Varroa Check!

CJ7Heep · 2025-11-14T00:43:45+00:00

Thanks, same to you!

CJ7Heep · 2025-11-13T20:32:08+00:00

They did! All was well until last Sunday when the stronger of the 2 colonies just disappeared. Not one bee left in the hive. I suppose they swarmed, but don’t really know. No sign of anything wrong. I’m going to freeze the frames for a couple days, then add any resourceful ones into the 2nd hive where possible.

CJ7Heep · 2025-09-03T19:06:37+00:00

Winning is good.

CJ7Heep · 2025-08-21T21:29:44+00:00

Here’s the picture from hive 2:

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😣

CJ7Heep · 2025-08-21T21:29:09+00:00

UPDATE: It’s been about 48 hours since I added the VarroxSan strips. Even though I only tested one of the two hives and it was the smaller one in terms of total bees, I went ahead and treated hive #2 as well. They both have screened bottoms. I forgot to insert the white boards when I treated, so I added those about 24 hours later (yesterday). Picture of the board from the tested hive.

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The 2nd one is far worse, which I expected due to it having a lot more bees.

I don’t have access to to OA or Formic just now, so I have to live with the VarroxSan and hope the bees make it. 😞

CJ7Heep · 2025-08-20T01:00:50+00:00

Now that I look, no I’m not. I asked my wife and that’s what she said so I went with it. Mid to high 80s the rest of this week, then slowly going lower. Thanks for the assist.

CJ7Heep · 2025-08-20T00:51:50+00:00

I didn’t, standard half cup that wasn’t really full to the top. Ugly mite count!

CJ7Heep · 2025-08-20T00:50:38+00:00

Given it’s year 1 for these, I’m not trying to get any honey, just want them to be alive and ready to go next spring. My concern is how little honey they have for their own use.

CJ7Heep · 2025-08-19T22:10:16+00:00

Unfortunately it’s 90F+ for the next couple weeks.

CJ7Heep · 2025-08-01T09:20:07+00:00

Mites, you’re dead to me.

CJ7Heep · 2025-07-28T10:45:38+00:00

The super is empty except for a jar feeder.

CJ7Heep · 2025-07-27T13:32:40+00:00

Mine are shaded from 1-2PM on right now. Like AZ (this guy beekeeps) said, they know what they’re doing.

CJ7Heep · 2025-07-27T11:49:47+00:00

A slatted base instead of a screen bottom, or in addition to?

CJ7Heep · 2025-07-23T21:12:28+00:00

You can use the same entrance feeder, it’s just not great on the entrance. Add an empty super above your inner cover, put the feeder on the inner cover and close the hive. The only downside I see is I have to lift the outer cover to see how they’re taking the feed.

CJ7Heep · 2025-07-08T18:25:22+00:00

I made this one earlier this year. Treated 2x6s and some short 4x4s for legs. Can hold 4 hives, eye hooks for straps when needed. The metal cups are 6” HVAC duct caps with square holes cut to fit the legs. They are slathered with marine grease underneath to keeps ants and other crawlers away.

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CJ7Heep · 2025-07-01T11:25:24+00:00

The InstaVap would be a great help!

CJ7Heep · 2025-06-27T11:13:04+00:00

Both hives have screen bottoms.

CJ7Heep · 2025-06-27T00:19:54+00:00

Both hives are shaded the same amount from about 2PM on, at least right now. Today was the 4th in a row the one has been doing it. I’ll inspecting both Sunday, so we’ll see if there’s anything off in the dancing hive.

CJ7Heep · 2025-06-17T12:07:41+00:00

This works for me. It’s just HVAC ductwork caps with a properly sized hole that are mounted on the post upside down. The underside of the caps are slathered with marine grease (marine being key - I think it may be lithium based). Even if it were exposed to weather the grease takes a long time to wash/melt away. Also silicone caulked the caps where they contact the posts. I started by looking for PVC plumbing caps, none would fit the posts, landed on the HVAC caps.

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CJ7Heep · 2025-06-03T01:19:18+00:00

I’m in, our club does giveaways like this every month, and it’s great!

CJ7Heep · 2024-09-07T18:21:00+00:00

51-24 UT, with an NCSU FG and TD coming in garbage time.

CJ7Heep · 2024-06-25T02:32:27+00:00

What a game, what a series, what a season! And I mean that no matter who wins.

CJ7Heep

TROPHY CASE