MCBA Beeyard
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__NOTOC__ [[Category:Beeyard report]] | __NOTOC__ [[Category:Beeyard report]] | ||
| − | ==July | + | ==July 27, 2012== |
| + | Stopped in to check the girls and their feed. All is good. Peggy beat me there. She is quick. Peggy added frames to the Styrofoam hive so the girls have more room to work. Provided more feed to the hives that needed it. The Top Bar is coming along. I counted eleven rows and they are feverishly working hard filling the cavity. I have noticed the Top Bar hive bees are not consuming as much feed as the the bees in the Langstroth hive or Styrofoam hive. I'm not sure if this is due to the position of the feeder or not, or what the difference may be. I had expected all to keep pace with each other. | ||
| + | ==July 24, 2012== | ||
Provided more 1:1 for Langstroth One and the Styrofoam hive. The Top Bar still had feed. I installed a beetle trap in Langstroth One and Two along with theStyrofoam Hive. The traps did not fit the Top Bar so I'll do a little more research. This weekend I will blow sugar into the hives since research seems to indicate it helps move mites out. Not a cure of course, just seems to help. All in all the girls are doing good. We will need to and some frames on Styrofoam Hive soon. The still have a little room remaining but not a lot. Langstroth One will need a medium before we know it. Until Friday... | Provided more 1:1 for Langstroth One and the Styrofoam hive. The Top Bar still had feed. I installed a beetle trap in Langstroth One and Two along with theStyrofoam Hive. The traps did not fit the Top Bar so I'll do a little more research. This weekend I will blow sugar into the hives since research seems to indicate it helps move mites out. Not a cure of course, just seems to help. All in all the girls are doing good. We will need to and some frames on Styrofoam Hive soon. The still have a little room remaining but not a lot. Langstroth One will need a medium before we know it. Until Friday... | ||
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==July 20, 2012== | ==July 20, 2012== | ||
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Dropped by the beeyard to check the girls. Three needed feed so I topped them off (two jars were empty, top bar had one third remaining). The girls were working on the pollen patties and all seemed very content. | Dropped by the beeyard to check the girls. Three needed feed so I topped them off (two jars were empty, top bar had one third remaining). The girls were working on the pollen patties and all seemed very content. | ||
==July 19, 2012== | ==July 19, 2012== | ||
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Also, an update on the beeyard visit on the 16th... | Also, an update on the beeyard visit on the 16th... | ||
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==July 16, 2012== | ==July 16, 2012== | ||
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Well it was a warm one in the MCBA yard today. There was a gathering of beginners this evening where class was provided by Kim Flottum. Kim showed the group how to perform an "Alcohol Roll" method to check the number of varroa mites. The process takes only a minute or two by either brushing or shaking approximately 150 to 300 worker bees from near the middle of the hive into the wide-mouth Mason jar. This really got the yard buzzing. Place the lid on the jar of bees and pour 'some' alcohol into the jar and close the container. When fabricating your jar remember not to use a queen excluder as the lid since the bees can walk right through it. See, they really do not like being in the jar and want to go home. After a minute, gently roll the jar to coat all of the bees with the alcohol. Then, pour the jar contents into a container lined with a paper towel or two and if varroa mites are present, you will be able to easily count them. There should be not more than 5 or 6. Tonight, there was zero, none, nada. Great job you gorgeous group of girls (These are some very well behaved bees provided by Peggy Garnes)!!! | Well it was a warm one in the MCBA yard today. There was a gathering of beginners this evening where class was provided by Kim Flottum. Kim showed the group how to perform an "Alcohol Roll" method to check the number of varroa mites. The process takes only a minute or two by either brushing or shaking approximately 150 to 300 worker bees from near the middle of the hive into the wide-mouth Mason jar. This really got the yard buzzing. Place the lid on the jar of bees and pour 'some' alcohol into the jar and close the container. When fabricating your jar remember not to use a queen excluder as the lid since the bees can walk right through it. See, they really do not like being in the jar and want to go home. After a minute, gently roll the jar to coat all of the bees with the alcohol. Then, pour the jar contents into a container lined with a paper towel or two and if varroa mites are present, you will be able to easily count them. There should be not more than 5 or 6. Tonight, there was zero, none, nada. Great job you gorgeous group of girls (These are some very well behaved bees provided by Peggy Garnes)!!! | ||
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==July 14, 2012== | ==July 14, 2012== | ||
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Refilled 1:1 (without Honey-B-Healthy) feeder jars on the Styrofoam, Langstroth Hive One and the Top Bar Hive. | Refilled 1:1 (without Honey-B-Healthy) feeder jars on the Styrofoam, Langstroth Hive One and the Top Bar Hive. | ||
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==July 13, 2012== | ==July 13, 2012== | ||
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The following are pictures taken of the MCBA beeyard (click photo to enlarge). | The following are pictures taken of the MCBA beeyard (click photo to enlarge). | ||
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==2012 June == | ==2012 June == | ||
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The bee yard is back! We have a topbar hive that is doing very nicely, two wood hives (one white and one natural color) and we have a styrofoam hive. So far all are coming along well but the push still is to have two deeps drawn out and enough stores for winter. | The bee yard is back! We have a topbar hive that is doing very nicely, two wood hives (one white and one natural color) and we have a styrofoam hive. So far all are coming along well but the push still is to have two deeps drawn out and enough stores for winter. | ||
Revision as of 07:16, 31 July 2012
July 27, 2012
Stopped in to check the girls and their feed. All is good. Peggy beat me there. She is quick. Peggy added frames to the Styrofoam hive so the girls have more room to work. Provided more feed to the hives that needed it. The Top Bar is coming along. I counted eleven rows and they are feverishly working hard filling the cavity. I have noticed the Top Bar hive bees are not consuming as much feed as the the bees in the Langstroth hive or Styrofoam hive. I'm not sure if this is due to the position of the feeder or not, or what the difference may be. I had expected all to keep pace with each other.
