Bee Hives

[leechmann]

Here we are on January 20, 2010. I am down to 2 hives that are alive at this time. The other day when the temps hit 40+, the bees were out flying. They leave the hive for cleansing flights. The bees are actually going to the bathroom out side and then returning to the hive. There are brown spots all over the snow around the hives, for approximately 20 ft circle. Some of the bees land in the snow and don't make it back to the hive. It's pretty incredible that the bees made it through the long sub zero temps we had in December.

We still have half the winter to go, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that these two hive make it.

Leechmann

[leechmann]

Well, it's Feb. 17, 2010 and the two remainig hives are doing great. I opened the hives up yesterday and fed the bees some sugar. The last couple of days the bees have been flying, and walking around in the entrance hole of the hives. 6 weeks to go, I have my fingers crossed.

[leechmann]

Here we are on March 2nd,the days are gettig longer and spring is in the air. This is what I was waiting for. The temps are hitting 40 and the bee hives are heating up. At least hey are supposed to be.

I checked my hives the other day and it's with great sadness, that I have to report that my bees have died. Just when I thought we were over he hump, they weren't able to old on.

I have to say, I've learned alot about what it takes to keep bees through the winter, and I think I made every mistake imaginable. I want to thank the pickle farmer for his knowledge and advice for urging me to winter the bees here. Even though it was a failure, it was very satisfying to help the bees as they seemingly were almost there.

I will take what I've learned and do a better job next year. I am expanding to 20 hives this spring.I am going to have 4 different kinds of bees. They will be Carnolians, Italians, Rusian and MN Hygenic Bees.

My first shippment of bees is scheduled to arrive on April 10. I am looking forward to getting the new season underway. If anyone has any questions on keeping bees or getting started in bee keeping, please feel free to ask. I will answer what I can and will help anyone get started.

Thanks

Leechmann

[swamptiger]

Sorry to hear they didn't make it. Any idea why they would have died now, after making it almost through the winter?

[BLACKJACK]

Skimming thru this thread brought back some good memories!! About 15 years ago I took the beekeeping course that is offered at the University of Minnesota and then started with two hives and eventually got up to 5 hives. Fun hobby!! The sweet clover was thick that year and I ended up with more honey than I knew what to do with. I used to have a bucket sitting by my hives so I sit and watch them go in and out. Very interesting. I had a swarm that I captured and also had good luck wintering them.

I moved about 10 years ago and let the hives die out, but I kept all my equipment, maybe some day I'll get back into it. It WAS very time consuming and right now with all my other hobbies, gardening, food plots, fishing, camping I haven't felt the urge to start up. Plus it doesn't hurt to have two other bee keepers around where I can buy quarts of honey.

Fun and interesting hobby!

[leechmann]

I think the biggest thing I did wrong was not insuate the hives. There was some ice build up inside the hives. I think the bees that made it this far, just didn't have enough other bees to keep the temp up inside the hive. Both hives had enough honey stores left, but weren't able to move the cluster to where the food was.

Like I said, I've learned alot and will be able to have my bees in better shape gong into the winter next year.

Thanks for your interest, Swamptiger.

Leechmann

[leechmann]

I picked up my new bees on Saturday, and installed them in the hive boxes. They seem to be doing great. I'll post some pictures soon.

[leechmann]

[img:center]

Just thought I'd give you folks an update on the Leechmann honey bee world. Everything is going very nice. I started with 22 hives this spring. Throughout the summer, I've managed to catch 8 swarms. I've made good use of my bee vacum. I'm about 2 weeks away from taking the honey and extracting it. The picture above is of my best producing bee yard this season. Each one of those boxes should produce at least 25 lbs of honey.

[reinhard1]

not knowing a thing about bees i am impressed with your work. good luck.

[tweedlap]

leechmann,

Is there any reason the boxes the bees are in are different colors?

Something I have always wondered.

Thanks,

tweed

[leechmann]

Tweedlap, thanks for the question, No, it makes no difference what color the boxes are painted. The only thing, I can think of,would be if you live in a very warm climate, white would be a good color, just to deal with the extreme heat. Other than that, they say buy whatever color paint is on sale.

[leechmann]

Here's a few pics from today.We harvested 39 boxes of honey off these 6 hives at an average of 30 lbs of honey in each box, which comes to 1170 lbs of honey from this group of hives. Thats a 195 lb average, which is very good. I have 16 more hives to tend to in he next few days. In the second pic, you can see some bees that are hatching.

Leechmann

[leechmann]

Quick update on todays harvest. Day 2 on the 2010 honey harvest. We brought in 35 more medium supers of honey, for a honey weight of 1050 lbs, for a two day total of 2220 lbs of honey. 8 hives to go, hoping to break 3000 lbs.

Leechmann

[swamptiger]

Sounds like your having a good season leechman. Thanks for the upadate, and good luck on the bees making it through the winter this year.

[leechmann]

I may have a way to get my bees through the winter this year. I am in the process of hooking up with a farmer that lives in Kansas. I'll haul my bees down there in Oct. and bring them back in the spring, if it all works out.

Thanks Swamptiger

[leechmann]

I finished harvesting the honey today. I ended up 93 medium supers full, which is approximately 2800 pounds. We start extracting tomorrow. I'll take some pic's and let you know how it goes.

Leechmann