Any Bee keepers in here?

Well, I'm in the honey now. I got busy and haven't checked the hive for a month and forced myself to do an inspection yesterday. Totally full! I pulled three frames to make room and had to dump a whole pot full of comb that they made in an empty space that I stupidly left there that a feeder once occupied. Now they have 6 empty frames to keep working on now. Crisis averted.
Plus side.... now I have 10 jars of honey! YUM!! This is my first taste of sweet reward from my hive.
It will be interesting to see what else these girls can do!
I will post a pic as soon as I can.

 

That's awesome DaveGlad to hear they're doing good. Next step is overwintering them and from the sounds of things you'll have no problem with that.

 

Here's a question for you guys! When and how does everyone winterize their hives? Also, How much honey do you leave in the honey box for them? When is the latest time you guys get honey form the girls?

 

@Sinngetreu I usually get a second harvest in late September from the cotton crop in my area and I will start to winterize after that. Starting slowly I will reduce the hive yo just two deep boxes after the fall harvest leaving one full deep of honey about 70+ lbs. Then in November usually a warm day before or after around thanksgiving I will do a check of each hive and put five pounds of sugar on top put the lid onb and leave them alone until March or April.

 

Thanks for the info. My set up is two deeps for the brood chamber and a med super for the honey box. How would you prepare that so that they have plenty of honey?

 

Finally got mom to take some pics

 

That's awesome getting the kiddlets involved!

 

Sorry Ive been out of town and away from technology for a while. I also run two deeps and then use mediums for honey supers as far as preparation I dont do much bees tend to work up and they have always had the top deep over 2/3 full of honey come winter and I add the sugar on top as a just in case.

 

No problem, we all have lives.

Perfect, I'll pretty much leave it right how it is and then add some sugar to the top then.
I've been flirting with the idea of wrapping the hive with some roofing material or something to help them out.

 

I didn't notice any either. I haven't done a treatment or anything, but I keep an eye out and nothing so far.
I kind of figured that it was because I haven't had bees on the property before. The mites or beetles haven't found them yet. LOL
There is a garden center 5 miles away that asked me to have a hive there, I'm hoping to split my hive next spring and put one out there. If the girls dont make it through, then I may have to buy packages, but either way, I'll make that work.
Glad to hear your bees are doing well! Whats your winter prep gonna bee?

 

Ive got my hives out in the open one day I do plan to put a solid fence up on the north side of them to act as a wind block in the winter but our winters aren't nearly as harsh as they are up north and out west. It is recommended to have a wind block at least on the north side Ive also read a lot of good reviews about using that Styrofoam board to wrap it with in harsher climates.

 

i dont treat. dont do mite counts either but i did notice two of them on a drone this year. thats all i have seen and better than previous years i reckon. girls have been keeping beetles and moths in check also. i will be pulling fall honey this weekend. i should have close to 4 full mediums from 3 hives. they are doing well. i actually had a small swarm last week. gonna be a nice experiment to see if they will make it through winter on a really small cluster. none of my other hives need a boost in population.
wind block to the north is critical for me. as is ventilation. i wrap some black landscaping fabric loosly on my hives. but not until about christmas time. you dont want it too warm as thier metabolism will stay high and they will eat through honey stores. the black allows the hive to warm a bit during the day so they can move around a bit if they need to.

 

How did everyone do this year? Does everyone have their hives "winterized"? Im going to try and get mine finished this weekend or next and Ill be done messing with them until spring.

 

Some life in this thread!

 

Yikes I hope my hives dont look like that this year Im good with an inch or two but that right there is to much.