Monday, April 21, 2008
Cold Weather
This cold weather will be very hard on the packages, especially those that were installed on foundation. I am expecting some losses in the group. There is not much to do other than wait it out. Tuesday (tomorrow) looks like the best day to look at your hives. If you have not already done so, check to be sure the queen has been released. I would not check for eggs. The less disruption the better. Also, I have switched to medicated syrup because nosema is likely in this cold weather. If others are interested, I have an extra bottle ($50) that would make 20 gals. I could sell half a bottle.
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2 comments:
I haven't looked in my hive but I do have some screen near the feeder bottle and my bees seem to be doing fine. Question: You and Dave say you don't use queen excluders but every single thing I read including the book "The Beekeepers Handbook" says to use one. I'm confused, why don't you use them. Is it ok to use one? It only makes sense to exclude the queen from the honey super. Please set me straight Craig or Dave.
Hi Mike - Dave here. I don't like the way worker bees have to squeeze through those tight spaces between the bars of the excluder. It looks really annoying. I almost never have brood up in the third box, the first honey super. I always look when I pull off my honey supers to make sure. If I see some, I leave the hive three boxes tall - maybe removing honey frames from either side of the brood area and replacing them with empty drawn comb.
I would only use excluders if I had a number of hives to split and a short time to do it in. I'd place the excluder between the two brood boxes and then return in a few days to look for eggs. I'd move the box without eggs (without the queen) to a new location and give them a new queen or let them make a queen.
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