Second Year 2015, April

The Beginning Beekeeper, Photos, Photos II, Bees at 5 1/2 weeks, 7/18/14, New Queens, Honey Harvest, Winter Prep. Second Year 4/1/15, Update 5/26/15, 9/12/15 Something New. 11/12/15 Winter Prep. 11/20/15 January 30, 2016 Spring 2016 March 2017 My Photos

Second Year 4/1/15

   It was around 58 degrees here in Pittsburgh today and the bees in all hives were flying collecting pollen. So far they have survived the brutal winter and will have a more stable supply of feed as spring progresses. Today I observed the bees bringing in loads of what I believe is red maple pollen. We needed a low wind nice day to give them a chance to get out and forage.

   We were at our local bee club meeting yesterday and were talking to another beekeeper with much more experience than we have who lost all 5 of his hives. He did not treat for varroa. I cannot understand why someone will not treat their bees for varroa. Bees are not resistant to varroa. Varroa or the viruses they spread are deadly to honey bees. While it is a long term goal to be treatment free, it is very difficult for a relatively inexperienced beekeeper to be successful. Numerous beekeepers that I have encountered that have lost their bees to varroa just shrug it off and buy new bees. I don't get it!

Spring is here:

04/10/2015

I removed the 2" foam winter insulation under the telescoping cover and also closed off the upper entrance. I also considered reversing the 2 deep brood chambers but the bees were using both. The weather was predicted to be wet for the next 4 days, so I installed top hive feeders and put about 3 quarts of 1:1 sugar syrup into each. I also installed 1 each hive, medium supers with wax foundation to try to get them drawn before the spring flow starts.

All hives looked healthy.

4/17/15

Replenished 1:1 sugar syrup, bees look very good. New foundation in supers was drawn out nicely on most frames in both hives. I will likely remove those supers and replace with new foundation to be drawn out the next time I check the syrup in a week. I'll have some drawn supers when the flow starts. I'll put the first super on the overwintered nuc that I have now in 8 frame deeps.

   If all goes well, I'm planning to make a couple of splits from the 2 main hives in a few weeks bringing out total hives to 5.