# went out with stethoscope to check today



## beegrowing (Apr 1, 2014)

I hadn't checked my three top bar hives since winter set in,except to see one or two bees at the entrances on warmer days. I decided to do a Dec check today. I went out and put a stethoscope over or by the front entrances and gave each hive a gentle rapping on the side. Each time the odd "not sure" background noises became a loud hum! My hives are insulated enough that just putting my ear on the wood doesn't work or has my face in the door (don't like doing that even when they are clustered!) so this was a "fun" check for me. I hope everyone else is having a great start to their cluster season! Our real "trial" here is the several weeks of 20 degrees or less we usually get. Last year I only had one hive and spent two months thinking they were goners due to the dead that piled up. My hive made it though and I have local survivor-mutt queens now. So I feel reasonably good about them! Happy holiday season Beeks!!!


----------



## clarissadh (Dec 15, 2014)

we had a couple of days that hit 48 degrees and the girls were out taking flights. At that time I was reasonably sure everyone was fine. I havent checked this past week, but it is supposed to warm up again on Wednesday here. its great that your hive made it through the winter! we had a huge loss. last year was a hard one. so far all 10 of ours are ok. Happy Holidays to you too, Beegrowing!


----------



## Michael W. Smith (Jun 2, 2002)

I just checked the 8 hives I have here at home. 

All 8 are doing fine, but one hive when I opened it, the bees were up to the inner cover. It's a double hive body, so since it was in the 50's yesterday, I put a hive body with honey in it over them.

I still have 3 other hives located elsewhere that I was going to move back home. I need to at least check on them since they were swarms - and one only has a large hive body on it.

I'm hoping we don't have the harsh winter we had last year.


----------



## light rain (Jan 14, 2013)

We may have a potential bee keeper joining our family so I will start to peruse this site and learn more about bee keeping. Glad to hear of healthy bees this 2015!

Maybe I'll even try my hand at bee keeping. I am a little scared because my Dad had hives and as soon an he got within 10 ft. of them he would get stung on the face. They hated his body smell or something...


----------



## clarissadh (Dec 15, 2014)

Michael W. Smith, do you use both sugar syrup and honey or do you primarily save your honey for fall feedings and winter emergency? Wish we could get out there to check. We have had a couple of warm days...but it has rained so much that I sink walking out there. My husband says he thinks we lost a small nuc we were trying to overwinter, but everyone else is looking strong. There were plenty out for cleansing flights one day when I took the dog out. 
Light rain, We have had some ornery bees in the past, since we keep our hives close to our home and kids, we try to make sure the colonies are happy. besides, most of the time for us, the situation could be solved by replacing the queen with a new queen from a less aggressive line. but ours can get a little moody in the early spring when theres not much up and growing, when we inspect them when its raining, or when they are queenless. ( by a little moody, I mean they buzz a little more loudly and I might have a few followers. )
I wear my gear though...which is more than I can say for the husband. Wearing protective gear gave me much more confidence that first year.


----------



## beegrowing (Apr 1, 2014)

My three hives are all still doing fine.....I Think. Since the sun is low this time of year they need about 50 degrees and sun hitting the hives for them to come out. It's been funny because when I look,usually 2 out 3 are active and I worry about the third. Then the next time,a week or 2 later the hive I was worried about is one of the active ones! It's interesting how the hives have their own "personalities" and don't all do the same thing at the same time....even the one that was a split from one of the others has a different timeline than it's "mother" hive does. We sure haven't gotten a super cold spell like last year. I'm glad those arctic blasts haven't been this far west!(crossing fingers) Best wishes to all!


----------

