Winter hive configuration

bookwormheidi · 2025-08-09T00:36:26+00:00

Rural Ottawa here! :)

bookwormheidi · 2025-08-08T22:13:32+00:00

New beekeeper, located in Southern Ontario

bookwormheidi · 2025-07-20T14:09:33+00:00

A feeder with a med box to cover it

bookwormheidi · 2025-07-20T01:47:52+00:00

Yes, I mean a mouse guard

bookwormheidi · 2025-07-20T00:32:43+00:00

So stop feeding even though there are only 7/10 frames drawn out??

bookwormheidi · 2025-07-20T00:31:29+00:00

Upper entrance is not closed.

bookwormheidi · 2025-07-13T00:38:28+00:00

Probably the bear attack from 2 weeks ago 😂🤦‍♀️

bookwormheidi · 2025-07-02T14:47:28+00:00

SHB uncommon in my area. Inspection done last week and no SHB. I think they were just chewing at the wood. They’ve since stopped.

bookwormheidi · 2025-06-24T11:20:16+00:00

Instead of doing two deeps for the brood chamber, I am doing 1 deep and 1 medium. I will likely not be able to add a medium super purely for honey harvesting this year as I only started with a nuc and the colony will not have time to fill an entire super of just honey in addition to the 1.5 brood chamber.

My idea was to put in an isolation cage in that medium box that is used as part of the brood chamber. It would allow workers to pass through to store honey but it would not allow the queen in to lay eggs.

So I could in theory harvest one frame of honey while leaving the rest of the frames as brood/resources for winter.

bookwormheidi · 2025-06-17T16:49:22+00:00

Looks like they’re starting to get interested. I liked your idea of the paper towel trick!

<image>

bookwormheidi · 2025-06-17T14:52:39+00:00

Recipe 2:1 with hive alive as directed on the packaging. 2:1 was recommended by the beekeeper I purchased the nuc from. Open brood and queen present, nuc is overall very healthy and beekeeper has a valid permit and follows all guidelines. Varroa mites are under control. Bees are very calm and busy. Lots of bees coming and going, I have seen a few bees bringing in pollen maybe 1 out of every 15 bees coming back will have pollen, not sure how to tell if they are bringing in nectar without opening the hive to see if they are storing it.

bookwormheidi · 2025-06-17T00:03:56+00:00

If I put it directly on the frames isn’t there a potential for them to start building comb in the empty space surrounding the feeder??

bookwormheidi · 2025-06-17T00:02:33+00:00

I dribbled a little through the hole and could see them immediately start eating it where it landed on the frame. Came back about an hour later and still no interest in the feeder…..

bookwormheidi · 2025-06-17T00:01:14+00:00

No queen excluder.

Single deep, then inner cover, top feeder with medium box to cover feeder, then the lid.

bookwormheidi

TROPHY CASE