# Fall preps



## lharder (Mar 21, 2015)

Had a busy yet enjoyable bee day today. Dismantled 2 of my 2 queen systems at home today. Took 3 of my hives to one of my out yards. Went smooth on a cool cloudy day. They were heavy and it took lots of effort to move them up the ramp into the truck. One more full sized hive to take out to the country, one more nuc to the nuc yard. I kept my oldest queen at home. Got her in the spring of 2014 as a swarm queen cell from a local keep. Her hive is full of bees, and full of honey. My outyard is in a flow. The inside of the inner covers are wet with moisture from nectar being concentrated. At home they are dry but they have lots of honey

Recently I've filled all the nucs at the nuc yard with extracted comb. Just in time for a fall flow that is beginning. We have had rain and now good weather ahead. The rabbit brush is starting to bloom and I see some alfalfa and knapweed blooming. I suspect I may not have to feed these nucs at all. They won't make a dent in the forage. 

Compressed my home hives to wintering size. Not much nectar coming in as of yet this fall. Am feeding the nucs at home with fatbeeman style feeders. They are almost at winter weight already. Took off some honey, but am going to hold it for a while in case somebody needs it. 

Just have a few hives to compress to wintering size at an outyard. Nectar is coming in. Dare I say I might be ahead of the game?


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## Nordak (Jun 17, 2016)

Sounds great. That's a good position to be in, and it sounds like you are well on your way. I am doing a thorough evaluation tomorrow to see what winter may look like. I have a couple of hives with questionable stores, but the flow appears to have really kicked in and brooding increased as a result. A hive that appeared to have had some serious spotty brood by way of hygienic behavior has shown great improvement, and my guess is they may have turned the corner in regard to mite numbers. I feel good about it over all, but tomorrow will give a clearer picture.


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## lharder (Mar 21, 2015)

So hives are all in their winter configuration. Moving bees is finished. Fed out partial combs with some nectar pollen at one my sites yesterday. Bee pandemonium. There was a bear in a crabapple tree near the landowner's house. We harassed it with some bear spray and some bear bangers until it took off. It was a bit like being a kid again. Calculating escape routes if things took a bad turn. Have to say we got a whiff of our own bad medicine as that bear spray wafted over us. We were all teary eyed and coughing including the old rottweiller. 

Then I checked the electric fence, fresh battery, nothing leaning on it to short it out, used the tester to show full strength zappage. Bears have been reported at my other location as well. Had a dream that I put my hives on a rocky shoreline with big waves crashing in. Hmmm...


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## Nordak (Jun 17, 2016)

I'm no expert on dream interpretation, but I think the bear had something to do with it.  That's one problem I don't have here. Sounded like quite the adventure.


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## 1102009 (Jul 31, 2015)

We have no bears except the ones in wildlife park who got my burr comb with drone larvae and liked it. Now they smell honey the whole day through but cannot reach it, being behind a high fence.
So, Iharder, think of this situation while dreaming and you have your revenge! 

We have no small hive beetle, too.
Well, that might compensate for having no ferals to improve our stock.

Now it`s feeding those which are in need, but we have flow still and I will check the weights on weekend.


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## lharder (Mar 21, 2015)

It really was an easy going even tempered bear in spite of the harassment. It just wanted to get away from there by the time we were done.

Bears are even an issue here in town. My hives here are not protected by an electric fence so I worry a bit if I'm not around. Which reminds me I should dig out my own bear spray in case I have to intervene. The nice thing is that I have hives on 3 sites. I can take a bear incident compared to the last 2 years.


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## 1102009 (Jul 31, 2015)

Take care of yourself then.
Your person is unique.


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## emrude (Mar 23, 2015)

Hello,
I am reading through different posts as an attempt to keep my bee longing at bay. Iharder, you said in the 1st post that you fed your nucs with a fatbeeman style feeder. Did you make it? 
I am pretty good at building. I used to be a trim carpenter. I have made three feeders. The first one was a nuc feeder and from what I remember of two summers ago it worked well. Both of the feeders I tried to make this summer didn't work so well. Ants, ground hornets, and bees found their way into my container of sugar water. This, of course, made the bees hot. 
Did you have trouble making them? They seem able to let the bees have access to the syrup. 
I have my bees tucked away of course. So don't think I am trying to feed syrup in December. 

Thanks,
Mary


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## lharder (Mar 21, 2015)

Yes they are easy enough to build. But I am reasonably equipped with saws, air staplers, nailers etc. 

They need to be bee tight or you set off robbing problems. I lost a couple of nucs this way. No gaps where they sit on the nuc, and no gaps in the lid. Entrances need to be reduced. Feed them heavy over a short period of time, get the feeders on earlier than later when it is still warm. I was scrambling a bit with a shortage of feeders. Overall they worked great putting lots of extra weight on the nucs this year. Food should not be a problem for them this winter. 

I played around with an open feeder at home during the late fall when the weather was cool but the bees could fly for a few hours during the day. No way I could do this when things were still warm as it would cause neighborhood pandemonium. However, at this time, the bees were fairly orderly about it and still drain a 2 1/2 gallon chicken waterer in a day or so.


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## emrude (Mar 23, 2015)

Thanks for your ideas. I will look closely at the bottom and tops of the feeders. 
I have the ladder part of the feeder completely sealed. So there must be a crack where the yellow jackets and carpenter ants are able to squeeze into the feeder. I'll look for it over the winter. And try to more feeders.
Fat Beeman feeders are a lot cheaper than the top of hive feeder most Bee companies try to sell for $25. 
I have a basic shop in my garage. (Unfortunately, all my big tools--drill press, jointer, bandsaw, table saw, air filter system, molder, and lathe.) What I am missing is a stove to keep things (and me) nice and toasty. 
One day before next May, I need to move all my tools from my other shop, so I can set up a production line in my garage to build hive bodies parts and frames. I could try to get everything moved, but my other shop has heat. 

Mary


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