Guilfordbeekeepers.org

I can't really expect my hive to make it with the losses I am seeing out front whenever the weather permits orientation flights and foraging. I'm still seeing a number of bees with deformed wings (varroa) and fully formed bees that do not have the strength to make it back into the hive and have thei...

How are you feeding the 2:1? Top feeders, external feeding? When I took my top feeder off, I was able to see the frames of capped "honey" in my top medium. I had fed some 2:1 about a month ago and found that it crystallized some toward the end before the bees could finish it, and some bees...

I took my feeder off to provide less space that needed heating. With approximately 2 mediums of capped "honey" and the hive in a location where I can look at it and give it a lift/tilt, I will put the feeder back on if it looks like they are running through their supplies. Today they are o...

Thanks Kurt. Based on what I saw yesterday, I would have to say at least football size. Bees were on every frame I looked at, though not totally covering most of them.

I just finished going into the hive and "did in" a fair number of bees as "honey" oozed all over the frames. There are a good number of bees in the hive and still brood in the first medium super. The second and third mediums are heavy with capped "honey." I did the suga...

I will probably try an inspection and sugar roll tomorrow afternoon. It's 11:00 a.m. and around 57 degrees now. There are foragers out and and several hundred bees doing orientation flights. There are approximately a hundred dead bees and larva, (mostly bees) in front of the hive. I have seen 1 or 2...

I have had a number (easily 100+) of dead bees in front of my hive, mostly adult, some with pollen as the days have grown colder. This evening there were about 15 dead bees and larva (several with shriveled wings--looking like they had been chewed into little lines of wing), a few dead small ants, a...

I could teach a 26 week course on what I don't know and another 26 weeks on mistakes I have made. If I could only convice my hive to teach a week on how they have managed to survive thus far.

Are there plans for a 2008 beekeeping course? I have a friend who may be interested in signing up. Alamance has their info posted and I think one county has already started its classes, per the State Beekeepers link.

I guess I'm just dense but Kurt, I'm just not clear about this. Beekeepers will pick them up and be put in beekeeper supplied nucs. Does this mean I have to have nuc boxes or my deep supers to place the bees in? I'm not sharp eyed at all and will have real trouble locating the queens, especially if ...

Kurt, rather than start a new category, I thought I would ask here. I signed up at the last meeting for several of the nucs. Not having dealt with them before, what are the mechanics of pick up when they arrive? What will I need to have to pick them up; What will I need to bring and do? Thanks.

Thanks Wally. Now if the neighbors can tolerate lots of bees around in the air for the next few days while the frames are being emptied, all will be well. I did take 2 capped medium frames of "honey" and put them in the freezer for future use.

I followed Wally's advice beginning about 11:00 a.m. today and dumped the weak hive, removed the boxes and left the frames out in my yard. My 2 hives are about 3 feet apart and the bee dump is about 40 feet from the hives. It's the space I have to work with. As of now (3:15 p.m.), there is a large c...

That sounds like the way to go. Thanks Wally.

I examined my weak hive today. No sign of the new queen or new eggs/brood. There are still some signs of a laying worker, though not as much as before. The real problem is that much of the comb has been destroyed by wax moth larvae. Nasty stuff. I just began treatment of my strong hive with Terramyc...

A thorough inspection yesterday around 5:00p.m. was pretty grim. I did not see the queen. There was what looked like lots of open brood with very scattered capped drone brood and dead brood (not stinky and not ropy). It looked like there were some small areas of capped non-drone brood, but I am not ...

Is this the Henderson Road hive that was in the news or another location?

I did a quick check of the hive Sunday afternoon and the queen had been released. I did not see her but saw what looked like single, well positioned eggs on the deep foundation next to the comb. Time will tell.

It's probably too late for that now. I put the queen back in yesterday morning. Two of the five attendents were already dead. I put the cage near the hive before I put it in to see the reaction of the workers. Two came to the cage and did not appear at all hostile. They stayed with the cage when I w...

The adventure continues. I put a new queen in my weak hive on Monday afternoon. Multiple eggs in many cells and over pollen and all over the place convinced me I had laying worker. At the meeting last night Jack and others told me get the queen out before the laying workers/hive killed her. They sug...