I have 2 Langstroth hives I plan to fill this spring. So, naturally, I'm going to try and build a 3rd hive, this time Kenyan Top Bar, before I even have a...
One of my hives this year had a problem. In a fierce wind-rain storm, the hive's top blew off and the insides got completely drenched. My husband found the...
... bottoms? For the weather in our area with the constant dampness, I can see this is an accommodation that's probably more useful here than most other areas....
Hi Bill, Thanks for your comments and observations. I feel better already. :-) The hole in the front of the hive is about an inch an a quarter around but now...
An Ida I have is to drill holes at just a size that small PVC pipe will fit ...say 1 inch. You want the hole almost to allow a snug ft. Cut the PVC [ipe long...
... around but now that you mention corks, there doesn't seem to be any harm in putting a few more in. That way we can have the spring honey rush without a...
Hello, This email message is a notification to let you know that a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the TopHive group. File :...
TopHive@yahoogroups.com
Mar 7, 2008 5:16 pm
1024
About the bees eating some weeks some not.... It might be that it was too cold for them to leave their cluster to get to. In other words the food may have been...
Wow. Thanks fellow beeks. I'll go get out my hand drill, Jim. And Phil, I'll thank my lucky stars they had enough honey to get through winter and next year...
I got into my one "working" TBH yesterday for the first time this year. They had been very quiet since winter, and I hadn't seen any bees flying, and there was...
Moera lets go back to biology 101. The queen does not have to mate to produce drones. Drones result from unfertilized eggs. Did you take a close look at the...
I know the queen doesn't need to mate to produce drones, but will any drones produced fly and mate in cold rainy wet weather? Will any temperate northern hive...
It was your adding bars to the brood nest to late in the season. You created a situation where the bees were so stressed reacting to what you were doing that...
Thanks Gary, I realize now that I kept opening the brood too late, so I won't be making that mistake again. There was so little brood in the bars, and so few...
There is NO definitive data on TBH manipulations. I stumbled on adding bars to the brood nest by experimenting to see what would happen. At the same time I was...
Hi folks! I am looking for advice on how to split a colony. Last Spring I began beekeeping with one TBH from www.backyardhive.com I added a package and the...
Why worry about where the queen is? Take half of the brood nest and half of the honey and put the bars in the new hive. Divide foreign comb faces with an empty...
Dear Gary, Thank you so much for your advice, and by the way I am a fan of your web site, it is a wonderful resource! I have a further question on timing....
Field expedient method: If you want to head off the swarm impulse as painlessly as possible Ignore the apple tree reference it was just for time. Look at what ...
Dear Gary and Norm, Thank you both for your advice. I will keep all this in mind as I watch my bees and will let you know how it goes. My bees did wonderfully...
I've observed that if I refrain from exhaling while looking up into the bottom of my hives, the bees remain calm. I believe it's our breath which alarms them. ...
I remember inserting an empty bar in the middle of the broodnest, and sure enough, the new comb was about all drone cells. Vic ... You ... what ... CORE ... ...
Bees will zero in on the carbon dioxide you emmit when exhaling that is why so many are stung in and around the face. They don't like bad breath either!...
There is really nothing wrong with what you did it was along the right track it was just your timing. Keep this type of manipulation reserved for the spring...
I just opened my hives for the first time this spring, and the best one (busy, health, full of brood and honey already) had several bars just full of drone...
Yes, the bees know best it is the season for mating. If you have a healthy productive hive don't attempt to fix that which is not broken you will just add a...
