at least, they suck down the syrup. The big plus is that I can see at a glance if any are empty, and it prompts me to feed them. That's really important.
I am also doubling the sugar content, 2 to 1, so its really thick. I don't see a downside to this?
I also like the feeders as earlier this Fall I decided to not use them, but fed from the top. But I don't have spare empty supers, so i had to pull out 150 frames and put them in bags so I could borrow the supers. What a mess and a pain. Bees got into the bags, and there was mayhem, and the delicate this-year'd foundation got broken up- not good. So I won't do that again, unless I have empties. The Boardman feeders work great, if I can keep them filled.
They English Ivy is blooming and covered with bees this past few weeks. Bees are packing in the pollen- which I assume means that they are laying eggs. The one thing I did not do, that I thought I would do, is go through each hive before the year end to check for queen viability. All my hives seem ok- but I don't know- its always a surprise.
My hives are all three supers tall, and I just went through them and added a 4th round of Api-Life Var. Sure- its not on the label that this is ok- but I feel like I had this incredible amount of mites- and they need to DIE and round 3 still saw a ton-so, round 4.
I have this new method of installing the medication it. I take my tool and just crack up the supers where I want it- and I toss in 1/4 chunks at the end, then go to the other side, crack it with my tool, then pull up and toss in the other two. Way faster. Way less intrusive. And very few bees come out.
I put reduced entries on all the hives, and I am now screwing them in, so I can have them hang out while I use boardman feeders. I understand that other beekeepers hate them- as they cause robbing- but I have never noticed this. I put on the reduced entry, that makes it tougher for a robber bee to get over to the feeder, and it seems to work. And right now at least, they suck down the syrup. The big plus is that I can see at a glance if any are empty, and it prompts me to feed them. That's really important.
I am also doubling the sugar content, 2 to 1, so its really thick. I don't see a downside to this?
I also like the feeders as earlier this Fall I decided to not use them, but fed from the top. But I don't have spare empty supers, so i had to pull out 150 frames and put them in bags so I could borrow the supers. What a mess and a pain. Bees got into the bags, and there was mayhem, and the delicate this-year'd foundation got broken up- not good. So I won't do that again, unless I have empties. The Boardman feeders work great, if I can keep them filled.
They English Ivy is blooming and covered with bees this past few weeks. Bees are packing in the pollen- which I assume means that they are laying eggs. The one thing I did not do, that I thought I would do, is go through each hive before the year end to check for queen viability. All my hives seem ok- but I don't know- its always a surprise.
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