Honey honey honey, must be funny, in a rich mans world!!

[irishguy]

As we all know my first and 2nd year beekeeping has been eventful to say the least. Have learnt a lot but what matters most is my bees are buzzing along nicely, and now I'm sitting with a little stash of honey to do me and my young ones over the winter .

When first putting the frames into the extractor, I wouldve been happy with 10-12 jars max. I only bought 10 jars, half expecting they will do. The seller threw in 6 free miniture jars for free but after filling the lot, I went and bought another 12 empty jars with another 6 mini ones free but looks like I'll have to pop back again seeing as I've nearly a full jug of honey still to jar.

22 jars full, 12 mini jars full and a full jug of honey, result!

 

[Millet]

Well done you and the bees .. brilliant result.

 

[sbisme]

Nice one Irishguy, glad it's coming together, I too had my first jars of honey this year and it feels great and tastes even better

 

[dexter's shed]

always a good idea to buy a couple of hundred jars, as you never know what amount you'll get

 

[pargyle]

Well done IG ... Against all odds ... you're into year 3 - still got your bees and you have HONEY. Who knows what next year will hold ??? Great photo - there's nothing to beat having a honey harvest of your own !

 

[B+.]

22 jars full, 12 mini jars full and a full jug of honey, result!

There's nothing like seeing a pile of full honey jars to make all the heavy lifting and extracting feel worthwhile. Congratulations to you and your bees!

 

[Swarm]

Nice colour.

 

[irishguy]

Well done IG ... Against all odds ... you're into year 3 - still got your bees and you have HONEY. Who knows what next year will hold ??? Great photo - there's nothing to beat having a honey harvest of your own !

Next spring will be interesting though. I decided not to treat, reason being is that i havent seen any mites on the bees. I know they arent mite free but im going to take a chance of not treating and if i see signs of mites come xmass time, ill treat then. I know this goes against the grain but im going to take the chance on it.

As for the honey, im chuffed to the clinkers with it. I know it isnt as much as others harvest but im more than happy with it. We had an interesting time when first extracting it because the extractor was bouncing all over the floor. We videoed it and its a funny family moment to look back on in years to come. The look on the kids faces was priceless lol.

Cant wait on year 3 now, maybe my wallet will be even lighter again after spring but cant wait to another season in my bee keeping adventures. Learnt alot, been helped alot (on here and the real world) which im thankful for and hopefully many more years of fun with these little fe***rs.



Now awaits a barrage of abuse about not treating

 

[irishguy]

Nice colour.

a completely different colour from my 2 jars i harvested this time last year. I see the colour is different in the mini jars, must be something to do with the glass. As for the bottom 10 jars, i decided to keep some wax in them, not much but enough to been seen in pics.

 

[pargyle]

Now awaits a barrage of abuse about not treating

Well .. you won't get any from me - just keep an eye on things - if the bees are coping with the level of varroa infestation then all well and good but you need to be vigilant and watch for any signs of vectored disease - or lethargy - or reducing colony size - or excessive drop on the board. It's too late now to do a sugar roll or alcohol was to determine the 'real' levels of varroa in the colonies but if they make it through to spring then I would put that type of investigation at the top of your priorities.

Personally, in your situation, (bearing in mind I don't treat my bees) I would be tempted to do a couple of OA Sublimations over the next 10 days and see what the drop is from them .. you would then be making a measured decision rather than hoping for the best. Do you have or could you borrow a Varrox ?

 

[irishguy]

Well .. you won't get any from me - just keep an eye on things - if the bees are coping with the level of varroa infestation then all well and good but you need to be vigilant and watch for any signs of vectored disease - or lethargy - or reducing colony size - or excessive drop on the board. It's too late now to do a sugar roll or alcohol was to determine the 'real' levels of varroa in the colonies but if they make it through to spring then I would put that type of investigation at the top of your priorities.

Personally, in your situation, (bearing in mind I don't treat my bees) I would be tempted to do a couple of OA Sublimations over the next 10 days and see what the drop is from them .. you would then be making a measured decision rather than hoping for the best. Do you have or could you borrow a Varrox ?

