Table of Contents
2023/2024 Winter
2023/2024 Winter preparation
Insulating hives
2 pieces of rope and a clear foil
Reflectix as a gasket not insulation.
Inner cover with closed ventilation hole. It presses edges against Reflectix gasket and seals the clear foil below.
First R-10 2in XPS
Second R-10 taken from unused 6 FR hives.
Top cover with weights. Medium box with stores. Yellow deep long Lang has a divider for two brood nests. The green stand below is a SBB (Screened Bottom Board). It has two holes for OAV.
Oxialic Acid 2023
- 1xSSP means 2 halfs of Swedish Sponge Pad soaked in OA + Glycerin per scientificbeekeeping.com
- RM SSP - removed SSP
- dosage in tbs is for Johnno's EasyVap OAV
1/2 tsp made of 2x 1/4 tsp = ~3g
| Date\Hive | #1 gooseberry | #2 gate | #3 peach | #4 gooseberry | #5 fir | #6 gate | #7 peach | #8 fir | #9 yew | #10 yew | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ~~ | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 10 | ~~ | |
| 2023-Nov-22 | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 44F |
| 2023-Oct-26 | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 66F |
| 2023-Oct-23 | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 63F | ||
| 2023-Oct-17 | RM SSP | RM SSP | RM SSP | RM SSP | RM SSP | RM SSP | RM SSP | RM SSP | RM SSP | RM SSP | 55F, removed OAE after 57 days |
| 2023-Aug-21 | 1 SSP | 1 SSP | 1 SSP | 1 SSP | 1 SSP | 1 SSP | 1 SSP | 1/2 SSP | 1/2 SSP | 1 SSP | 78F, #8 got +1/2 SSP on Aug 28 |
| 2023-Aug-10 | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/4 tsp | 1/4 tsp | 1/4 tsp | 1/4 tsp | 78F, nucs got 1/4 |
| 2023-Aug-02 | 1/2 tsp | 1/4 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/4 tsp | 1/4 tsp | 1/4 tsp | 1 /4 tsp | 80F, nucs and #6 got 1/4 | |
| 2023-Jul-25 | 1/2 tsp | 1/4 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/4 tsp | 1/4 tsp | 89F, nucs got 1/4 tsp | ||
| 2023-Jul-18 | 1/2 tsp | 1/4 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/4 tsp | 1/4 tsp | 78F, nucs got 1/4 tsp | ||
| 2023-Jul-13 | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 71F | |||||
| 2023-Jul-07 | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 77F outside | |||||
| 2023-Jun-22 | 1/2 tsp | 81F outside, #6 has a queen | |||||||||
| 2023-Jun-15 | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 74F outside | |||||
| 2023-May-25 | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 57F outside | ||||||||
| 2023-May-10 | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 69F outside |
Feeding
- SL - still left from previous feeding
- y - new portion
- 20lb of sugar - means total 20lb.
- 1:1 - 1 volume sugar to 1 volume water
- 2:1 - 2 volumes sugar to 1 volume water
- CF - communal feeding
| Date | Gooseberry | Gate | Fir | Peach | Yew | Comments | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hive 1 S | Hive 4 N | Hive 2 W | Hive 6 E | Hive 5 W | Hive 8 E | Hive 3 W | Hive 7 E | Hive 9 R | Hive 10 L | ||
| 2023-Nov-15 | CF | CF | CF | CF | CF | CF | CF | CF | CF | CF | 2:1, 60 lb of sugar, in last week with temperatures above 50F |
| 2023-Oct-26 | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | SL | 2:1 at 4:10 pm, 20lb of sugar, 66F, last 3 days with above 50F. This could be last feeding |
| 2023-Oct-25 | y | y | y | y | y | y | 2:1 at 3:05pm, 10lb of sugar, 64F | ||||
| 2023-Oct-22 | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | SL | 2:1 at 4:35pm, 20lb of sugar, 57F |
| 2023-Oct-19 | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | SL | y | 2:1 at 3:35pm, 20lb of sugar, 57F |
| 2023-Oct-17 | y | y | y | SL | y | y | y | y | SL | SL | 2:1 at 5:00pm, 20lb of sugar |
| 2023-Oct-15 | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | 2:1 at 5:00pm, 20lb of sugar |
| 2023-Oct-11 | y | y | y | y | SL | SL | y | y | y | SL | 2:1 at 3:45pm, 20lb of sugar, 65F |
| 2023-Oct-09 | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | 2:1 at 3:35pm, 20lb of sugar |
| 2023-Oct-05 | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | 2:1 at 1:15pm, 20lb of sugar |
| 2023-Oct-04 | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | 2:1 at 5:15pm, 20lb of sugar |
| 2023-Oct-02 | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | 3:2 at 5:15pm, 20lb of sugar |
| 2023-Sep-29 | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | SL | 1:1 at 4:21pm, 20lb of sugar |
| 2023-Sep-26 | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | 1:1 at 4:40pm, 20lb of sugar |
| 2023-Sep-24 | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | SL | 1:1 at 6:10pm, 20lb of sugar |
| 2023-Sep-22 | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | 1:1 at 6:30pm, 20lb of sugar |
| 2023-Sep-20 | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | 1:1 at 6:45pm, 20lb of sugar |
| 2023-Sep-18 | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | 1:1 at 10:30am, 20lb of sugar |
| 2023-Sep-15 | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | 1:1 in the evening, 20lb of sugar |
| 2023-Sep-13 | y | y | y | y | 1:1 in the afternoon, 10lb of sugar | ||||||
| 2023-Sep-11 | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | 1:1 in the evening, 20lb of sugar |
| 2023-Sep-08 | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | 1:1 in the morning, 20lb of sugar |
| 2023-Sep-05 | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | 1:1, 20lb of sugar |
| 2023-Sep-03 | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | 1:1, added feeder to #3 after removing suppers | ||
| 2023-Sep-01 | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | 1:1 | ||
| 2023-Aug-31 | y | y | 1:1, moved supper #4 → #3 and added feeder | ||||||||
| 2023-Aug-30 | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | 1:1, bees emptied feeders from yesterday's sirup | ||
| 2023-Aug-29 | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | 1:1 | |||
Inspections
- C - collateral super
- W - winter stores
- E - evidence
- S - seen
- B - bottom
- QE - queen excluder
- CP - capped
- N - nectar
2024-Feb-26
- all hives flying, even nucs
- bees bringing lots of yellow pollen
2024-Feb-18
- 45F and 1, 2, 6 hives are flying in sun.
