# Seeing the end of winter



## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

One more month and we will be seriously thinking of setting the bees out of storage,


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## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

*One more month*

It's getting time to dust off your hive tool.
How do you exhaust the carbon dioxide build up.
Ernie


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

continuous air flow with a ventilation fan set up on a thermostat, which increases the air flow as the temp increases.


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

*Life up North*

Hey Ian:
How short do your days get around the end of December? No doubt you are looking forward eagerly to Spring!


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

ya, we get about 8 hours of sun during those days, 
days are longer now,. Getting much more work done, its hard to accomplish anything with short days


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## jean-marc (Jan 13, 2005)

Well Ian, we had some hazelnut pollen coming in today. I saw a pussy willow in bloom as well. We were putting on the patties. Ridiculously low losses, less than 3 %. Bees are looking very good so far.

Jean-Marc


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## danno1800 (Mar 13, 2004)

*I'm still huntingt for that darned GROUNDHOG!*

If I catch that little PIG I'm gonna throttle him...I can't take 6 more weeks of this!!! -Danno


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

>>Ridiculously low losses, less than 3 %. Bees are looking very good so far.


wow, thats great news!
How did you treat your mites last season?
you guys really do have a wintering advantage over there. I know a guy that use to migrate his hives over to the west coast to pollinate, and winter his hives, to send them back for summer. It worked out very well until they restricted the movement of hives across the country.
Seems silly doesnt it? What do we have that you dont already?
But then, I guess that opens up another can of worms


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## Camp9 (Feb 7, 2006)

*wintering shed*

That is quite the setup you built. Do you know what your losses are so far in the shed? I wouldn't of expected the dead bees taht you had in the pic. Even though they are in the dark, they must still take cleaning flights. We have an old potato shed on the farm that hasen't been used inyears, this gives me an idea as to what to do with it. 

Camp


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## JohnK and Sheri (Nov 28, 2004)

Camp9 said:


> ..... I wouldn't of expected the dead bees taht you had in the pic. Camp


Before we sent the bees to California we wintered some indoors and that type of loss of bees on the floor is typical. John had to sweep the floor between the stacks on a regular basis. They wintered pretty well inside and despite all the dead bees on the floor, there were still plenty bees left in the boxes.
Sheri


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## Camp9 (Feb 7, 2006)

JohnK and Sheri said:


> Before we sent the bees to California we wintered some indoors and that type of loss of bees on the floor is typical. John had to sweep the floor between the stacks on a regular basis. They wintered pretty well inside and despite all the dead bees on the floor, there were still plenty bees left in the boxes.
> Sheri


I guess I was thinking with it being dark all the time the bees wouldn't clean the hives so well, or be that active. not sure what I was thinking but was just amazed to see they still were working so well. 


Camp


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## JohnK and Sheri (Nov 28, 2004)

Camp, I think it isn't so much that the bees are hauling dead bees out as it is the old bees crawl out of the hive to die. 
Sheri


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## Allen Dick (Jan 10, 2009)

In regard sweeping bees in wintering buildings, this might be something to consider. Many are not aware, but the dangers are real.



> *Date:* Tue, 20 Nov 2001 12:59:56 -0700
> *Sender:* Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[email protected]>
> *From:* Kenn Tuckey <[email protected]> *
> Subject:* Re: BEE-L Digest - 14 Nov 2001 to 15 Nov 2001 (#2001-311) Indoor wintering
> I hope this is still relevant. I got distracted by other pressing matters - including a weekend! This is what Trevor referred to. Peter Dillon asked about potential dangers when wintering bees indoors. In March of 1995 Gauvreau, Sigler and Abbott published "Assessment of Airborne Molds as a Biological Hazard for Alberta Commercial Beekeepers." Gauvreau is a veterinarian and Sigler and Abbott are at the University of Alberta's Microfungus Collection. Sixteen Alberta beekeepers co-operated in the test. The report provides an impressive list of 82 molds that were collected during the study. It appears that some of the molds were innocuous but others had the potential to cause severe problems for anyone exposed. A couple of the statements from the report: "The presence of known toxigenic, potentially pathogenic and allergenic molds at all sites suggests that prudent action is needed to minimize worker exposure" "There appears to be a strong association between reported respiratory symptoms, eye, nose and throat irritation and the activities monitored (sweeping and Cleaning) where there was exposure to high levels of airborne molds". I suspect that copies of the full report would be very difficult to find but I wrote an article on the report that may be easier to find. The article is entitled "Danger in the Honeyhouse" and it appeared in the June 1995 copy of Alberta Bee News as published by the Alberta Beekeepers Association. Kenn Tuckey Provincial Apiculturist Alberta, Canada.


My personal conclusion was that either the bees should be wetted down a little before sweeping, masks should be worn, and/or that a vacuum cleaner venting outdoors would be prudent.


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## Camp9 (Feb 7, 2006)

We'll there ya go Ian, you can use that grain vac.  

Camp


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## jean-marc (Jan 13, 2005)

I used thymol. Some of us got an early registration for it. Didn't treat for tracheal. Levels were below 1%. We had a little bit of honey flow today, from pussy willows I guess. The years where we've had pussy willow flow have been vewry good for us. Usually it gets rained out. I also got a $370 tow bill after the commercial vehicle inspection dudes decided my truck was deemed unsafe to drive. Needed another $20 cab fare to make it home. Then mechanic starts tuesday, followed by about $150 tow to the vehicle inspection dudes. Fortunately the bees are good, my crew this year is very good as well.

Jean-Marc


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

>>Fortunately the bees are good, my crew this year is very good as well.


