Urban beekeeping in New Mexico's largest city.
Hello All,On inspection of my only hive 2 weeks ago and again today my hive population seems smaller. There is a lot of honey production, and many vacated (dark cells). I did not find the queen or…Continue
Started by Jeannie Pace. Last reply by Eric Bunnel Jul 20, 2018.
This spring, I will be installing my first package of bees into my just-built top bar hive. One of the books I have been reading suggests using lemongrass essential old and an old brood comb in the…Continue
Started by Jeannie Pace. Last reply by Eric Bunnel Jan 30, 2018.
Hello All, This will be my first spring to install a hive and bees. I have read several books and articles and watched videos on installing a package of bees, but I'm wondering if it would be wise to…Continue
Started by Jeannie Pace. Last reply by Jeannie Pace Jan 20, 2018.
I had three first year hives spring from swarms in Carr/Bradford pattern top bar hives. They have been growing well, especially after the monsoon rains started a couple weeks ago and it looked like…Continue
Tags: winter, swarming, swarms
Started by Eric Bunnel. Last reply by Eric Bunnel Aug 15, 2017.
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Hi EM Beekeepers,
Is this group still active? I recently moved from northern Colorado to San Pedro Creek. I have two custom-built hives that are horizontal hives with frames. I have lots of questions about timing of harvest, varroa mite treatment, and winterization. Am also wondering how much honey stores my bees are likely to need over winter, and if I should be concerned about bear activity.
Chris and Eric,
Thanks for your feedback.
Sounds like I need to regroup for spring.
I have a top bar hive. I left the bars of comb in the order the bees had constructed them. I was a bit worried they might have to break cluster. Although the hive is in a sunny location, we have had some very cold events this winter. I insulated minimally, but may should have done more.
I'll know more when I break the hive open in a couple of weeks.
Jeannie
When I went to go check on my bees the other day, I was surprised to see activity in all 3 of my hives. I was almost certain one or two of them didn't survive the winter. In the Fall, I fed them many gallons of sugar water in preparation for the colder weather. I went through approx. 150 lbs. of sugar. I'm going to start light feeding today and continue until I see some flowers. I replaced the lid on one of my hives as it was warping badly and partially blocking the entrance. When I lifted the old one off, there were a lot more bees than I was expecting. I'm planning to leave them closed up for a few more weeks before I start doing thorough inspections. I did see some bees bringing in pollen, which also surprised me a little bit considering we had snow a couple weeks ago. With all the moisture we've had over the Winter, I'm hoping for a good Spring flow.
Happy spring fellow Beeks,
Because of the cooler temps and the high winds, I have not opened to inspect my top bar hive. On the last fall inspection, the colony was growing and had 10 combs of food and I continued to feed them until they sealed up the hive.
So far this spring, I have not seen any evidence of housekeeping or guard bees. I'm hoping they survived winter.
I'm wondering about the status of your colonies. Any activity yet?
Thanks,
Jeannie
Hi Jeannie-While probably not the most effective, I use ratcheting straps that go around the top of my Langstroth hives and underneath my stand. I think a determined bear could easily get through them. I'm considering other options but I'm not ready to put up an electric fence. I contacted the Game and Fish Department a few months ago and they told me that they have a few electric fences available that they loan to beekeepers to use on a temporary basis.
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