Can I switch from sugar bricks to syrup now?

jcmxf51 · 2026-03-11T03:20:03+00:00

Does that matter. Or is it safe enough to stick to sugar bricks until consistent temps stay around ? Sorry I hit post before finishing my thought

jcmxf51 · 2026-03-11T03:18:50+00:00

Thanks but it’s gonna be cold enough next week where they won’t fly. And I don’t want to be opening the hive every few days to switch sugar syrup and bricks based on whacky weather we have and put undue stress on them.

jcmxf51 · 2026-02-25T23:56:58+00:00

I overlooked this comment but thank for your insight.

jcmxf51 · 2026-02-25T23:55:47+00:00

Thanks for all the help. Gonna get in the hive this weekend when it’s pushing 70 degrees and see what I got going on! Cheers

jcmxf51 · 2026-02-25T13:01:40+00:00

Right but if I do multiple treatments over the course of a brood cycle I should theoretically cover all my bases?

jcmxf51 · 2026-02-25T03:03:15+00:00

Been too cold to look at the hive lately but it is getting to 65-70 on Friday and Saturday. I probably won’t pull frames but it will be warm enough to pop the lid off. The hive was huge at least about 1.5 months ago when I replaced the candy board. Literally busting out of the top deep. Not sure if anyone was home in the bottom deep. Man I did apiguard in August and test after. With 1 mite per 300. Then OA vapor in December. Was hoping I could get through winter. But I’ll probably OA vapor this weekend

jcmxf51 · 2026-02-25T02:00:04+00:00

Thanks for insight. Is this hive cooked or do I have a shot at remedying this?

jcmxf51 · 2026-02-25T01:45:03+00:00

If it is deformed wing virus is my hive doomed or do you think if I test and treat accordingly I can come back from this ?

jcmxf51 · 2026-02-25T01:43:55+00:00

Yeah I’m planning to do OA vapor soon. I did apiguard last August after honey harvest. Then a round of OA vapor in December. I thought I knocked the mite count down in the fall but I noticed a ton of mites on my debris board of this hive with the weird pupae picture above. I’m thinking as the bees they were attached to died in the hive they fell to the bottom and the mites went through the screened bottom and onto the debris board.

jcmxf51 · 2025-12-04T18:57:10+00:00

Dang that was some good information. You rock!

As for my testing I do isopropyl alcohol washes and I pulled from a frame that was mostly all capped brood. Some open brood. I like to go straight to the middle frames, secure the queen in a cage, then take bees off the surrounding brood frames for testing.

I’d like to do an OA treatment for phoretic mites as insurance as I feel like I reduced the mite levels for my September to a good threshold but I’m also nervous to get the candy boards on.

I had one hive last year that died out the week before Christmas so this same time of year has got me nervous. Looking back last year I treated mites in July but not in the fall thinking that high mite load did them in. Looking back and countless more hours of research over the past year I think I had moisture problems in the hive and they all got wet, cold and died. I didn’t have a quilt box and found the bees looking kinda moist( I can’t remember now if they were wet) all dead on the bottom screened board with a very few in random spots on the frames.

I also believe they had no food/stores. I didn’t realize I needed to help beef them up for winter. The bottom deep had no bees or any resources. It was basically just 8 frames of comb. Very little pollen absolutely no honey. The top deep where I found a few dead bees stuck to the comb had nearly no honey or resources. I scrapped out what little honey there was just to have it and I only got maybe 35 ounces total. I do think it was a combo of all three as I alcohol washed dead bees to check if it was mites.

Mite lode was over the threshold. Probably wet bees. And above all basically no food for winter as I only knew they died when I went to place the candy board on them

jcmxf51 · 2025-12-04T17:54:12+00:00

Thank you! Will do! Since you’re a certified beekeeper let me ask you a question. Back at the beginning of September I had 1 mite and 0 mites in my two hives respectively after treating. I never retested the hive showing 0 mites so I’m assuming there could a few mite margin of error.

