It was so nice to hear your papa's voice. What a blessing to have him there to help you. I would have loved to keep bees, but the bears that visit my fruit trees in the summer, would have destroyed them. Later on, I discovered that I am allergic to honey, so definitely it would not have been a good idea. But for many years, where we lived before, we had a huge blooming apple tree and we would have a picnic with the children under there, and bees were humming overhead. It was wonderful.
Hi Luli! We used to have several stands of bees and that is the best honey I’ve ever eaten. I’m sorry you lost 2 stands of your bees. It looks like a good strong stand you have left and you can probably get them if they swarm if you rub peach or cherry leaves in your box, the queen is attracted to it and you can brush the rest of the bees into your super. Good job and it’s always nice when your dad teaches you how. Hope you have much success this year with your bees. Have a blessed night!
As others have written, your sadness about your bees, your caring about their well-being, is felt clearly. I am sorry this happened to them and you.. That your father is guiding you is uplifting. It is nice to know that you have that quality of relationship. The topic of beekeepingis entirely new to me. It is interesting, as always.
Just saw your video on the lose of your colonies. A few questions. (1) what was your mite count after your mite treatments??. (2) you said one of the colonies were a big colony was there enough to fill your two brood boxes because the amount of bees you showed was not enough to fill one an is one big problem by giving them too much room to protect or take care of. Those bee in that frame you showed whit there heads stuck down in the cells is the first sign of not having enough stores in the hive but also you can have a lot of stores in a hive but if your bee numbers are low yes it may be to cold enough for the bees to move to get to the food an that gets back to having tooooooo much room for the bees in the hive. ( 3 ) in the hive that did make it I did notice a few things but first . What kind of temperature are you having NOW ?. I noticed you spacing out your frames in the brood box that is ONLY done in the super boxes . Also with the amount that was in there you should have left off that top box for a while an put all the bees an brood down in the bottom box an added as much honey frames as you could an then added a pollen patties AND maybe sugar bricks an give them a little more time to build up more an get thru any more cold weather you may still have coming up . The reason you do not space out your brood frames are the bees will build out that wax comb an then the queen can not reach the bottom of the cells to lay her eggs because the cell is to deep. The main reason for bees to die in winter but I do not know when your seasons fall but not having your mite numbers down early enough for the winter bees . Not enough stores AND being able to get to the stores . Having to much room for the number of bees in the colony. And yes cold weather does have a factor into all this . I sorry for writing so much but just trying to help out some an I hope the very best for you an your bees an I hope you have a great season. Thanks
Thank you for your post and well wishes. The colony as my Ukrainian Dad calls a “family” was so large in the fall with so much brood and the number of bees was very high that I was even thinking of splitting but it was too late in the season. My small colony was in a single super with relatively small space. I did not do the count after the last treatment in October. As far as leaving enough honey stores, I removed 7 frames of sealed honey and 1/2 eaten sugar patty I placed in January. Right now we are having 37-45 at night and 55-65 daytime. I just ordered my pollen patties, will be adding those soon.
What race, strain of honeybees do you keep? I live in CT and like you went into the winter with three hives but two died out late fall. The last and strongest died out in early February though I feed them all winter.
It was so nice to hear your papa's voice. What a blessing to have him there to help you. I would have loved to keep bees, but the bears that visit my fruit trees in the summer, would have destroyed them. Later on, I discovered that I am allergic to honey, so definitely it would not have been a good idea. But for many years, where we lived before, we had a huge blooming apple tree and we would have a picnic with the children under there, and bees were humming overhead. It was wonderful.
I love spending time with him❤️
Hi Luli! We used to have several stands of bees and that is the best honey I’ve ever eaten.
I’m sorry you lost 2 stands of your bees. It looks like a good strong stand you have left and you can probably get them if they swarm if you rub peach or cherry leaves in your box, the queen is attracted to it and you can brush the rest of the bees into your super.
Good job and it’s always nice when your dad teaches you how.
Hope you have much success this year with your bees.
Have a blessed night!
Thank you
As others have written, your sadness about your bees, your caring about their well-being, is felt clearly. I am sorry this happened to them and you.. That your father is guiding you is uplifting. It is nice to know that you have that quality of relationship. The topic of beekeepingis entirely new to me. It is interesting, as always.
Thanks
That was amazing, thank you 😍 🐝 🤗
Many people don’t like to share their failures, but we need to learn to improve
I'm a bee lover, whisper. I save every bee I can
Bees are amazing
Ty so much for this video!
I am sorry you lost your bees 😢
Thanks
Just saw your video on the lose of your colonies. A few questions. (1) what was your mite count after your mite treatments??. (2) you said one of the colonies were a big colony was there enough to fill your two brood boxes because the amount of bees you showed was not enough to fill one an is one big problem by giving them too much room to protect or take care of. Those bee in that frame you showed whit there heads stuck down in the cells is the first sign of not having enough stores in the hive but also you can have a lot of stores in a hive but if your bee numbers are low yes it may be to cold enough for the bees to move to get to the food an that gets back to having tooooooo much room for the bees in the hive. ( 3 ) in the hive that did make it I did notice a few things but first . What kind of temperature are you having NOW ?. I noticed you spacing out your frames in the brood box that is ONLY done in the super boxes . Also with the amount that was in there you should have left off that top box for a while an put all the bees an brood down in the bottom box an added as much honey frames as you could an then added a pollen patties AND maybe sugar bricks an give them a little more time to build up more an get thru any more cold weather you may still have coming up . The reason you do not space out your brood frames are the bees will build out that wax comb an then the queen can not reach the bottom of the cells to lay her eggs because the cell is to deep. The main reason for bees to die in winter but I do not know when your seasons fall but not having your mite numbers down early enough for the winter bees . Not enough stores AND being able to get to the stores . Having to much room for the number of bees in the colony. And yes cold weather does have a factor into all this . I sorry for writing so much but just trying to help out some an I hope the very best for you an your bees an I hope you have a great season. Thanks
Thank you for your post and well wishes.
The colony as my Ukrainian Dad calls a “family” was so large in the fall with so much brood and the number of bees was very high that I was even thinking of splitting but it was too late in the season. My small colony was in a single super with relatively small space.
I did not do the count after the last treatment in October.
As far as leaving enough honey stores, I removed 7 frames of sealed honey and 1/2 eaten sugar patty I placed in January.
Right now we are having 37-45 at night and 55-65 daytime.
I just ordered my pollen patties, will be adding those soon.
What race, strain of honeybees do you keep? I live in CT and like you went into the winter with three hives but two died out late fall. The last and strongest died out in early February though I feed them all winter.
Sad, I know. I order my from the New England Apiaries, LLC in Southwick, MA. I believe they were the Italian bees.