# winter-2015-page from my bee journal



## beegrowing (Apr 1, 2014)

January 18, 2015- 
:typomat:
After a thunder boomer storm blew the rain away last night itâs a 52 degree day and the sun is out and no wind left! HiveOne remains the most active in the cold.Iâm not sure if itâs a granddaughter or great granddaughter (local-wild-bred) queen in there(questionable Sept. Maybe swarming once), but they are Sure acclimated!
Standing 6 feet away I noticed odd white spots moving at the entry with the bees and had to take a closer look. Those little buggers are Storing something! The white was on their legs! Dead of winter and it looks like pale yellow pollen in their baskets! I have no clue if itâs grain dust they found or real pollen!? They arenât getting it on my property,thatâs for sure. I do have a couple of wilted pansies left in a deck planter but someone would have to have a Lot of flowers for every 5th bee to be bringing pollen in. I Really donât get it. Makes me want to catch one and take the pollen and taste it! But noâ¦. Iâll just leave them alone and assume they know what they are doing.....I think. The scientific part of me is SO curious.....eeeek. 
Hives Two and Three are much more sluggish gals today with just a slow passage of one bee at a time moving in or out and no âpollenâ.
No orienting going on like 8 days ago.
Hive One is actually very Busy today.It's sooooo good to see the girls this time of year.Last year I didn't get to see them for a couple of months and it was frozen solid out there. So far,so good,for 2015.
Note to self: Might be worth it to get one pollen trap for "tests" or color collecting (to online readers-I collect honey but top bar hives are small colonies and I never planned on collecting their pollen)

If you keep a yearly bee journal,what does Yours say for your most recent notes?


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## Jhn56 (Oct 11, 2011)

Hey BG, thanks for posting that! I intend to take notes from Day 1 (something I probably wouldn't have considered if I hadn't read this).

Still haven't found the time to get those hives built, but they're at the top of my list. I'm going to the NJBA banquet on Sat. night, hope to meet the local beeks and make a few new friends.

Much milder winter here in my part of the country too compared to last year at this time. Good to hear all is good so far:thumb: Did your curiousity get the best of you or is it still a mystery what the white stuff was?


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## beegrowing (Apr 1, 2014)

Hi Jhn56-- One gal dropped a pollen gob for me on the entry step but one basket is so small I didn't taste any flavor from it;just a tiny sweet "hit". Later in the day what they carried looked a more yellow but I'm sure nothing wild has blooms right now. Ya just never know what some gardener has going...they could even be getting into someone's greenhouse???
Yes,it's super handy to take note of everything you observe,even before you know what it means;Especially that first year. My first year the bees were "ahead" of all my books and I couldn't split them before they swarmed.....my books said they don't swarm the First year! Anyhow the next year I was ahead of them! It was very handy to know when that hive had "done things" the first year despite the weather being different. It's also fun to read back and understand those first big questions that arose.
Have you ordered bees or do you know where you'll get them? Sellers are often sold out and I put my 2 orders in in Dec when I needed more bees. You should hive them about April----depending on what your locals do. Here it's just before or at dandelion and first fruit tree bloom(our first big flow). 
I hope your local beeks support top bar hives! If not you may have to teach them later! 
Best wishes! BG


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## docholiday (Jul 31, 2014)

Dead of winter here in Michigan, not a lot of activity. Trying to walk back there every few weeks and clear the entrance from all the dead ones that are dying in the hive so the others can get out. It's depressing and worry some but when I put my ear to the hive I can hear then in there so they are still making it I suppose. I left the plenty of their honey for winter, its the moisture and cold that's a killer, this is my first winter having them so I'm praying they make it!


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## beegrowing (Apr 1, 2014)

docholiday said:


> Dead of winter here in Michigan, not a lot of activity. Trying to walk back there every few weeks and clear the entrance from all the dead ones that are dying in the hive so the others can get out. It's depressing and worry some but when I put my ear to the hive I can hear then in there so they are still making it I suppose. I left the plenty of their honey for winter, its the moisture and cold that's a killer, this is my first winter having them so I'm praying they make it!


Oh gosh docholiday!
I feel for ya and I went through exactly those feelings last year. I had to scoop the dead out of my hive's entrance Last winter and for two months I didn't think they had a chance. I kept the faith as best I could but wondered if I could have done More for them.This year I did insulation and tiny-airflow-winter-venting as "just in case it helps" measures. BUT What I learned is don't give up until every last bee is dead!!! I Swear I only had a softball size cluster left,come Spring, last year, but those gals kept their queen warm,fed, and alive! I felt like I got to see a true miracle when that hive exploded with the new population. I hope I hope I hope your girls make it Too! I'll send a little prayer for them as well! best wishes!


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## Jhn56 (Oct 11, 2011)

Doc, I've never been but heard it gets a little chilly up there . The fact you can hear them working to keep warm is a good sign, good luck to you and your bees! This talk of cold and dead bees has me thinking I should put more thought into a better design to insulate my yet to be built top bar hives. I think maybe a removable insulated panel, gable roof type cover might be the ticket.

BG, the fellow (I think) I'm buying the bees from is attending the banquet on Sat., hopefully its not too late to get my order in. I'm gonna call him today to find out where I stand. I'm wondering too, if I'm gonna be the odd man out using top bar hives :happy2:


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## Jhn56 (Oct 11, 2011)

Quick update: I made contact with my "bee guy". Bad news is he no longer sells packages (as he advertises on his web page). My fault I guess for not being specific as to which spring bees I wanted, nucs or packages.

Good news is he will set me up if I bring him my own nuc box. So, I'll whip up a nuc box, drop it off and go that route. After introducing the first colony to the first hive, I'll go back & drop off the empty nuc and wait for him to call to let me know the 2nd box is ready for p/u. I forgot to ask him...think I should try to time the colonies arrival by a week or two between? 

Seems like a good guy, cost per nuc is 100 bucks


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## SueMc (Jan 10, 2010)

I was so excited yesterday and very happy! It was about 55 deg here yesterday and the inhabitants of my three hive were out in droves for the first time this Winter! I only had bees since last Spring so have worried that I didn't do everything right to keep them going. I didn't take a drop of honey from them plus put sugar cakes in all the hives this past Fall, but still worried that I'd have empty hives this Spring. 
I spent most of the beautiful day reseeding bare areas in our cow pastures. I must have been the warmest body out in the fields because there were a few bees following me around off and on all day with a couple even landing on my hands.
I sure hope they do well for the rest of the Winter.


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## beegrowing (Apr 1, 2014)

SueMc-- What a great post! So glad you shared! I have 3 top bar hives and I let one go untreated but I had bought a "survivor queen" for it last summer. This area has a couple of examples of untreated hives Living so I risked it for one of my three. We've had warm days on and off all winter and my "experiment" hive looked dead the last two weeks while the other two were going gangbusters with activity. I figured "well,now I know for sure I can't go all natural". Then yesterday there Were bees again and not robbers coming out of hive 3! The living colony seems to be a fraction of the size of the other two hives but they are Still with me after all! So I'm doing the happy dance too! There is still Hope!
Last winter my first hive was frozen in for a couple of months and reduced a Lot and I'd feared they were "goners" but they made it. This year we had a month of rains on and off but it's been very mild. My bees found pollen in January! I found out alder catkins are full of pollen and the bay-laurel trees bloomed a month early but I had to ask around since neither are on my own property. I Really should prepare for splits Early this year!
Best wishes to you too!


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