What a fun year! We have the most honey supers on some of our hives in Twin Falls than any other time in the last 2 decades, yet our hives in Malad Valley aren’t going to produce any surplus honey. We are in a dearth, there has been no rain so non irrigated areas have not food. Some areas bees are struggling to find food yet there are some places that are making honey quickly. Look around and see which you are so you know how to help your bees. The video talks about some of the plants coming on in our area that can provide food so you can see if they are in your area. Now is the time to equalize hives a little if you have strong and week hives together, add honey supers if they are bringing in nectar, and if they don’t weigh anything and are starving then you might need to feed them! Don’t entrance feed or open feed this time of year!
Here is the link for powdered sugar testing: https://youtu.be/_1UTseN3Em8
I have noticed that the bees you started when I started mine now have 2 brood boxes and 2 supers. I am still just 2 brood boxes. They are not completely full and as I understood it, they need to have those full to survive the winter. Should I continue to wait for those to fill completely before putting on a super? Thanks
We shoot for 2 full brood boxes going into winter. If you remember, our bees went into boxes this spring with drawn comb so they will be ahead of colonies on new frames because they didn’t have to make as much wax. How close to full are they at this point? When did you stop feeding them or are you still feeding them? If you are feeding, how much are they taking? They should be pretty close to full by now, it isn’t unusual to not need a honey super on a first year hive. We have had an unusual year, it has been very dry so in some areas bees barely had enough to sustain themselves, in other areas near irrigated plants bees did better than usual.
I have two hives. One hive the bottom brood box is close to 90%. Top brood box is probably 60%. The second hive bottom brood box is probably full and the top brood box is probably about 90% full.
I am still feeding them.
I didn’t notice back fill but I wasn’t looking for it either. I did notice empty cells so maybe that’s what they are starting to do. There are probably 3 frames that don’t have cells at all built up.
What is your colony size? Do they have lots of pollen stored or are they short pollen? If you are still feeding, I would think they would be drawing wax on those frames if they have extra nectar. It isn’t abnormal, but would be good to get them working on them. Are the frames next to them full of honey or brood?
I am still seeing some larva. Not seeing a lot of pollen. I’m not sure how to check colony size?
Will you have a video on varoa mite treatment? I’m looking forward to the videos from your fall class