Author Topic: Alaska Bee Keeping (Read 108746 times)

riverbee · « **Reply #200 on:** April 08, 2018, 10:42:01 pm »

jeff,
i enjoy this thread and enjoy your posts, i may not always chime in, but i read and enjoy every post. i truly enjoy your photos! thank you!
congrats to you on keeping bees alive going into spring!

yukonjeff · « **Reply #201 on:** April 09, 2018, 01:30:46 pm »

Thanks RB. In return I get free beekeeping advice, good trade

I do have a question............

How do I get my super back in the spring ? just shake the bees off ?
Is it ok to compress them into 2 deeps. I imagine that's all they were anyway and should have less bees now. But its still a pretty strong hive.
I am hoping to get a warm enough day to do a quick inspection and see whats going on in there and make sure I have a queen.

I also want to get a daughter or two from this queen this year, but want honey as well.

So what can I expect from this overwintered hive ? queen cells this spring ? I want some honey as well. can I split and still get a honey crop ?

Thanks again for all the help.

riverbee · « **Reply #202 on:** April 10, 2018, 11:47:20 am »

jeff,
do you have a queen excluder?

yes, okay to compress to 2 deeps, you will have swarm cells, and a light divide of the hive might still yield a honey crop.

how to get the bees out of the super. this can be a little tricky and takes some timing; bees move up and bees move down. you don't want to shake bees from the frames if the bees are in the top deep and super and the queen is laying. she will eventually move down. what you can do is to use a queen excluder underneath the super. the less bees and brood, the better, and make sure your queen does not get trapped above the excluder in the super.
the bees will take care of the brood, and when all have hatched, the bees will clean, polish and ready these cells for honey storage.

yukonjeff · « **Reply #203 on:** April 10, 2018, 12:02:59 pm »

Thanks Riverbee good info.

Yes I do have a Q-excluder and will put it on when I do my first inspection the next warm day.

I appreciate the advice.

riverbee · « **Reply #204 on:** April 10, 2018, 12:55:36 pm »

jeff, not certain i would do this on the first inspection of the season, it just depends on where the bees are, how full the super is of brood, and if the colony is clustering or loose clustering, and/or covering brood. you don't want to mess up the nursery too much.

yukonjeff · « **Reply #205 on:** April 10, 2018, 01:18:17 pm »

Yes, your right, I will see what's going on first before messing with anything, and wont mess up the brood nest for sure.

I was considering just taking the bottom deep instead, thinking not much will be down there yet, except what pollen was left from last season.

Give them a patty then.
Thanks again

riverbee · « **Reply #206 on:** April 10, 2018, 05:04:13 pm »

i would leave the bottom deep in place jeff. the bees will need this space to move down to. if your plan is to revert the super to honey storage, the bees will need the two deeps, unless you find you can get by with one deep and a super and want to keep that type of setup. also there may be some honey stores to the outside of the bottom deep as well.

yukonjeff · « **Reply #207 on:** April 11, 2018, 12:11:17 am »

Thanks again. Yes that makes sense. I will leave the bottom two in place and use the q-excluder on the top.

They are flying every day now, I think I can get in for a quick inspection and take the remaining sugar bricks off and remove the shim, I have been putting a jar of 2-1 on during the warm sunny afternoons and pulling it before evening.

Hive looks to be just about as strong as it was going into winter.( from the outside anyway.)

riverbee · « **Reply #208 on:** April 11, 2018, 10:51:59 am »

great photos jeff!
2:1 or did you mean 1:1 for syrup?

also, i am curious about your temps right now, daytime, nighttime? thanks!

Les · « **Reply #209 on:** April 11, 2018, 11:11:51 am »

Me too....what are your temps? Been too cold in NYS to add syrup.

yukonjeff · « **Reply #210 on:** April 11, 2018, 01:43:21 pm »

No I meant 2-1 RB I don't think adding that much water is a good idea. I dont think they will store it.

Les temps been teens-20s at night and high of about 32-38 F

There is a 3 " shim with sugar bricks and the screened feed jar hole above that and the warmed syrup is basically dripping on the sugar pile and they are lapping it up. They are not taking much, not even a pint in a few days.

I take the feed jar off in the late afternoon so they have time to warm back up before evening temps swing back down.
My black painted hives are nice and warm with our long spring days so its not as bad as it sounds.

I installed packages last year on the 15th of April, and they got a feed jar and did just fine.

I also noticed no more week bees falling into the snow after I started feeding.

Kind of funny to see that many bees foraging on the one small patch of bare ground.

apisbees · « **Reply #211 on:** April 12, 2018, 06:40:58 am »

I would not do to much for another month up there. wait for the dandelions to be almost finished. On an inspection if their were no bees in the bottom super I would kick it out and then place it back on the hive as the queen needs the space for brood around dandelion time.
Want a honey crop, Swarm control, and a nuc or 2? Read up on using Demaree Method of swarm control using a Snelgrove board. Make queens while keeping most the bees in the parent hive.

Lburou · « **Reply #212 on:** April 12, 2018, 10:39:11 am »

It is easy for us who live around feral bees to forget there are NO FERAL BEES within 1,000+ miles of you. Jeff, my advice would be to order in another queen. Wait until the warmest time of your summer to ship her. You have only drones from your remaining queen to mate with a virgin queen. But you already know my thoughts on this issue.

