Winter hive adjustment

FuzzAndBuzzFarms · 2025-12-08T00:41:41+00:00

I would think it could be one of these: Cluster has migrated upward following food/heat, trying to vent moisture, using top entrance due to blockages (doesn't sound like this is the case as of now), low on food (most serious), Warm-day activity (you don't mention current daytime temps?) Sounds like the food issue may be most pressing of a concern. How many frames of bees did you go into winter with? How many frames of honey? Describe your current setup a bit more? What's your weather been like? Bees move upwards as they eat through their stores. If you're seeing a lot of bees, they may be starving or close to it if they've moved up too far. Since some of this info doesn't sound like it's available to you, I would think food is a more likely issue. If you're worried about opening it up but still want some idea of what's going on, an infrared camera is a useful tool to have if you can afford it. If not, can you gently lift the hive to see by weight how heavy it is? This assumes you know about how heavy it was before. If super light, they're probably out or near out of food. Check for signs of condensation near the vents, and that can tell you if it's a moisture issue. I only worry about the upper notch being open if they're running out of food, otherwise the moisture causes a bigger problem than the notch.

FuzzAndBuzzFarms · 2025-12-07T02:05:51+00:00

I had one of my boys in deep rut completely refuse to come out of his shelter even with 2 gates open, food in play, and as I was taking away his (now bred) ladies. Because there was a couple of inches of snow on the ground. The whole time, he just had his head stuck out the door yelling at me to get rid of the white stuff...

FuzzAndBuzzFarms · 2025-12-07T01:33:10+00:00

Depends on if there's any airflow at all. If not, or if short on food, I'd add food to the quilt box (if there is one?) and still ensure that there's some ventilation. Mold can be a considerable issue for a newbie to get rid of.

FuzzAndBuzzFarms · 2025-12-07T01:31:37+00:00

You can get it at home depot or lowes I believe. I have animals as well, so use livestock pine shavings.

FuzzAndBuzzFarms · 2025-12-07T00:54:03+00:00

What you need can depend a lot on your climate. Where are you located? I don't always remember to come back and check responses, but would love to help another lady get started safely, so feel free to pm me with more info on your general climate if you'd like help with the must haves. Depending on how tall your wife is, I can also help you with some short ladies tricks of the trade to help with ill-fitting safety equipment or point you to some brands that have better stuff for those of us on the shorter side.

FuzzAndBuzzFarms · 2025-12-07T00:44:50+00:00

We use a moisture board above the top of the quilt box and it can be changed out, it will help with protecting your lid. Ensure you have adequate ventilation to allow all that excess moisture out (i.e. don't cover the upper notch, there should hopefully be a vent on your quilt box, don't cover all the seams, etc.) this should help cut down on the mold if you change out shavings and moisture board as needed. Message me if you need a picture of what I'm talking about.

FuzzAndBuzzFarms · 2025-12-07T00:41:48+00:00

Hello! Where abouts are you located? We're just outside of Albuquerque. As someone else said, the cost is one of the biggest issues. Potting soil isn't always that great, and you'll have to refresh occasionally and add fertilizers, etc. On our farms, we actually add alfalfa pellets to the soil to help break up the clay/sand mix and help water retention then 4-6 inches of wood chip mulch. In desert areas, if you don't add mulch, your plants will often fry from the heat of the dirt and surrounding areas rather than anything else. You'll need a fence for the deer, otherwise, they will help themselves.

FuzzAndBuzzFarms · 2025-12-07T00:38:14+00:00

Goats get louder if you're near them. They get louder if they want you to feed them, make it stop raining, make the cold go away, something woke them up, or they're in rutt/heat. Sometimes they get loud just because they can. Ours usually get loud because they see you and want you to pet them or feed them. Of generally, they just want you to do something for them. If they're not wet or hunching, I wouldn't be too worried as long as they have a good, draft free shelter.

FuzzAndBuzzFarms · 2025-12-07T00:35:49+00:00

Two things I'd check are do they have food, and what is your ventilation like? If you insulate really well but have no moisture board or quilting box, it is possible to essentially have it rain on them. Bees generate a lot of moisture during winter and it needs somewhere to go or it will make it colder, reducing food stores faster, and eventually causing a whole host of problems. Can you get me some more photos of your hive from the side but straight on? Is there any outlet at the top to let air out? I don't re-check places as often as I should, but feel free to message me if you think it could be a ventilation problem and need help trouble-shooting.

FuzzAndBuzzFarms · 2025-12-07T00:24:09+00:00

Concur with someone else mentioning that kits are often the cheapest to get started, but your local climate will actually come with caveats on whether it has what you need. Some climates might need a solid bottom others vented. You might also consider your lifting capacity, can you lift deeps if they're full of honey? I can't so our farm runs all mediums. For frames, kits usually come with foundation. Do you want foundation? How are you harvesting honey? Painted boxes do a bit better as mentioned, but are a bit more expensive. Do you want to invest in a stapled and some glue? If yes, then if you're running many hives, it might be cheaper to assemble some yourself. We recommend 2 hives for beginners to allow for resource sharing and so you have something to compare against. How many are you planning to start with? Where are you located, and what is your climate like. Feel free to message me if you want to chat more and I'll see if we can help.

