Bee Yard Upgrade

I've been trying to keep my operation small, so for so good, but some times I think I may want another one or two and then I scramble to make all the parts and the last thing I think of is a stand. So after a few years of visiting other bee yards during field days with the NBBA and seeing how others bee yards are laid out, I finally decided to give my yard a little upgrade. Gone are the individual hive stands, (which worked very well for me so far) and install new bench type stand with a bit more room. To me the area looks larger and much better, only time will tell. Here is a before and after look at the two sides of my bee yard. 

Spring is on the way

 The other day I took off the winter wraps and feed them syrup made by Ambrosia, a German company that also has fondant I use. Today the temperature is up and they are out and about and looking good. I also noted that there wasn't as much bee poop on the front as in previous years, a good sign of their health, I hope. I cleaned out the bottom of each colony with a piece of wood I modified to fit into the entrance all the way back to each corner to remove any dead bees, a few as to be expected. Here is a look them with the feeder pails on top and a short clip of the activity going on.

Hive Frame Tray

 Over the past few years when I clean out a colony or just a few frames that need attention I usually put down some plastic on the work bench and get at it. Recently I was working on an old tray to help contain the mess, left over honey from an old frame. I have been looking for a try that would accommodate a frame and I haven't been able to find one large enough. I remembered today that I bought a press break to fold light metal and I made a tray.  I folded the edges over, turned them up and just riveted a small piece that fit into the fold at each corner. It's crude but does the job nicely.

You can see the frame sitting on the old tray.

The new tray is large enough for the frame.

Spring Time

Today I took off the winter wraps and feed them 3½ lts of syrup to help build them up. Over the past few days they have been very active and are looking for food. It is about a week earlier than last year and I looked at last years temperatures, both day and night, compared them to the forecasted ones for the coming week and they are comparable. I put 7 colonies to bed for the winter and and lost only one, so far. I expected this as one seamed to be a little weaker than the others. This happens. Here they are ready to go for the new year.

Something New

 This time of year the girls are out for cleansing flight and looking for food. It's 10ºC out there and they need some food, so I am trying something new. It's too cool to put syrup feeder pails on, I heard about adding fondant to help them out. These pictures were taken two day after I put them in and they are working on it. 

Nice cluster.

This one looks strong as well.

Another good sized cluster.

 

Winter 2021

 It's been a while since I updated this site and I'll try harder. It has been getting warmer during the days and the girls are out for cleansing flights and looking for food, so I thought I would try something a little different. I put a syrup pale on a feed try out front to see if they'll take it. Today was a test and it didn't take. So I'll try again when it gets a bit warmer, before I take off the winter wrap and put on individual feeds for each colony. Here is what I did, I don't know if it will help or hurt, only time will tell.

 

Spring Time

Spring is here, at least it's starting to warm up, so today I took off the winter wrap and checked them out. I lost two colonies, and I believe it's because they were not as strong as they should have been, there were several frames full of honey still. My first winter loss, it's not that bad, just 22% of my colonies, it sounds bad but I still have 7 good ones. Four of them are looking really strong and the other three are good. I gave them each a protein patty to help them out. It does look like some of the trees and shrubs are starting to bud so they'll have some natural food out there. Once the temperatures are a little warmer at night I'll start feeding them syrup. Here is what I did and found today.

This is what I saw under one of the stronger ones.

Winter wraps off, I lost the two on the left.

There three were the strongest.