Hives At Home Get Supers
This spring has been weird. We had some warm weather for a week or two in February, then back into the cold.
Then April came around with record flooding and milder than usual temperatures.
Our blackberry bushes are just now developing buds on them, almost a full month behind schedule according to years past.
We've also seen some plants and trees virtually skip their blooming /flowering phase and go straight to green leaves.
Last week we were in the 70*F and this week will be in the 90*F.
The flow seems to have been on for a while, but much weaker than years past.
The two splits at my house have spent the last couple of weeks building up in population and had some new frames of wax to draw.
I'd like to say they took the sugar syrup I gave them and drew out the frames, but they didn't. Not exactly.
Three weeks in a row I would scrap this funny comb off and have them re-start it, and they'd keep rebuilding it in the same spot, in the same weird direction.
My theory? This frame is plasticell (plastic core covered in wax) that I gave to a hive to draw last year. The hive dwindled in population and never drew it out. Instead they just walked all over it.
I stuck it in storage and gave it to this hive this year. I think the bees really dislike plasticell foundation after it's been walked on/dirtied. If it's not drawn out the first time it's given to a hive, they won't touch it, no matter how much syrup or how strong the hive is.
To this end, I borrowed a couple of already drawn frames from another hive and gave to the two splits. I'll probably order fresh pure wax foundation to replace this un-drawn plasticell.
For the last week I had two supers sitting in front of a fan in the workshop airing out from being in storage.
I hauled them up to the hives, and gave each of the splits a super of already drawn foundation. All they've got to do is fill it with sweet honey!
This is how I left the hives. The two yellow hives from splits have supers, the far one on the other end which was my best producer has only 6-7 frames of bees. Seems the queen is trying hard to bring up the population, but I suspect they're battling some disease. Mite counts in the hive are low on sticky board tests, so maybe something else.
Let's hope the flow stays going (and/or ramps up big time) and the hot summer weather holds off for a bit.
Then April came around with record flooding and milder than usual temperatures.
Our blackberry bushes are just now developing buds on them, almost a full month behind schedule according to years past.
We've also seen some plants and trees virtually skip their blooming /flowering phase and go straight to green leaves.
Last week we were in the 70*F and this week will be in the 90*F.
The flow seems to have been on for a while, but much weaker than years past.
The two splits at my house have spent the last couple of weeks building up in population and had some new frames of wax to draw.
I'd like to say they took the sugar syrup I gave them and drew out the frames, but they didn't. Not exactly.
Three weeks in a row I would scrap this funny comb off and have them re-start it, and they'd keep rebuilding it in the same spot, in the same weird direction.
My theory? This frame is plasticell (plastic core covered in wax) that I gave to a hive to draw last year. The hive dwindled in population and never drew it out. Instead they just walked all over it.
I stuck it in storage and gave it to this hive this year. I think the bees really dislike plasticell foundation after it's been walked on/dirtied. If it's not drawn out the first time it's given to a hive, they won't touch it, no matter how much syrup or how strong the hive is.
To this end, I borrowed a couple of already drawn frames from another hive and gave to the two splits. I'll probably order fresh pure wax foundation to replace this un-drawn plasticell.
For the last week I had two supers sitting in front of a fan in the workshop airing out from being in storage.
I hauled them up to the hives, and gave each of the splits a super of already drawn foundation. All they've got to do is fill it with sweet honey!
This is how I left the hives. The two yellow hives from splits have supers, the far one on the other end which was my best producer has only 6-7 frames of bees. Seems the queen is trying hard to bring up the population, but I suspect they're battling some disease. Mite counts in the hive are low on sticky board tests, so maybe something else.
Let's hope the flow stays going (and/or ramps up big time) and the hot summer weather holds off for a bit.
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