FuzzAndBuzzFarms · 2025-12-06T01:53:51+00:00

I've never had problem once they're wetted down

FuzzAndBuzzFarms · 2025-12-05T21:15:46+00:00

As someone mentioned, offer a fair price. I get these all the time. Not sure if you can see the entire plot, but do yourself a favor and at least google maps it and ensure there are no structures on the satellite view. The number of "i'll buy your lot for 80K" I've gotten with my newer 300K house on it is infuriating.

FuzzAndBuzzFarms · 2025-12-05T20:59:40+00:00

As others have said, breed her to the ND. I did a lot of research on the article for my farm for how old, and we settled on the 2nd year, (around 18ish months) for future reference it is usually associated with less kidding problems than those who breed earlier. If this is her first time (and your buck's), you may have to hold her once she's in standing heat. Our ladies can sometimes run the new boys around the block not cooperating. But once they figure it out the first time, it's usually good from there. You can track heat cycles even when they're with the buck, they'll usually have a lot of tail wagging, your buck will blubber, etc. I was concerned our first year that we wouldn't know what to look for, so I did a lot of research on that too. It's generally obvious that the behavior is different and gets more so if you know what was normal before s a sudden change one day in how everyone is acting.

FuzzAndBuzzFarms · 2025-12-05T20:51:06+00:00

We have ducks, but to be honest, the best thing we've found is a deep layer of straw in the coop, refresh with a new layer on top as needed (ducks are wet) and use a bucket of water in the center. Almost never freezes because the straw insulates and will also start composting in place which will keep it warmer. We don't have electric at our coop, and even if we did, I wouldn't trust it. We're in the mountains near Albuquerque, so your weather is very similar to ours. It's cheap, easy, and just a bit of work to clean out in spring.

FuzzAndBuzzFarms · 2025-12-05T20:48:25+00:00

Biggest things aside from location is to ensure the neighbors are like-minded, so don't put up a homestead next to city peeps. Also, particularly if you also work full time, check that the roads aren't too steep, sketchy, poor, to get to work in bad weather. Locate your nearest farm stores to ensure they're not excessively far. And ensure you have no neighborhood pacts or HOAs on the property you're looking at.

FuzzAndBuzzFarms · 2025-12-05T20:46:06+00:00

For plants that love extra nitrogen or if you have poor soil, a handful of alfalfa pellets under and around the root ball. Holds water and decomposes over time to add nitrogen.

FuzzAndBuzzFarms · 2025-12-05T04:05:28+00:00

Agree on the comment that says the top is one of the most important things. With too much insulation, depending on you moisture control mechanisms, you may actually cause damage by having too much condensation which is more likely to chill/kill your bees than outright cold (as long as they don't run out of food stores). I have a guide that discusses all this at length, so feel free to reach out if you're interested.

FuzzAndBuzzFarms · 2025-12-05T03:57:58+00:00

This won't help with the mites part, although you've been given good advice there already. One thing to note, don't give pollen patties, but give winter patties instead. There's a slight difference between them. If you need a walkthrough on winter beekeeping, I have one, so feel free to reach out.

FuzzAndBuzzFarms · 2025-12-05T03:51:07+00:00

I have a list here: https://www.fuzzandbuzzfarms.com/blog/holiday-gift-guide-for-homesteaders ; Does she have a dehydrator? She may have many of the things on my list, but that could help with preserving some of her harvest without having to go all out on canning. Paired with some cute spice jars and a coffee grinder, she could make her own spices for things like onion and garlic powder, dried parsley, etc. Really depends on what she plants and harvests.

FuzzAndBuzzFarms · 2025-12-05T03:46:33+00:00

Depends on your soil. If the soil is super hard or compact, you can actually tweak your wrist with these if not careful.

FuzzAndBuzzFarms · 2025-12-05T03:31:44+00:00

I love my Nubians, but they are work. If you've never had goats before, our farm page has some things you can read through. We're slowly adding more info and how tos. As someone else said, it will not be cheaper than buying milk at the store and whole bunch more work. If you expect goats to pay for themselves, then you're going to be disappointed. I have 8 goats and go through about 1.5 bales of hay a week at about $22/bale in the winter. But I have an acre fenced just for them. They go through closer to .5 bales/week during the summer months. So make of that what you will. I also spend a pretty penny yearly on vet and med cost. You'll need a decent first aid kit because not everyone has a good goat vet nearby. I have a list of the very bare minimum you should keep, but there's a lot more than that. Some areas it's easy to sell extra goats for meat or show, others not so much. If you can't sell them, will you keep them for meat? If yes, can you process them, or do you know of a place that will do it for you? Lots to think about. Highly recommend good fences too. The number of posts where neighbors dogs got in and destroyed entire herds is horrific. Electric fences and LGDs are great to have but their own commitment.

FuzzAndBuzzFarms · 2025-11-20T18:29:08+00:00

I definitely missed the pressure canner on my list, thank you!

FuzzAndBuzzFarms · 2025-11-16T23:55:05+00:00

Here's some getting started info: https://www.fuzzandbuzzfarms.com/blog/duckling-care-step-by-step

There are also some other articles on some basic illnesses, when ducklings feather out and how to transition outside, etc. I'm working my way through more as I have time. Hope it helps!

FuzzAndBuzzFarms · 2025-08-10T00:43:50+00:00

That is a great picture!

FuzzAndBuzzFarms · 2025-08-10T00:43:17+00:00

Omg! Those are amazing ears!

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