« previous next »
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Not sure what to do  (Read 2685 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline kingd

  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 129
  • Thanked: 4 times
  • Gender: Male
  • Location: Caledonia,Michigan
Not sure what to do
« on: April 01, 2015, 05:26:05 am »
I have a queen that for some reason loves to be at the top of the hive,They went into winter that way and I figured they were in trouble.

So I fed sugar blocks to them all winter even though they had lots of honey down below,A few weeks ago I added a deep full of honey on top
even though they still had stores below, Sure enough, they moved right to the very top again.

 My other hives are not doing this and it concerns me when one hive is not like the others,It is an Italian queen but the others are local
mutts.
 So should I just leave them alone? It is a very small cluster.
Logged

Offline Perry

  • Global Moderator
  • Gold Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 7382
  • Thanked: 390 times
  • Gender: Male
    • Brandt's Bees
  • Location: Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia
Re: Not sure what to do
« Reply #1 on: April 01, 2015, 06:07:19 am »
Leave it alone, or perhaps add a frame of brood when it gets warmer. They could be moving to the top trying to capture what heat is there because of the small size of the cluster.
Logged
"It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor."      
Forum Supporter

Offline rwlaw

  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 250
  • Thanked: 35 times
  • Gender: Male
  • Location: Grand Rapids MI
Re: Not sure what to do
« Reply #2 on: April 01, 2015, 06:53:17 am »
If they're flying and collecting pollen, your good to to go till the weather warms. Maybe give some pollen sub if you've got it.
Probably what happened is they lost some of the cluster for one reason or another (stuck on brood, and starved, mites etc) and chimneyed thru the honey, hopefully the queen's with em. I've got one like that, it's going to be in the mid 60's today and if the wind is gentle, I'm going to peek in to see if they're raising bood.
Logged
It's not a honeybee, it's a honey bee. Whateveer!

Offline kingd

  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 129
  • Thanked: 4 times
  • Gender: Male
  • Location: Caledonia,Michigan
Re: Not sure what to do
« Reply #3 on: April 01, 2015, 09:09:45 am »
Ok I will leave them alone for now,
 They have been flying around and I seen the queen when I opened the top.

 Their numbers did drop alot ,it was a massive hive going into winter and now it just a handful.

  Thanks for the help :)
Logged

Offline Perry

  • Global Moderator
  • Gold Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 7382
  • Thanked: 390 times
  • Gender: Male
    • Brandt's Bees
  • Location: Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia
Re: Not sure what to do
« Reply #4 on: April 01, 2015, 09:35:44 am »
When it gets a little warmer, you can transfer a frame of brood with the nurse bees attached from your stronger hive to help them out.
Logged
"It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor."      
Forum Supporter
Pages: [1]   Go Up
« previous next »