2024-Feb-08
- 56F and all 10 frame hives are flying, 8 of them. Two nucs seem to be dead but flying on Feb-20
2024-Feb-01
- 7,9,10 do not fly
- all others have cleansing flights at 52F, #8 started after 2pm
2024--Jan-31
- #3, #6 - got sugar bricks
2024--Jan-29
- #3, #6 - need food, bees at the top
- #9,10 seem to be dead
- other alive
2023-Dec-8
- It was 46F yesterday and all hives were making, I guess, cleansing flights because today at 51F the bees stay inside.
2023-Oct-27
- All hives very active at 66F
- All hives bring pollen
- Hives take sirup a little bit slower
- Mite drop makes less then 1% mite level.
2023-Oct-17
- removed OAE after 57 days
- 10FR hives have a lot of bees.
- 6FR are not as populated as 10 FR
- Medium boxes are heavy but bees still take 2:1 sugar.
- Bees are flying at 55F. Still bringing some pollen.
2023-Sep -13
| Location | Orientation | Hive | Type | Group | Boxes | Frames | Queen | Drones | Temper | Weather | Comments | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (A/B/S | Brood | Super | Pollen | Brood | Eggs | Bees | Stores | QC | |||||||||
| Gooseberry | N | Hive 4 | 10FR Wood | A | 3M | 2M | 4N | E | moved 1 capped M FR to #8 | ||||||||
| S | Hive 1 | BeeMax | A | 2CP, 8N | E | ||||||||||||
| Gate | E | Hive 6 | 1/2 Long Lang | A | 4DP | 2M | E | needs lot of 1:1 to draw mediums, will have 10 FR nurse bees soon | |||||||||
| W | Hive 2 | 1/2 Long Lang | B | 1 | 0 | 7+ | E | looks very good | |||||||||
| Fir tree | E | Hive 8 | 10FR Paradise | B | 1 from #4 | not inspected | |||||||||||
| W | Hive 5 | BeeMax | B | not inspected | |||||||||||||
| Peach | E | Hive 7 | 1/2 Long Lang | B | 1 from #3 | 3+ | got 3 drawn M FR from #3 | ||||||||||
| W | Hive 3 | 1/2 Long Lang | A | 3+ | S | ||||||||||||
| Yew (cis) | S | Hive 9 | 6FR | B | not inspected | ||||||||||||
| S | Hive 10 | 6FR Paradise | A | not inspected | |||||||||||||
2023-Aug-28
| Location | Orientation | Hive | Type | Group | Boxes | Frames | Queen | Feeding | Temper | Weather | Comments | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (A/B/Split) | Brood | Super | Pollen | Brood | Eggs | Bees | Stores | QC | |||||||||
| Gooseberry | N | Hive 4 | 10FR wooden | A | 1DP, 1M | 1M | 4+ | 2.5 | prepared feeder | ||||||||
| S | Hive 1 | BeeMax | A | 1DP, 1M | 10 | 0.5 | added feeder | ||||||||||
| Gate | E | Hive 6 | 1/2 Long Lang | B | 1DP, 1M | 5 | 0.5? | week hive, added feeder | |||||||||
| W | Hive 2 | 1/2 Long Lang | A | 1DP, 1M | 6 | 6+ | added feeder | ||||||||||
| Fir tree | E | Hive 8 | 10FR Paradise | B | 1DP, 1M | 7 | 1 | added feeder | |||||||||
| W | Hive 5 | BeeMax | A | 1DP, 1M | 7 | 4+ | added feeder | ||||||||||
| Peach | E | Hive 7 | 1/2 Long Lang | B | 1DP, 1M | 4 | 1 | added feeder | |||||||||
| W | Hive 3 | 1/2 Long Lang | A | 1DP, 1M | 1D | 7 | 2+ | prepared feeder | |||||||||
| Yew (cis) | S | Hive 9 | 6FR | A | 1DP | 1M | 4 | 1+ | added feeder | ||||||||
| S | Hive 10 | 6FR Paradise | A | 1DP | 1DP | 3+ | 1+ | S | added feeder | ||||||||