Guilfordbeekeepers.org

If taken offline, can you make sure to somehow preserve the content from the forum? I still search old conversations, look at past event dates/timing, etc.

It's definitely been a little odd so far. I know several of my colonies have swarmed (even ones I Demaree'd), but I have only seen one swarm so far - back on March 27. Only received 2-3 calls this spring, the latest being April 12, and all were either false alarms or the swarms had quickly moved on...

Not yet. I will wait for some real-world info to come back first, and hopefully for the cost to come down eventually!

Looks like royl is the only administrator left, but not sure that anyone is actively moderating.

I came home yesterday evening to find my first swarm of the season sitting in the magnolia tree by my driveway here in the middle of Greensboro. I don't know if it came from one of the three colonies here at my house, but I doubt it based on what I saw (and added) just this past Sunday. We'll see if...

I performed Demaree splits on 10 of my 30 colonies this past weekend. Wow, they were not very happy! Going through all 20 frames to find the queen, shaking bees, and pulling the bottom deep off the bottom board all made for some exciting times. In checking all my colonies, most had some uncharged qu...

I'm going to wait a little longer. Over the weekend, I was still not seeing any real swarm cells (maybe just a few uncharged cups). Instead of starting any Demarees, I did a couple reversals and decided to split down my two strongest double deeps to fill some holes with walk-away splits. This coming...

It looks like I started mine the first of April last year, but that was pushing it (with some already in swarm mode). I thought about starting a couple today, but that would have meant checking them next Tues/Wed when the weather is supposed to be so cool. So,,, I might look at starting with my few ...

I have not seen or heard of any yet. And I just got through on Saturday going through all of my colonies, finding no swarm cells in any one of them (yet). Today was the first time I saw walking-around drones in two of my strongest colonies. I imagine it won't be long now...

I ran all mediums up until just a couple years ago, so now have ~ 240 drawn medium frames (5 years old or less) that I am willing to donate to a good cause. New beekeepers, school programs, Hives for Heroes, etc. These are dark frames that have had brood at one point or another, and are on wax/wire ...

This was the question Rob and I always debated, and never could come up with a good answer. Personally, I found this forum to be EXTREMELY useful when I started out, and still used it to ask and answer questions 8 years later. #1 It's not flashy #2 It's run and moderated by volunteers #3 It's not mo...

I have always used a 2" shim on top, which gives room for a fondant patty (like Hive Alive), sugar brick, mountain camp sugar, etc. Typically, I would not suggest breaking open boxes during the winter. Assuming your top box is full of honey going into winter, this is the food they will consume ...

I know I'm a day early, but in honor of our late friend and mentor Rob Jacobs, let me wish everyone a Happy Bee New Year! After tomorrow, day length will gradually increase and trigger our queens to begin laying eggs again in preparation for the coming spring. I did see some pollen coming in today (...

A couple years ago I bought some big pots at Wal-Mart for this purpose. I think they were aluminum though, and not sure they were as big as 100qt... I also looked at the Super G on W Market St at the time. Here's exactly what you want from Amazon, but that would make for some really expensive wax! h...

HA, are you saying I should follow my own advice??? That's actually the answer I was hoping for though. I couldn't imagine any reason they would move down into that box, but needed someone else to confirm. I like to be done cracking open my hives by Halloween-ish, so hopefully can take care of this ...

This is my first fall with several colonies in double deeps, due to either combining colonies or just a few really strong colonies. All my others have been consolidated down to a single deep. Question: I just discovered that a few of my double deeps have all their brood (small patches), resources, a...

Did you say 5 boxes??? Based on my issues with SHBs lately, I am a big believer now in reducing the size of the hive down as much as possible in the fall (max. double deep). Also makes inspections and finding the queen that much easier. I would also have some concerns about my varroa treatments bein...

Wow, that's nuts! I've seen and captured a bunch of late swarms in the fall, but not a single one was ever bigger than a softball. And none stayed or became viable... They were all "suicide swarms".

We were on vacation and I unfortunately never got a chance to go visit him this past week. Rob was my mentor and will be greatly missed by the entire beekeeping community! RIP