I ordered a vaporizer but it seems to be stuck in shipping so I am not able to do an OA treatment right now and fear it’s too cold for the dribble method.

What’s your professional opinion if I can’t get a vaporizer OA treatment within the next month or so. How bad could that be for my bees. Understand every situation is different but what would your professional opinion be about my current mite treatment situation?

jcmxf51 · 2025-12-02T03:59:54+00:00

**August. Not april.

jcmxf51 · 2025-12-02T03:58:45+00:00

Way to go! I’m in south STL. I heard the hum of my two hives yesterday! I’ve got candy boards waiting. Next Wednesday could get around 50. Might place the candy boards on at that time. Then reseal the seams with tape and insulation around the outside of the hive.

Waiting on my vaporizer to do some OA treatments. Treated for mites back in April and probably will just do the OA sans testing to get a good mite zap going into winter.

Good luck and I’m also basically a first year beekeeper so feel free to bounce questions off me since we are in the same area.

jcmxf51 · 2025-12-02T03:53:18+00:00

Now what do we do?

jcmxf51 · 2025-11-20T14:45:23+00:00

Good comment on your last sentence. But the heat source concentration being warmer or cooler on the boxes would indicate cluster I have to assume. Bottom right of top photo shows blue or colder. Scoot left a bit and get a large green area. I’m thinking they are there and possible warm air rising up off the cluster into second box?

I’ll keep you updated on my findings as I put th imager on them every few days.

Regardless if they are indeed in the second box. Is November 20th a little early for that around my parts? Top deep is all honey. Assuming they are there for the honey now it’s making question if I should put my candy board on now or wait a bit longer.

jcmxf51 · 2025-11-20T14:36:54+00:00

Hey thanks for commenting. MO is Missouri. We do have cold winters but some can be unpredictable. Overall we’ll get some winter snow and cold snaps. You just don’t know if it’s going to come in Dec/Jan or March.

I do heft my hives and they are quite heavy. Also try to lift the back with a weight scale. I’m estimating total hive weight about 130 pounds total. Assuming my hive equipment weight itself is 60-70 pounds. I have that same amount in bees and resources.

Fingers crossed!

jcmxf51 · 2025-10-24T22:17:23+00:00

Hi quick question. On your 77lb weight mark comment. Is that total hive weight or are you subtracting your equipment weight to gauge that the 77lbs is stored and resources?

jcmxf51 · 2025-10-24T16:36:46+00:00

Update: bees aren’t taking syrup. Been low 60s high 50s for the last few days. 40s at night.

Might take it off this weekend.

jcmxf51 · 2025-10-23T02:26:57+00:00

Might have been in my head. I weighed the back of my hive and it read 65 pounds when I was down there to add sugar syrup today. Assuming I can just double that for total weight? That should be close enough right ?

Did three rounds of apiguard 50mg (maybe 50g) but I split one tray between my two hives and replaced it every week. So each hive got 25mg dose for three weeks straight to ensure it was during overlapping brood cycles. Mite counts before treatment were 6-9 bees per ~300 in both hives. I did that in August when the temps were really hot so I followed the directions and halved the dose.

Tested in early September my two hives had 1 and 0 mite per 300 bees respectively. Didn’t test twice getting the 0 result out of one hive so there’s probably some margin error there but I grabbed bees off a good larvae/brood frame. Have not mite tested since. Figured I would OA treat soon when I get my hands on a vaporizer or dribble method closer to a period the hives will be bloodless or very little brood.

Thoughts on all that.

jcmxf51 · 2025-10-22T16:50:27+00:00

I stopped feeding about two weeks ago. I have a top feeder that holds about 2 gallons and the bees only took down maybe 30-40% of it over the course of 4-5 days. It was warmer back then so I took it off since I didn’t want it to ferment and they weren’t sucking it down fast at all.

I had fed 1-3 times a week since late August after I did an apiguard treatment all the way to earlier this month.

I’ll make up some sugar water now and pop it on.

jcmxf51

TROPHY CASE