Guilfordbeekeepers.org

Rob, in regard to freezing the frames to kill unwanted pests... I've always done this, but this year we had that week that the temperatures didn't get above freezing for 8 days. I was wondering if that wouldn't kill whatever pest eggs were still present?

I had a similar experience this year with my last hive. (Previous 4 hives had already died.). My last hive had gotten small, but the queen had started laying. There were just too few bees to cover the new brood and reach the food so they all died. As a side note - there's a really good article by Ra...

Yes that was a sticky board count. Still very high.
But I want to be able to take honey - assuming I have honey in the hive next year. If I take a mite count in the spring and need to treat, what do I use that won't affect the honey supers?

You know, I treated soon after I pulled honey in early August. Treated twice with Apiguard which is also supposed to deal with the trachael mites. I finished treatment around mid September. I'm wondering if the warm weather allowed them to build back up in October... It's interesting that you used O...

I just read Randy Oliver's article Absconded or Death by Varroa, and I think my hives must have died from varroa. His article points out that it happens quickly in Sept, Oct & Nov to strong hives in a short pd. Of time - within a 21 day cycle. The hive leaves behind plenty of stores and some bro...

I took notice of that this year, too, and started replacing the oldest and darkest comb but I didn't do anything near a wholesale turnover of the dark comb. I planned on doing a few every year so I'd have new frames for them to draw out and yet have frames with comb ready for the queen to lay in. It...

I did check on the queens and they were laying. I also did the mite count which had been very high at over 150. Two of the hives got down to 7 and 8 after the second treatment. I didn't record the third. Maybe 7 & 8 was still too high.

Well, I had 5 hives in the summer - all relatively strong with decent stores, and now on Dec. 22, I have 1. They all seem to have absconded. The first hive left in September. I peeped in the 3 that I hadn't seen any activity at the entrance for a couple of weeks. One hive had about a dozen bees in i...

I met a gentleman who has about 200 blueberry bushes off Witty Road in northern Guilford County. He was interested in having me put one or more of my hives on his property to help with blueberry pollinationa. Initially, I thought I could do this, but on second thought, I'm not equipped to do this. I...