July 24, 2012
Provided more 1:1 for Langstroth One and the Styrofoam hive. The Top Bar still had feed. I installed a beetle trap in Langstroth One and Two along with theStyrofoam Hive. The traps did not fit the Top Bar so I'll do a little more research. This weekend I will blow sugar into the hives since research seems to indicate it helps move mites out. Not a cure of course, just seems to help. All in all the girls are doing good. We will need to and some frames on Styrofoam Hive soon. The still have a little room remaining but not a lot. Langstroth One will need a medium before we know it. Until Friday...
Also, I would like to comment again on just how nice these bees are... When I go into these hives and as long as I'm mindful of proper hive etiquette, these girls are a pleasure to work around. They do not get excited and they just go about their jobs. A real pleasure.
July 20, 2012
Dropped by the beeyard to check the girls. Three needed feed so I topped them off (two jars were empty, top bar had one third remaining). The girls were working on the pollen patties and all seemed very content.
July 19, 2012
Also, an update on the beeyard visit on the 16th...
I forgot to mention Kim opened a few drone cells looking for Varroa mites in Langstroth Hive Two. He was able to locate one, maybe two mites. Rascals are hard to see. We will continue to monitor for mites and treat appropriately.
July 17, 2012
Peggy Garnes graciously stopped by the yard to add pollen patties and re-filled the three jars (Top Bar, Langstroth One, Langstroth Two and the Styrofoam).
July 16, 2012
Well it was a warm one in the MCBA yard today. There was a gathering of beginners this evening where class was provided by Kim Flottum. Kim showed the group how to perform an "Alcohol Roll" method to check the number of varroa mites. The process takes only a minute or two by either brushing or shaking approximately 150 to 300 worker bees from near the middle of the hive into the wide-mouth Mason jar. This really got the yard buzzing. Place the lid on the jar of bees and pour 'some' alcohol into the jar and close the container. When fabricating your jar remember not to use a queen excluder as the lid since the bees can walk right through it. See, they really do not like being in the jar and want to go home. After a minute, gently roll the jar to coat all of the bees with the alcohol. Then, pour the jar contents into a container lined with a paper towel or two and if varroa mites are present, you will be able to easily count them. There should be not more than 5 or 6. Tonight, there was zero, none, nada. Great job you gorgeous group of girls (These are some very well behaved bees provided by Peggy Garnes)!!!
We also dove into the top bar hive. Kim moved a few top bars around to assist the girls in building straight combs.
We did find that a couple queens seemed to be shut down or shutting down on brood production. We found no pollen. Not much available for the girls right now. We will add pollen patties to assist making through to the next flow and keep a close eye on the girls. Three (Top Bar Hive, Langstroth One and Styrofoam) will receive more 1:1 in the morning (Thanks Peggy).
Langstroth Hive One with new super.
July 14, 2012
Refilled 1:1 (without Honey-B-Healthy) feeder jars on the Styrofoam, Langstroth Hive One and the Top Bar Hive.
Bees were coming and going. Temperature was nicer this morning than recent days but very humid. A deer was looking over the hives and checking out the forage. She decided to leave when I pulled up. All in all, everything in good shape.
July 13, 2012
The following are pictures taken of the MCBA beeyard (click photo to enlarge).
Here is our yard
Top Bar Hive
This is the Styrofoam Hive
Langstroth Hive One
Langstroth Hive Two
2012 June
The bee yard is back! We have a topbar hive that is doing very nicely, two wood hives (one white and one natural color) and we have a styrofoam hive. So far all are coming along well but the push still is to have two deeps drawn out and enough stores for winter.
We have also added a bee garden behind the row of hives. This garden features bee plants that can grown in our area, most are self-seeding and will return next year.
2009 Feb 04
The club's bee yard is on West Smith Road across from the offices of the Medina County Fairgrounds.
Lat/Long: 41°08'12" N 81°52'32" W
We went into the winter with 5 colonies.
2009 Feb 16
Buzz and I checked the beeyard at the end of last week. We have 4 healthy colonies left, one dead and one stack of equipment. We should have enough equipment to use to make splits into from the existing colonies. We were able to swap honey from one dead colony...it appeared to have starved due to the long cold stretch we've had...to one of the existing colonies that was running short on food. We will probably be able to use one of the splits for the observation hive at the library. Favorable weather early will help make early splits and get the obs hive up and running in 5 or 6 weeks, maybe even less.
