Hive weight and stores..

[Superneutrino]

Im in my first winter, checked on the bees and they are alive... So all is good so far.

The hive is a double brood abelo poly with 11 frames in each, deep poly roof with a wooden floor and wooden multipurpose crownboard.

I weighed the hive (luggage scale on both sides added together).

Hive has gone from 33kg in the middle if october to 29kg now.

Is this looking ok?

(I do not have the unladen weight of the hive so im aware this might be a 'how long is a piece of string question but hoping the collective years of experience might be able to eyeball something for me!)

 

[Vanterrier]

Why not ask abelo for the weights of the various components of your hive? They have a "chat" line on their website so you might get a quick reply.
You do need to know your tare to understand your stores weight
K

 

[enrico]

My wooden ones are less than that so you should be fine.if the bees are all at the top of the hive on a cold day then that is an indication that stores may be low

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

If you fed them properly in the autumn and they are on double brood, they should have ample stores, and more to last them well into spring

 

[Parsonage Bees]

The only weight that matters is the weight drop. They've eaten 4kg (9lb) in 8 weeks. (Ignoring the weight of the bees and brood which is also slowly dropping.) Some of mine hardly loose any weight at this part of the year. Others 4-6lb. Big colonies will eat more.

On last inspection, how many frames of honey did they have and what weight of honey is in a typical brood frame? I'm not sure, I work on 2-2.5lb per super frame. Picture them being eaten up one by one.

I've weighed mine from just one side and doubled weight. For me, with my bees and the winter, the apiary and the forage here, the weight drop will accelerate into January and February and the hive weight will stabilize by mid March. In mid-April and some good weather they could completely replace the stores they've eaten in a week.

Being honest, by end of February, if I'm worried about any hive, on a warm sunny day, I'll crack open the crownboard and have a look to see if the cluster has honey above it. Never been found wanting yet.

Have a good winter worrying about your bees!

 

[Antipodes]

Im in my first winter, checked on the bees and they are alive... So all is good so far.

The hive is a double brood abelo poly with 11 frames in each, deep poly roof with a wooden floor and wooden multipurpose crownboard.

I weighed the hive (luggage scale on both sides added together).

Hive has gone from 33kg in the middle if october to 29kg now.

Is this looking ok?

(I do not have the unladen weight of the hive so im aware this might be a 'how long is a piece of string question but hoping the collective years of experience might be able to eyeball something for me!)

I've found quite a marked difference between strains of bees. Those with well bred Italian queens seem to use an incredible quantity of food stores when the forage is poor. I went through a couple of colonies of them yesterday and found lots of bees and brood but very low stores whereas the darker mongrel bees had stores. It's a poor site for forage though. The difference though between them always amazes me. The Italian ones showed no signs of swarming however. Not even queen cups. What sort of queens do you have?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_bee

 

[Superneutrino]

UPDATE:

ive built a few extra bits so now have a rough idea of how much my hive weighs.

I reckon its about 17.5kg give or take. (For boxes, frames and foundation)

The hive weighs around 28kg at the moment.

So bees + stores are roughly 10kg (double brood)

Im thinking thats probably OK?

 

[hemo]

20lbs will soon disappear as brood rearing ramps up, it is now onwards where the stores are critical.
All bar one of mine are still prett much nailed down and an effort to heft with three fingers.
You will need to keep an eye on weight as each week/fortnight passes, if we get mild sunny foraging then that will help but a way to go yet before a colony is out of the woods.

 

[Superneutrino]

20lbs will soon disappear as brood rearing ramps up, it is now onwards where the stores are critical.
All bar one of mine are still prett much nailed down and an effort to heft with three fingers.
You will need to keep an eye on weight as each week/fortnight passes, if we get mild sunny foraging then that will help but a way to go yet before a colony is out of the woods.

Worth sticking a block of fondant on top?

 

[ericbeaumont]

33kg in the middle if october to 29kg now

Worth sticking a block of fondant on top?

Depending on what is in flower near you, they could easily put on weight this month. I checked 12 in Surrey last week and all had put on weight in two weeks.

I wouldn't worry about the precise weight of this and that and the other. Can you lift the hive easily with three fingers, as Hemo does? If so, add fondant, but I suspect that 29kg is more than enough to keep them going. Heft every fortnight (OK, every week if you must).

 

[Curly green finger's]

Depending on what is in flower near you, they could easily put on weight this month. I checked 12 in Surrey last week and all had put on weight in two weeks.

I wouldn't worry about the precise weight of this and that and the other. Can you lift the hive easily with three fingers, as Hemo does? If so, add fondant, but I suspect that 29kg is more than enough to keep them going. Heft every fortnight (OK, every week if you must).

double brood @ 25kgs I feed fondant, put on weight from robbing ?

 

[Eyeman]

There’s not a lot we can do this time of year apart from keeping the hive secure & keeping them fed. You’re on the ball with knowing how much stores are left. Mine in 2016/2017 waited till the 31st Jan to start changing weight, some increasing but most decreasing. Just keep on monitoring every season is different.

 

[hemo]

No panic , just monitor the stores by weight or heft .
If one tries to heft (from the back) now with three fingers then one can soon notice any difference in how much easier they may heft going forward.
During the latter and early weeks of the year food weight as noticed shouldn't vary greatly but as we go forward now they should be uncapping and using it, on good days there will be some income coming in as forage sources are found.