Windbreak netting distance & height

[Swarm]

Try a few over winter on double brood

 

[Erichalfbee]

Try a few over winter on double brood

@Moobee
Yes that’s great advice if you’re on Nationals

 

[Antipodes]

I have some clear crown boards. Mine seem to cluster without empty cells in the two-beespace between the combs. I shall check mine likely in April. Going into winter mine were stuffed with stores and big colonies. I'm not convinced of the Ivy theory. If that were so then there would be far more losses than 40

Sorry Dani, where are you getting the 40 from?

 

[Antipodes]

Nosema will kill off a colony and is a silent killer that can often be forgot about.
I think the other option one needs to think about about is Autumn/ winter feed and whether critical laying space was taken up. The same can be said even if the stores were naturally collected by the colony, laying space is still needed for 10 - 15k of bees to be laid up over the Autumn.

Absolutely agree.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Sorry Dani, where are you getting the 40 from?

https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threads/windbreak-netting-distance-height.56539/page-3#post-897638

My apologies. 37

 

[Moobee]

@Moobee
Yes that’s great advice if you’re on Nationals

Two of the hives I lost were on double brood….

 

[Antipodes]

https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threads/windbreak-netting-distance-height.56539/page-3#post-897638

My apologies. 37

I see. No worries...
I might be reading it incorrectly, but I thought that it was 37 out of 40, so 92.5% died?

 

[Curly green finger's]

Two of the hives I lost were on double brood….

One of mine was double brood ( nosema)

 

[Antipodes]

they were still foraging like mad and most had filled a super after my last extraction so as some were part capped, I thought best course of action was to nadir & allow them to pull the stores up into the brood boxes. All hives good weight.

They would have packed the honey from the nadired supers in around the empty cells areas that would have been ordinarily used for both for the winter cluster and queen laying. If they had put honey in a super late in the season and were foraging like mad, they would been likely to have already packed the usual outer parts of the brood area, (as in before you nadired). Do you use polystyrene hives?

 

[ericbeaumont]

Two of the hives I lost were on double brood

That is not necessarily because they were on DBB, but it may be a relevant factor if the colony wasn't strong enough to fill at least one of the boxes.

When assessing in early autumn I downsize if necessary to cram them in, because as summer bees die a bigger box would begin to look progessively much less full than it did earlier, and thermoregulation and access to stores may be compromised. If necessary, a DBB will go into a single, and a single into a nucbox.

 

[hemo]

I don't feed in August unless there is a dearth, any main feed will be well into September and October .

 

[Moobee]

That is not necessarily because they were on DBB, but it may be a relevant factor if the colony wasn't strong enough to fill at least one of the boxes.

When assessing in early autumn I downsize if necessary to cram them in, because as summer bees die a bigger box would begin to look progessively much less full than it did earlier, and thermoregulation and access to stores may be compromised. If necessary, a DBB will go into a single, and a single into a nucbox.

Good point. They were pretty rammed early October but I think cramming them into one BB taking into account their decreasing size would have been prudent. A lot of learnings this winter.....

 

[Moobee]

They would have packed the honey from the nadired supers in around the empty cells areas that would have been ordinarily used for both for the winter cluster and queen laying. If they had put honey in a super late in the season and were foraging like mad, they would been likely to have already packed the usual outer parts of the brood area, (as in before you nadired). Do you use polystyrene hives?

No, on wood Nationals. Most of the supers I have removed when clearing the hives out were still quite full. One of the DBB hives has incredibly heavy brood boxes as well. *sigh*

 

[hemo]

Good point. They were pretty rammed early October but I think cramming them into one BB taking into account their decreasing size would have been prudent. A lot of learnings this winter.....

Though wood, do you use ample /decent top insulation ?

 

[Moobee]

Though wood, do you use ample /decent top insulation ?

2 inches of kingspan in the roofs all year round.

 

[Antipodes]

No, on wood Nationals. Most of the supers I have removed when clearing the hives out were still quite full. One of the DBB hives has incredibly heavy brood boxes as well. *sigh*

Last question Moobee


Were they yellow Italian or Buckfast type bees, or darker more mongrel bees?

 

[Moobee]

Last question Moobee


Were they yellow Italian or Buckfast type bees, or darker more mongrel bees?

All my bees are local mongrels which tend to be on the darker side (including the queens).
This is a pic from one of the surviving nucs in the autumn - same lineage.

 

[Swarm]

She looks light to me, Moobee.

Edit: Added photo for comparison.

 

[Erichalfbee]

All my bees are local mongrels which tend to be on the darker side (including the queens).
This is a pic from one of the surviving nucs in the autumn - same lineage.

A lot of Buckfast are that colour. I had a few queens off Pete Little that looked like that. Never lost any though.

 

[Curly green finger's]

A lot of Buckfast are that colour. I had a few queens off Pete Little that looked like that. Never lost any though.

Some of ian123’s bucks are dark also.
An old friend use to get queens from BA back in the day, some of them were also dark (queens)