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Author Topic: how many hives you have going into winter  (Read 9498 times)

Offline schawee

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how many hives you have going into winter
« on: November 06, 2011, 11:21:59 pm »
i did a count and have 68 hives and 17 nucs. in the spring i will start a post to see  how many hives made it through winter.     schawee
« Last Edit: November 07, 2011, 11:27:42 pm by schawee »
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Offline JP

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Re: how many hives you have going into winter
« Reply #1 on: November 07, 2011, 12:00:45 am »
That's not enough. We need to add another hundred this season.  :-D


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Offline FRAMEshift

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Re: how many hives you have going into winter
« Reply #2 on: November 07, 2011, 07:34:13 am »
i did a count and have 68 hives and seventeen nucs.      schawee
If you have to count, you have too many.    :evil:
"You never can tell with bees."  --  Winnie-the-Pooh

Offline L Daxon

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Re: how many hives you have going into winter
« Reply #3 on: November 07, 2011, 08:56:31 am »
Schawee,

As many colonies as you and JP have removed/trapped/caught/etc. I would have thought you had thousands by now.   i love all your videos. :pop:

I have two and a half -- the half is a weak one started from a swarm I caught in June and I think pesticides and robbing have gotten the better of it.

Maybe you ought to append this thread to include not only how many are you going into winter with but how many do you expect to have at winter's end!
linda d

Offline T Beek

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Re: how many hives you have going into winter
« Reply #4 on: November 07, 2011, 09:04:00 am »
This was 'supposed' to be my year of expansion to nine, but the Spring Bear thought differently :'(  I consider myself lucky to be going into winter with three boomer colonies.  One in a Long Hive and two in Langs.  Maybe next year will be my expansion year, either way, 3-9 is my ultimate goal, its all I want or feel I can handle right now.

When I worked with a big outfit many years ago I barely had any time to get to know the bees so I am relishing in taking such time and care with just a few hives.

thomas
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Offline Hemlock

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Re: how many hives you have going into winter
« Reply #5 on: November 07, 2011, 09:18:16 am »
i did a count and have 68 hives and seventeen nucs.      schawee
If you feed I'm glad I'm not paying your sugar bill but i know what you need for Christmas...

Going into Winter with four hives and two nucs.  Though the last nuc is a September swarm.  She's on three frames but is still laying well.  This is the first year i'm over wintering nucs so we'll see whose left come Spring.

Make Mead!

Offline rufus

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Re: how many hives you have going into winter
« Reply #6 on: November 07, 2011, 10:07:24 am »
I'm just a new bee and only have two.

Offline VolunteerK9

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Re: how many hives you have going into winter
« Reply #7 on: November 07, 2011, 10:07:40 am »


 This is the first year i'm over wintering nucs so we'll see whose left come Spring.

Same here..Im trying to over winter 4 nucs this year to see how that goes. My other 12 are full sized so not many worries there.

Offline D Semple

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Re: how many hives you have going into winter
« Reply #8 on: November 07, 2011, 10:54:02 am »
First year and I have 17 all from caught swarms and removals. Thanks to JP, schawee, Scott & Peg, and Michael Bush for teaching me how.

Don

Offline VolunteerK9

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Re: how many hives you have going into winter
« Reply #9 on: November 07, 2011, 11:23:36 am »
i did a count and have 68 hives and seventeen nucs.      schawee

You gonna sell any of those tiger striped nucs at Buds next year?

Offline AliciaH

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Re: how many hives you have going into winter
« Reply #10 on: November 07, 2011, 12:07:11 pm »
24 hives, though I'm worried one is queenless.  My usual loss is 20%, so I expect to lose 4, maybe 5 hives.  Though, of course, I'm gonna try my darnedest to make that a worst case scenario!

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: how many hives you have going into winter
« Reply #11 on: November 07, 2011, 12:58:40 pm »
3 hives and a swarm filled squirrel box.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
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Offline Shanevrr

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Re: how many hives you have going into winter
« Reply #12 on: November 07, 2011, 09:21:12 pm »
going in with 8 10fr deeps
www.Valleybeesupply.com
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Shane C.

Offline MTWIBadger

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Re: how many hives you have going into winter
« Reply #13 on: November 07, 2011, 10:41:25 pm »
Going into winter with 4 hives after coming through last winter with 4.  Thought I would expand this year but the bees kept swarming and I struggled to get them requeened all summer. 

Offline tenderton

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Re: how many hives you have going into winter
« Reply #14 on: November 07, 2011, 11:04:34 pm »
I'm a first year beek, have 4 hives, each with 2 deeps. 3 italians, 1 carnie. So far so good. All look pretty strong at this point Two produced a medium super of honey, the other two just a few random frames.

Offline schawee

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Re: how many hives you have going into winter
« Reply #15 on: November 08, 2011, 12:06:58 am »
jp,we need to bump those numbers up to maybe 200. frameshift you never have to many :-D idaxon,i will start another post in the spring on how many was lost.glad you like our videos.hemlock,i live in the middle of thousands of acres of sugarcane.i just walk across the street from my house and cut all i need. :-D  don, thanks for watching our videos.you would be surprise how fast your beeyard can grow :-D  k9,if you come to buds i will sell you a tiger stripe nuc and will give  you a tiger stripe queen too.hope to see you at bud4.
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Offline caticind

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Re: how many hives you have going into winter
« Reply #16 on: November 08, 2011, 10:53:20 am »
Had 18 at peak.  14 going into winter. 

Did 1 combine due to...well it was either EFB or that new thing I heard about at the NCSBA that the inspectors are calling "snotty brood" since they don't know the causative organism yet.  Bees were not controlling it well so I pinched that queen and threw all the frames into the middle of my strongest colony.  No sign of disease after 2 weeks.

2 combines due to failure to thrive/small size.  To be expected as I split VERY aggressively in the late spring.

1 deadout due to pesticide kill.
The bees would be no help; they would tumble over each other like golden babies and thrum wordlessly on the subjects of queens and sex and pollen-gluey feet. -Palimpsest

Offline VolunteerK9

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Re: how many hives you have going into winter
« Reply #17 on: November 08, 2011, 12:27:49 pm »
k9,if you come to buds i will sell you a tiger stripe nuc and will give  you a tiger stripe queen too.hope to see you at bud4.
Hoping that I can make it this year

Offline S.M.N.Bee

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Re: how many hives you have going into winter
« Reply #18 on: November 08, 2011, 12:49:26 pm »

I have two full size hives and a nuc. that I made from a package that was queenless most of the year and never built up to full size.

Good luck to all in the coming winter.

John

Offline VolunteerK9

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Re: how many hives you have going into winter
« Reply #19 on: November 08, 2011, 02:15:37 pm »

Good luck to all in the coming winter.

John

Walt Wright wrote in Bee Culture December 96 that:

"When you have done all you can do in the Fall to insure successful wintering, the colonies are laid-by. You have to wait out the Winter to determine the degree of success of your Fall management efforts. Unlike the farmer, however, your periodic inspections in late Winter / early Spring can influence the ultimate degree of success, if you are prepared to act on inspection findings."

I find that "laying-by" during the Winter is the most stressful, nerve racking time of my year.