Am I not only to use the OA when the hive is bloodless?

 

[irishguy]

Didn't want to make another thread so thought I'd just post this here. Few questiins needing answered.

When looking in threw my polycarb crown board, I noticed the bees working on top of a 4inch thick block of insulation in one of my nucs. I reluctantly opened it up to remove and seal it with duct tape. When in, I had a sneaky quick look at the frames, its on 4 frames of BIAS, 4 frames of stores nearly all capped but noticed about 6 drone cells. Is this not strange for drones so late in the season.

Another thing, with this being on 8 frames, should I give it more feed or just leave the bees at it bringing in more ivy until the weather turns again and give more feed then?

 

[pargyle]

Am I not only to use the OA when the hive is bloodless?

That's usually when you do OA Trickling (ie: OA in Sugar syrup) usually done just once around Christmas or early January when they are likely to be broodless. A treatment using sublimation can be done at just about any time and you would do two at least, preferably three, treatments at 4 or 5 day intervals to make sure you get the mites emerging from the cells as well as the phoretic mites.

 

[pargyle]

Didn't want to make another thread so thought I'd just post this here. Few questiins needing answered.

When looking in threw my polycarb crown board, I noticed the bees working on top of a 4inch thick block of insulation in one of my nucs. I reluctantly opened it up to remove and seal it with duct tape. When in, I had a sneaky quick look at the frames, its on 4 frames of BIAS, 4 frames of stores nearly all capped but noticed about 6 drone cells. Is this not strange for drones so late in the season.

Another thing, with this being on 8 frames, should I give it more feed or just leave the bees at it bringing in more ivy until the weather turns again and give more feed then?

I hope you haven't used Duct Tape (ie: the cloth stuff with reinforced strands in it) ... see this thread:

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=31213&highlight=duct+tape

You will often find drones overwinter in poly hives - not a lot - but I always see a few in mine in the early part of the year. I wonder whether it's because there tends to be less pressure on stores in well insulated hives and the bees tolerate a few drones more ? I really don't know...

You can feed or not ... what you are aiming for is a hive full of stores for them for the winter - the next couple of weeks should see the last of any major laying by the queen as she builds up the numbers of bees to go through winter so feeding should not seriously constrain the space for the queen to lay. If you are worried then just hold back on the feeding until the Ivy has finished - it will only be around for about 10 days then it's over.

 

[irishguy]

I hope you haven't used Duct Tape (ie: the cloth stuff with reinforced strands in it) ... see this thread:

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=31213&highlight=duct+tape

You will often find drones overwinter in poly hives - not a lot - but I always see a few in mine in the early part of the year. I wonder whether it's because there tends to be less pressure on stores in well insulated hives and the bees tolerate a few drones more ? I really don't know...

You can feed or not ... what you are aiming for is a hive full of stores for them for the winter - the next couple of weeks should see the last of any major laying by the queen as she builds up the numbers of bees to go through winter so feeding should not seriously constrain the space for the queen to lay. If you are worried then just hold back on the feeding until the Ivy has finished - it will only be around for about 10 days then it's over.

I did use duct tape but I didn't think it was a problem. I even used it last year and this year in the hives and hadn't any problems with it. I'll keep an eye on them through the polycarb crown board.

I think I'll leave it just for another week or 10 days before hitting them with more feed. I reluctantly stopped feeding because a few weeks ago they were filling every space available with the S'S and no space for new brood. I added another frame of comb( something that finnman advocates against this time of year going by a few of his comments on here), looked in again quickly and the bees moved away the S'S stores from brood area and low and behold, there's now larvae/eggs.

 

[beeno]

Didn't want to make another thread so thought I'd just post this here. Few questiins needing answered.

When looking in threw my polycarb crown board, I noticed the bees working on top of a 4inch thick block of insulation in one of my nucs. I reluctantly opened it up to remove and seal it with duct tape. When in, I had a sneaky quick look at the frames, its on 4 frames of BIAS, 4 frames of stores nearly all capped but noticed about 6 drone cells. Is this not strange for drones so late in the season.

