Another Rat Scenario The great snow storm in Buffalo

[Riverrat]

You have taken a job earlier in the fall in  Buffalo New York.  You loaded up your family and the hives and moved.  Not knowing the climate well you didn't wrap your hives and you had 2:1 feeder pails on the top of the hives. Thinking you had a couple more weeks of mild weather to get that extra little bit of feed on. (After all when in Florida it was the way you did things)  Out of nowhere comes a snow storm of epic proportions complete with wind and upwards 50 inches of snow that blew in off the lake.  Your snowbound to the house with your hives 50 feet away.   There is a good chance the feeders pails blew off in the storm. Leaving an open hole in the top of the hive cover. Yep I know where was the box on top to protect the pail feeder? The hives are buried in snow. You are worried sick even though you have been keeping bees for several years nothing like this ever happens in Florida.  What are you going to do. The power is out your roof is sagging under the weight. You have no cell service and didn't get a land line.  Internet is not functioning so you have very limited resources to get help from.    This one could be a very real scenario Lets help them out and they can read the advice we give after the snow has left

[LazyBkpr]

Yikes...
   Nothing to worry about but that HOLE at the top...  Living in Maine we often had a LOT of snow, often at least 50 inches..  In order to get to work, I shoveled it out of my way. I have pictures of the kids and their mom standing in the shoveled pathway, with the snow piled to either side WAY over their moms head..  SO..  I would dig out the shovel and the snowshoes. Snowshoe to the hives and fix the hole in the top situation.
   Shovel the top of the hive clear. Install spacer, Fondant, inner cover, insulation, tele cover, ROCK..  Then snowshoe back to the house..
   The snow around the hives will insulate them better than anything else that can be done. SO long as the TOP is insulated to prevent condensation, and they have the added insurance of fondant, sugar, candy board etc...  they are good to go!

   I would insure the top vent was open as well, but thats a matter of personal preference..   If the snow is that deep chances are the hive will be buried and the top vent will not matter.

[iddee]

I would forget the danged bees and try to protect my family. The snow is insulating the bees and they should be fine until the melt gets down to the hive

[Perry]

Marry smart!






After that, what LazyBkpr said. Cover the hole and if needed add fondant.

[brooksbeefarm]

We have power outages more than we like here in SW Mo. and the cattle drink from from the well (from stock tanks). So three years ago we bought a generator that runs off propane gas when the power goes off, so i would have elect. So i would call or e- mail my buddy perry who knows more about snow removal than i do, then wait. Like iddee said the bees are on there own. My wife is on the mend from knee replacement, i have a bag of persimmons, honey, sassafras tea, and plenty of wood for the fireplace, so i have to stay next to her. Awww, life is great. Jack
PS. and Scott thinks he's Lazy.

[LazyBkpr]

PS. and Scott thinks he's Lazy.


   LOL!!   Yep, thats the purpose of the fondant.. I don't have to go back out there again till that snow is melting!!   

   Dang Perry has a good looking snowblower. I'm betting thats a prototype and they dont have any more like that one..   :'(

[Bakersdozen]

Snow is a great insulator.  Like iddee said, probably nothing to worry about until it starts to melt down into the blown off top.  We are just speculating that the feeder buckets blew off exposing a hole in the top.  I don't really see a problem with the feeder buckets being on as long as they were properly placed inside an empty brood box and the lid placed on top with some weight on it.  That's SOP in Kansas(God's Country).    One of the clues given mentioned the wind blowing off the lake, so I think I would be aware of the lake wind effect.  When able, I would go make sure the front entrances are not iced up so that there is ventilation and the bees can relieve themselves, eventually.  If your lids and feeder buckets have blown off, what are you going to cover your hives with?  Good luck finding your lids in that stuff!  But, that is jumping ahead of priorities.  The family safety always comes first.
I was talking about this epic snow storm with a co-worker and decided that, if able, one should try to keep up with the snow removal as it comes down.  This may be naïve of me to say this.  At those snow fall levels it might not have been even possible.
Lastly, if I was packing up everything and moving to a totally different climate, I would have done some homework on what to expect prior to the move.  50 hives is a huge investment.  That's a sideliner, not a hobbyist.  Buffalo is notorious for extreme weather. 

[Ray4852]

 I live 45 miles from Buffalo. I didn’t get to much here 2', what they get in buffalo is a drop in the bucket I get here. I’m going in now to remove some snow off my parents roof before it freezes. I check my bees today. My bees survived another lake snow storm. do you have hives in Buffalo.

[Riverrat]

do you have hives in Buffalo.

No Im in south central Kansas bees are flying here today