Finally warm enough yesterday to open up the bees. Just want to report that I lost my strongest first hive sometime in the last month. I had ALOT of honey on this hive going into winter as I never harvested this one last year (I spent the summer in Canada) but it was also CHOCK FULL of bees. When I opened my two hives yesterday, this one was empty save for about 20 bees cleaning out the dead bodies. They looked healthy and so did a very small frozen cluster left around a tiny bit of honey and heads in cells. I'm sure they starved and froze. Should I have split this box of bees in the fall instead of having so many in one box?
The frames and box is very clean so I'll be using it again. My second weaker hive was fine and their is a small cluster in there. Most of stores gone. I have fed pollen patties right on top of the cluster and installed a top feeder with syrup (and bee healthy) for the warm days they can get up there. Hope they make it and all yours too!
I'm wondering if the bees from the strong hive could have moved over to my smaller hive where there were some stores left on the past few warm days. I am shocked the strong one didn't make it while the smaller one that I harvested in June is still going. A couple of weeks ago when this really cold weather came in I was "thinking" of wrapping my hives. I'm sorry I didn't.
Question, Can I reuse the brood cells (dark, dark brown wax) for my next bees or should I start with fresh wax for the brood chamber? I don't use any chemicals on my bees (just Bt and thymol) so the brood frame wax shouldn't be too contaminated, but I'm wondering if two years worth of collecting pollen from flower gardens that could be sprayed contaminates the comb enough to make it not healthy for a new batch of bees to start with?
Wally, To setup my new hive I'm going to spray the honeycomb with the Bt, put can you tell me if it's okay, or necessary, to spray the brood comb too?
Hope you're all doing well.
Tracey
Dead/Missing Hive - Check your bees FIRSTWARM day and FEED..
It's good to see you back. We have missed you.
The brood comb is good for many years. The ones who rotate it out usually do it two frames per box annually. That means each frame is used five years.
It is MORE important to spray the brood comb than the honey comb. Wax moths prefer brood comb over honey comb 10 to 1.
The brood comb is good for many years. The ones who rotate it out usually do it two frames per box annually. That means each frame is used five years.
It is MORE important to spray the brood comb than the honey comb. Wax moths prefer brood comb over honey comb 10 to 1.