Bee Yard Prep Work

Over the past few weeks we have given the "Girls" about 18 liters of sugar syrup, some with medication to help them come out of the winter and as previously mentioned, protein patties. When I added the patties, I thought they would be too thick to put just between the supers so I added a spacer, and inexperience showed, because when we removed the spacer they drew down comb and the queen did her job. This is not where we want the brood to be so this bit of comb had to be removed, to set the super back on top. They weren't very happy.

They have been very busy collecting pollen, as we can clearly see the pollen baskets are full, this is a very good sign. We started to prep the bee yard, clearing away old brush, around and an area behind the hive. This will give us future space to expand, if needed. As well I laid two more pads for when we split this one. It maybe ambitious but they are very strong, so we'll see about truing this one into three. There will be lots for them to gather as there are 6 acres just out their door and several other fields, larger less then a km away. We'll see how it goes throughout the summer.

The hive with the spacer, very active, nice day.

What I had to remove after the spacer came off.

Still busy collecting pollen.

You can see the different colour pollen in their baskets.

Getting ready to split.

Great Numbers

We realized after we left the girls yesterday that we didn't get any pictures of them, and we wanted to change out some old frames they weren't using. So here are a couple of pictures to enjoy and one in particular has a bee that has just developed wax and you can see the white wax on the left side. I put a red circle around her so you can see.

Top bar of the bottom super.

One nice looking frame.

A busy frame that will have to be changed out soon.

One more full frame that will be replaced later on.

Great numbers for the spring.

One making wax and one working on comb.

Spring Is Here

Today we opened the girls up for spring. We took off the winter wrap, did a quick look and they were plentiful, and busy. We changed out the bottom board for a new modified one, it has a bit of a ramp so the water will run off and not pool in front of the entrance causing a problem. We gave them pollen patties and 3 liters of sugar syrup with medicine. They have been out foraging because we can see several with their pollen baskets full. They still need the syrup and patties this time of the year to help them get stronger. With the amount of bees we saw today the Queen is doing great.

Before the wrap came off.

After the wrap came off.

You can see the pollen on them.

An inner cover for the feeding pail.

Three brood chambers and a super to hold the syrup pail.

ReBecca got the first sting this year.

Finishing Up

Well after a 6 week break from working in the shop because if a serious accident, I've finally finished building the remaining parts we'll need to spit the colony this spring. I finished the bottom boards, built two more inner covers for feeding, two Queen excluders, two bee escapes, and one more outer comer. All set to split the girls when the time is right.

Bee Escape, Queen excluder, and inner covers.

IPM bottom boards.

Outer cover, the metal cover has been added.

Getting Ready For Liquid Gold

I've been busy lately making honey supers, like any other super except I'll be using them for honey only. We're using shallow supers because when filled with honey they can still be about 40 lbs, a little easier to handle. The foundations have drone sized wax foundation in them to yield more honey and I've been told it will come out easier. Once everything is done I'll paint part of the top bar green to identify them as drone frames so if they ever get put in as brood chambers by mistake I wont have only drones, because the cells for drones are bigger then worker bee cells. The construction of the frames and supers was a mass production line for me. I built and painted the supers first so I'd have a place to for the frames when they were finished to protect them. This job wasn't too bad not that long standing over the table saw making repeated cuts, but the frames, well that's another story. Once I cut the top and bottom bars to length and width, there were addition cuts requires to size them to fit. The bottom only took two extra cuts to make a groove in it to fit the foundation, not that bad even when I'm making 40 frames. But the top took several more cuts, and set up with a dado blade. To put it into perspective I stood over the table saw one day and made a 1000 passes over the blade, one job you want to make sure you pay attention to every cut even when doing it over and over again. The end pieces on the other hand took a while to cut into shape. I used 2 x 4's to make the shape needed for end boards, with about a dozen cuts on each blank, I started with 8 blanks to make 88 end boards. Once milled to size I just ran them through the blade and cut out 3/8 inch wide pieces, it went rather well actually. Once all the pieces were done I used my assembly jig to glue and nail them together and once I got the wax foundation I set them in and push nailed a nailing bar in place and now we wait for spring.

40 frames and nailing bars ready for foundation.

5 more shallow supers done.

Wax foundations installed, ready for the supers.

Working On Next Year

I've built another three medium supers with foundation filled frames for next spring when we'll hopefully split the hive, and maybe into three hives, so I'll be busy over the winter building more hive parts. This new base is a little different than the others, that the front is sloped away to keep water off the deck, which can be a problem for the girls. As well the bottom is screened for ventilation in the summer, and I can put in the bottom board in the winter. I constructed the bottom board so it can be reversible, one side with poly to protect the wood and the other has a grid on it for mite counting in the fall.

With the weather starting to remain about 5° C during the day we thought it's time to put on the winter wrap, and once we started the last pail of sugar syrup was not fully drawn down, this is an indication they have filled all the remaining cells with food and are ready for winter. The cut outs are positioned over vent holes in each super and well back from the top vent, this will help reduce carbon dioxide build up which can be dangerous for a colony over the winter. The inside cover has three layers of two sided thermal bubble wrap to keep the heat in, and with 48 mil rubber membrane covering the hole hive it should be dry. We'll be keeping an eye on them throughout the winter, after all it's our first colony.

New hive with stand ready for next year.

A new design base and bottom board.

Mite inspection grid showing.

Winter wrap on and ready.

Coming out the top vent, very good.

Entrance accessible with wire mesh to help keep out shrews. 

Getting Ready For Winter

Last month we took out the Apivar strips and the girls were a bit agitated, as this time of the year robbing goes on so they are always on guard and when we took of the inner cover to remove the strips well lets just say they showed they weren't too happy. On the plus side the colony did look very strong.

I recently got a hold of some heavy duty rubber, that was used a s pool/pond liner that did work, so I made my own version of a winter wrap. Basically we are just trying to keep them dry, they'll take care of the keeping themselves warm. I also put vent holes in each super so they can get out for a cleansing flight and let out deadly carbon dioxide, which can build up in the winter as they are covered. I also made an new entrance reducer with a wire mesh that has ¼ grid, the bees can get out and mice and shrews should not be able to get in and cause havoc. I constructed a new outer cover a bit large to accommodate the rubber wrap.

Strong colony.

They look healthy.

New entrance reducer.

Fitting the wrap.

Positioning opening for the vent holes.

Glued together and a board inside, with screws for strength.

New outer cover fits snug.

Ready for when the time is right.