Another thing, with this being on 8 frames, should I give it more feed or just leave the bees at it bringing in more ivy until the weather turns again and give more feed then?

Hi irishguy,
Lovely looking honey. Well done! If you sell any, pick the jars with no air gap between the level of the honey and the lid. You wouldn't want to give someone a short measure would you?
You need to be careful with this colony as it is brooding and will therefore use up a lot of stores. I would feed a little now to see if they take it initially. Got one colony like this myself and I suspect that my bees collecting water are from this one i.e. they are breaking into capped stores which suggests Ivy is not yielding any or insufficient nectar. Would be interested to know at what temperature Ivy still yields nectar - if there is anyone out there. On the question of Varroa. I have put bees to bed in winter worrying about amount of stores both honey and pollen, not enough winter bees and not being able to reduce varroa load sufficiently. Guess which problem was the killer?

 

[irishguy]

Hi irishguy,
Lovely looking honey. Well done! If you sell any, pick the jars with no air gap between the level of the honey and the lid. You wouldn't want to give someone a short measure would you?
You need to be careful with this colony as it is brooding and will therefore use up a lot of stores. I would feed a little now to see if they take it initially. Got one colony like this myself and I suspect that my bees collecting water are from this one i.e. they are breaking into capped stores which suggests Ivy is not yielding any or insufficient nectar. Would be interested to know at what temperature Ivy still yields nectar - if there is anyone out there. On the question of Varroa. I have put bees to bed in winter worrying about amount of stores both honey and pollen, not enough winter bees and not being able to reduce varroa load sufficiently. Guess which problem was the killer?

Not selling any but if I was, I'm sure the buyers wouldn't mind a bit of an air gap between lid and honey. I made sure to keep some air in them jars so to stretch it that bit more. Reason being is 30 jars sounds better than 20 for first ever honey harvest

Have been keeping close eye on them and they defo bringing in something. 2 different colours coming in and a fair amount. Bees busy anytime I've seen them.

 

[irishguy]

Treating with OA vap

That's usually when you do OA Trickling (ie: OA in Sugar syrup) usually done just once around Christmas or early January when they are likely to be broodless. A treatment using sublimation can be done at just about any time and you would do two at least, preferably three, treatments at 4 or 5 day intervals to make sure you get the mites emerging from the cells as well as the phoretic mites.

Thinking of doing the OA vaporizing in these next few days though have a few questions.

What I've been reading is that there might be brood in hives seeing as we've had a real mild winter, will this matter.

If I do treat this way, how longs best for each hive because I've read all different times.

2 of my colonies where 3/4 full going into winter. Another one was on 5 frames of brood and I have another box dummied down to 1 frame of brood going into winter(experimenting). How much treatment will I use.

Looking through one of my polycarb CBs, I can't see no mites on my bees. Should I skip treating this or just treat anyway.

I've seen other beeks feed with foundant as a precautionary messure because it's possible the bees have been using up their stores more with this mild weather, I haven't done this myself but if I do, can Treating be done while foundant is on.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Thinking of doing the OA vaporizing in these next few days though have a few questions.

What I've been reading is that there might be brood in hives seeing as we've had a real mild winter, will this matter.
NO

If I do treat this way, how longs best for each hive because I've read all different times.

It depends on the size of the box they are in. I use 2g for a 14x12 vaporised under the OMF heated for 3 minutes: 3g for a 14x12 and a nadired super, heated for 3.5 minutes.


2 of my colonies where 3/4 full going into winter. Another one was on 5 frames of brood and I have another box dummied down to 1 frame of brood going into winter(experimenting). How much treatment will I use.

Looking through one of my polycarb CBs, I can't see no mites on my bees. Should I skip treating this or just treat anyway.
Your call....really. How did the autumn treatment go? The fact that you can't see mites on the bees doesn't mean they are not there.


I've seen other beeks feed with foundant as a precautionary messure because it's possible the bees have been using up their stores more with this mild weather, I haven't done this myself but if I do, can Treating be done while foundant is on.

YES

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?p=515332#post515332

 

[pargyle]

YES

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?p=515332#post515332

Yep ... agree with all that - Good advice.