Bingo


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

>>That is quite the setup you built. Do you know what your losses are so far in the shed? I wouldn't of expected the dead bees that you had in the pic. Even though they are in the dark, they must still take cleaning flights. We have an old potato shed on the farm that hasn't been used in years, this gives me an idea as to what to do with it. 


No I don't , hives stacked three to four pallet high make hive assessment only through the front. 
It looks like a lot of dead bees, but its typical. I measure the amount of dead every winter to see how the year is measuring up. So I haven't had a chance to clean up to see. But by the looks of it, It will measure up less than other years at this time of winter. But the worst is yet to come.
No they don't take cleaning flights. No movement outside the hive at all. The shed must be kept at complete darkness til spring or they will fly to the light. They get lost as soon as they venture to the light. Also temperature is important. It must be kept constant and cooler than warmer. That is where increased ventilation is essential during warm winter spells.

>>We'll there ya go Ian, you can use that grain vac. 





>>In regard sweeping bees in wintering buildings, this might be something to consider. Many are not aware, but the dangers are real.

very troubling. I always try to wear a mask when ever working in the shed for too long,


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## jean-marc (Jan 13, 2005)

*He's back...*

Old Man Winter that is. Pollen last week, about 5 inches of snow today. Bees look so good right now, got patties on all of them last week. Started round 2 on monday and we got stalled today because of weather.

Jean-Marc


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## irwin harlton (Jan 7, 2005)

*Yes , BUT EVEN with*

this set back, you are at least a month and probably 5-6 weeks ahead of me..............I'm in the manitoba banana belt, where its currently minus 23 celcuis and with 12" snow, including 2"of ice in it,and spring is coming slowly


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

I am hearing that this spring is going to be cool and wet,
NOt prediction I want to hear. We are going to have a late spring again this year, with the ground so wet, and the fields covered with a foot of snow. That dam ice doesnt allow the wind to remove the snow. Lots to melt, lots of moisture to absorb. With a cool April, we probably will not get on the land til May for sure,


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## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

Ian said:


> We are going to have a late spring again this year, with the ground so wet, and the fields covered with a foot of snow.


For those of us who've suffered two consequtive years of severe drought.....it sounds pretty good.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

no doubt, with moisture at least things can grow,
but what I am getting at, is with our short growing season, a delayed spring eats away at our growing year. Time is money, earlier crops here usually have higher yield potential. Compound that with cool conditions, and things just dont grow, so then again things are delayed in development, time is money, earlier crops here usually have higher yield potential


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## jean-marc (Jan 13, 2005)

Ian:

Does this delayed growing season impact honey yields? I would think that higher moisture would be of great benefit, but you never know with bees. Is higher moisture offset with shortened growing season? I suppose you also need 1" of rain every week at night preferably, for optimal nectar flows. Comments?

Jean-Marc


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## honeyshack (Jan 6, 2008)

Our conditions in Manitoba where we live warrant an 1" a week in moisture. It helps with keeping the pastures in good condition and helps with the alfalfa and grasses for the hay land and honey.
We are also so wet this year that a cool wet spring will not be good. The ground is so saturated, culverts are near full and most of the snow will be over land flooding delaying any work on the land to try and recover the alfalfa crops from the major flooding last summer.
In our area the hay crop is in such bad condition that the animals have been feeling the pressure from this obsessively cold winter. A good stand of pasture early on would help in bringing up their condition immensely.
As for the bees here, they had a rough spring and summer with some hives getting very wet. Our long fall helped to give time for the bees to dry themselves out, but the damage was already done in some lower than normal numbers of bees and brood going into winter.
In one yard site, all the hives requeened themselves near the end of September. They ended up with three frames of eggs at that time. That field was under water for so long, and the hives were not in water themselves, but the pallets they are on were submerged. The wood in the hives soaked up a pile of moisture. In that yard site the honey pull was delayed due to the inability to get there and so was fall feeding and treating. I am not counting on any live hives in that site. 
I'm not even going to try and guess our other yard site losses might be. I am hoping for the best, trying to figure on what to do in case of the worst. I have bought pollen patties and got most everything ready so that when the warmth starts, i can try and strengthen the hives. I was thinking on making some sort of fondant to drop in the hives to help with the feed. I'm not sure how this long cold winter is affecting the bees.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

>>Does this delayed growing season impact honey yields? I would think that higher moisture would be of great benefit, but you never know with bees. Is higher moisture offset with shortened growing season? I suppose you also need 1" of rain every week at night preferably, for optimal nectar flows. Comments?


Ya your right Jean-Marc, delayed crop doesnt always mean poor honey crop, sometimes it means the opposite 

But from what I have experienced here in my area of Manitoba, a delayed wet spring gets the crop off to a poor start. Lets say it does struggle through to and makes a half decent stand by July, we are usually looking at poor root development, leaving the crop susceptible to burn off. Which usually happens in July. So if that burn off does come, the crop is toasted, regardless of the moisture available to it a foot into the soil. Make sense? It sometimes doesnt to me. It will turn a three - four week flowing period into one week, period. A crop well established in spring has an elaberate root network established by July, allowing it to tap three to even six feet into the soil if needed. That is where we get our big honey crops. Off the high hot summer sun, and from the moisture deep in the soils,

Its frustrating, but thats the kind of circumstances we deal with if the spring seeding doesnt get off to a good start.
But sometimes what we loose on th canola, we gain on the alfalfa.

Who really knows in this business, right?


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

>>I know a guy that use to migrate his hives over to the west coast to pollinate, and winter his hives, to send them back for summer. It worked out very well until they restricted the movement of hives across the country.


I was just talking to a fellow Manitoba beekeeper who says the transport of hives across our country has been allowed again, and for a few years by now. News to me, but in my mind its a step in the right direction,


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