You can split your hive when they are making queen cells with an artificial split of some kind, then reunite them when the queen cells are about to hatch. Kill the virgins, (just before they hatch would be best), because the only drones around are her brothers. If the bees get over the swarm impulse, then they will make honey for you. You can still split when that queen comes in.

Just stay ahead of their needs in terms of space. If you checkerboard above the brood nest, you may get lucky and get them past the swarm impulse by providing more than adequate room over the summer. Now that you have drawn comb in abundance, you can alternate honey frames and empty comb above the brood nest. Don't mess with the brood nest. There is a good chance you can keep them from swarming this way and be ready for that new queen when she arrives. Then, make your split and feed the split like crazy. HTH & JMO

yukonjeff · « **Reply #213 on:** April 13, 2018, 01:07:17 pm »

Quote from: apisbees on April 12, 2018, 06:40:58 am

I would not do to much for another month up there. wait for the dandelions to be almost finished. On an inspection if their were no bees in the bottom super I would kick it out and then place it back on the hive as the queen needs the space for brood around dandelion time.
Want a honey crop, Swarm control, and a nuc or 2? Read up on using Demaree Method of swarm control using a Snelgrove board. Make queens while keeping most the bees in the parent hive.

Thanks. We get some real warm afternoons are days are getting long again so the solar gain is paying off on the black hives, makes a lot of difference IMO. I might take a quick look any day now and if I find an empty deep like you said, I will take it back.

We have the tundra bloom long before the dandelions. We will have berry blooms, first the cranberry, then blue berry, then crow berry and then salmon berry and wild mountain raspberry about the time the dandelions bloom.
Also I saw them coming in loaded last year when the cat willows bloomed so thinking they will bring in nectar from them too ? we have a lot of willow here.

All these are before the main fireweed flow in July.

As a matter of fact I did get two snellgrove boards, I need to figure out how to use them.
Thanks again.

yukonjeff · « **Reply #214 on:** April 13, 2018, 01:18:59 pm »

Quote from: Lburou on April 12, 2018, 10:39:11 am

It is easy for us who live around feral bees to forget there are NO FERAL BEES within 1,000+ miles of you. Jeff, my advice would be to order in another queen. Wait until the warmest time of your summer to ship her. You have only drones from your remaining queen to mate with a virgin queen. But you already know my thoughts on this issue.

You can split your hive when they are making queen cells with an artificial split of some kind, then reunite them when the queen cells are about to hatch. Kill the virgins, (just before they hatch would be best), because the only drones around are her brothers. If the bees get over the swarm impulse, then they will make honey for you. You can still split when that queen comes in.

Just stay ahead of their needs in terms of space. If you checkerboard above the brood nest, you may get lucky and get them past the swarm impulse by providing more than adequate room over the summer. Now that you have drawn comb in abundance, you can alternate honey frames and empty comb above the brood nest. Don't mess with the brood nest. There is a good chance you can keep them from swarming this way and be ready for that new queen when she arrives. Then, make your split and feed the split like crazy. HTH & JMO

Thanks Lee. You know I talked with several bee keeps about inbreeding with one hive and I get mixed answers, some say it wont be a problem since the queen mates with so many drones. I think it would take a bunch of generations to see signs of inbreeding, but I am not a genealogist.lol

I do want to make a queen just because that's a part of beekeeping I want to experience, and I also want a daughter of this queen. I did order three queen in so far and they all made it fine.

I do have two more packages coming on the 28 so there will be plenty of drones in them so I should be good.

Last year I inserted undrawn frames into the sides of the brood nest and that kept her from swarming, I hope that works this year again.

Thanks for all the input and good advice guys.
Much appreciated.

Lburou · « **Reply #215 on:** April 13, 2018, 03:00:34 pm »

Quote from: yukonJeff

I do have two more packages coming on the 28 so there will be plenty of drones in them so I should be good.

Well, that changes everything Jeff.

apisbees · « **Reply #216 on:** April 13, 2018, 09:05:04 pm »

As long as he waits till the packages and queens to have mature drones. July queens and he should have the diverse gene pool in the area.

Lburou · « **Reply #217 on:** April 13, 2018, 09:25:29 pm »

Quote from: apisbees on April 13, 2018, 09:05:04 pm

As long as he waits till the packages and queens to have mature drones. July queens and he should have the diverse gene pool in the area.

yukonjeff · « **Reply #218 on:** April 14, 2018, 12:39:17 am »

Thanks again guys.I do hope to get a daughter from this queen she has been awesome.

Well we had a nice warm 40 degree afternoon,and my spot on the hill was baking in the sun and must of been 60 or better.
So I cracked open the hive to make sure I had a queen.

I also wanted to take the shim and sugar bricks off.

Three frames into the super and I had capped and open brood, the( next frame had the queen, was very relieved to see she made it.)

So I stopped and put the super back together, and lifted it off to inspect the bottom two deeps, and low and behold they were plugged with dead bees !

So I ran and got a deep of clean empty comb and put it on top while I cleaned the two deeps, and added a clean bottom board.

I cleaned about 4 lbs of dead bees out swept them off the comb with my trusty goose wing.
when I got to the second deep it had 7 frames of honey !

So I put three frames on the top deep of empty comb above the brood nest, and added another pollen patty, and stole three frames to try practice my extracting

All in all had a good day bee keeping, cleaning frames and robbing honey. I did get a super back. Things look pretty good for now.

yukonjeff · « **Reply #219 on:** April 18, 2018, 02:36:24 pm »