20:45 Wx temps
Well we are finally getting the cold weather the bees need.
2 Likes
Sitting on benches with a rock on top. That does it for us in Nor CalâŚ
; -)
We are having a great P.N.W. Sunday ! Plenty of sunshine with puffs of SWerlies up to 10 mph. Our afternoon high looks like at 49.0 dgs F (about 10 dgs C) ⌠What is your Colder daily highs now ? Looks to be 22:00 there n 14:00 here West Coast time.
Gerald
That is one thing about coastal Southern California. We have a winter nectar dearth, but it never gets cold enough to kill off the wax moths and other pests. Our poor bees have to work quite hard on their hive hygiene!
Dawn
Hi Dawn,
We get some chilly Wx now temps up here but canât count on it low enough to klll off wax moth eggs or larva. Iâve had to make room in my larger freezer to place hive body one at a time n frames for several days or more.
We have to check our bees later in the winter n early Spring to make sure they still have enough honey supply. If we get one of our false warm spells in Febraury the Queen can kick into high gear. If this happen there are more mouths to feed thus need to feed until the nectar flow kicks in. Offen we will toss 4 or 5 lbs of dry sugar on top of the inner lid for insurance.
What have you had to do there with your dreath as you mentioned ? The PNW can be trick n challenging often. Each year is different.
Gerald
Have you Africanised bees there yet?
Iâve just caught up with a lecture from last yearâs National Honey Show. The speaker talks of hobby beekeeping having to be abandoned in Texas unless you are re-queening every year.
Thank Heavens it get cold here. It might give us some minor protection against SHB too
One of our new hives was very weak at the end of the summer nectar flow (July/August) so we have had to feed with syrup. We actually fed at first with 1:1 syrup, because it was still very hot and dry - up to mid 90s many days. Switched to 2:1 syrup in October. In November the stores looked a lot better. I hate to give them artificial resources, but it is better than losing a hive. The other hive we just left with their own honey. They had around 40 lb I would guess at the end of November. We havenât harvested any this year - they need it more than we do. 
Dawn
Hi Dee,
There are patches of africanised bees near us, but I havenât personally see any yet. The City of San Diego requires all urban beekeepers to requeen every 2 years, partly an attempt to reduce africanisation, and partly a misguided attempt to prevent swarming (there are better ways, as you know).
In the UK, we had 3 hives which showed behaviour very much like africanised bees, but that was back in about 1990, so of course they werenât! 
Go anywhere within 20 feet of the hive, and the bees would start to chase us. Open the hive, and even with smoke, you could hardly see out of your veil because of the black rain of attacking bees. Walk away from the hive, the bees would follow 100 feet or more, and our bee suits would be covered in stingers - 100 or more of them each time. Needless to say, we re-queened with a beautiful docile yellow queen and we then had several years of peaceful bees. They did begin to drift over time though, as you might expect, but they were never as bad as before the requeening.
So I hope we donât have to deal with such unpleasant bees, but if we do, at least we have had a little experience. I also have friends who would be willing to take our hives out of the city while we re-queen, and bring them back once they are docile again. Beekeeping really isnât much fun when you are under determined attack, and the neighbours certainly wouldnât appreciate it (image of bee tornado (Bee-nado?) whirling through neighbouring gardensâŚ)
Dawn
I just posted a video of me opening my flow hive box. For those who havenât got theirs yet, you can see what it looks like straight from the box. I am in the process of editing a second video showing us assembling it all. So watch for that one later. (I wonât post that one till end of January because I am going to be in Hawaii for the next two weeks:)
To see the video go to: www.scholarsrusticgarden.com
Itâs quite amazing how far the African hybrid has travelled in so little time.
I know how you feel.
I have Buckfast which is a gentle bee. Subsequent generations are famous for becoming aggressive (a trait they share with Carniolans). I dabbled with raising my own queens down the generations hoping to get a âlocal mongrelâ but on one occasion I created the hive from hell; two bee suits and welderâs gloves hell. In order to find the queen husband and I had to largely dismantle the brood box. There were more bees on us than in that box. We found her on the floor after half an hour of searching. It depends on your neighboursâ drones as much as on the genes of your queen, of course. It can be a real hit-and-miss as there are loads of beekeepers nearby.I missed my gentle orange stripey bees so I am happy now to raise one generation and re-queen every two.
PS I do have two colonies of local black bees too. They are tetchy and can follow after an inspection but I have no neighbours. 
I know where you are coming from my 2 hives had about 30kg (65lb there about) between them.
Fortunately I spotted the problem when brood numbers were dropping and apart from a slight brood break they were fine.
My worry is as the winter has been so mild I may be giving them fondant before the end of the month
Hi Dawn,
I am very excited to return to beekeeping. Lot has changed n some mostly the same. Iâll have to see if I lost my nack at it. I am guessing some of my first season 2016 will be catchup n a learning curse but at a young 70 I am looking forward to the challenges n pleasures alike.
I am starting with three full hive setups n 3 nucâs of Italians. At least thatâs what I am told by my supplier. I am top of the list (ordered n deposit last October). Guessing somewhere a delivery about mid April but ready anytime ! I bought one complete setup n built most of the other two in my small backyard woodshop.
It will be an interesting first season return n much to feed on n watch for once again. Sorry about the one weak hive. Guessing I could end up with one also. Hope I catch the problem early like you n we have a great nectar first season but guessing we go with what we get.
Got to buy several hive log books to keep records n thots in for each hive. Brain can get fuzzy exactly which hive I did what to what 
. Not sure that is age as been an issue of learning all my life even learning Vietnamese. My adopted daughter is Vietnamese. I hope to give her a gallon jar of honey for part of her wedding gift in late July. A friend of mine raises bees so I will get that from him. I know my colonies n hives will need all the honey they can use to build n survive next winter with. Hoping for 60 to 80 lbs. but like my mom use to say, " if wishes were horses then beggars would ride !" 
. Moving on here ⌠Enjoy your Tuesday. Gerald. PS: baked sweeten cornmeal muffins for breakfast this morning. Great steaming with raw honey ! 
1 Like
Is it possible to use one regular frame (not flow) so that I can get one frame of honey comb and the rest just plain honey?
Not a great idea for a couple of reasons.
First, you will mess up the spacing and therefore the âbee spaceâ. Flow frames are thicker than standard frames, so you will have a gap. You could possibly put in a follower board to close up that gap.
Second, when you take the rear observation window off to harvest honey from the Flow frames, bees will be able to escape from the back around the traditional frame, harassing you while you harvest.
I would suggest a medium or shallow super on top of the Flow super for your comb honey.