The problem with courses after keeping bees is that they start very basic and once you have picked up skills and knowledge from keeping bees a lot of what is talked about is already known.
I had someone who had done a course come over and have a look around, we harvested some honey and looked through one of my nuc colonys and apparently more was gained from this than the course, less stings too. It was a fun morning, I learnt a lot.
This is where a mentor or bee buddy comes into its own, finding one is the issue here where urban sprawl is so pronounced.
Meantime read, read and ask questions when you have them.
With such a poor season, cooler weather and lack of flowers make sure your colonies have enough in the pantry. A few non flying days and the bees can buzz through their stores.
Live and learnā¦
I use 2 brood boxes generally, a FD and WSP. The single bb colonyās are the strugglers and I use the traditional frames in the hybrid supers to feed the poor.
I vote more honey. The Perth Hills are nowhere near as cold as further south where they get regular sub-zero overnight temps.
Fortunately, my vertical flow hive has plenty of stocks up top to see them through.
The long hive is a bit light on, however, they do have the advantage of winter flowering garden plants down in the township for the girls to forage on.
There are a number of trees currently flowering in the surrounding streets, including nectar and pollen producing and I am working on the theory that they will be able to keep themselves going.
The horizontal hive seems to have dropped off their numbers in the last month, having said that they also seem to have a higher level of activity outside compared to that of the vertical hive. If things get really grim for the long hive I will give them one of the flow frames to see them through.
Where are you living? Itās the wrong time of year to be expecting honey to harvest in Perth, the hills, or the South West. And if youāve been feeding for 6 weeks the stores youāre seeing probably arenāt from the bees foragingā¦
So, if anyone is interested in Perthā¦the attached is a converted image I got from the ChemCentre for honey testing pricingā¦accurate as @10-June-2019.
Iām not feeding in the burbs but I did leave 4 std frames and 1 flow frame for them going into winter (I leave one hybrid Super in place over winter. Yes, I keep the QX on. It doesnāt get cold enough to worry about the cluster shifting upā¦ For our international readers this thread)
Mind you, I havenāt physically inspected inside the hive now for about 8 weeks. I have spent time observing the hive and the foraging and paid attention to what is flowering so Iām confident they are ok. Iām currently thinking Iāll open the hive up again in about 2 weeks for a proper inspection.
Iām a little further south and Iām not feeding. My bees have put weight on consistently over, what has been a dry, winter (I have a hive scale). Using the same scale I can see that my numbers have also increased by about 300% and as seen by my temp/humidity probes the colony has started to expand the brood nest. Not all of my hives have data gathered and the space to expand. I need to get in and have a look at a few of them as I likely need to provide space and/or do preventative swarm management.
No Winter has been pretty good. The Jarrah flowered on time (perhaps a little early) and is still flowering strongly. Heaps of wattles out for pollen.Tagasaste (tree lucerne) is flowering very strongly and the bees go mad over it. There are a number of winter flowering gums not many per species but enough of the nectar guys to be a good supply.
While slowly building up I think the hives will be in great shape come the āFLOWā.
This year the plan to run one hive with 2 broods and one with 1 brood and see how it all turns out in Kgās of honey.
Hang in there Skegs Spring will be early this yearā¦my back is starting to feel good already and thatās a sign which is definite, scientific, NASA endorsed and supported by 9 out of 10 doctors.
@skeggley Greg, it seems you continue to be in a bad spot. My girls have made a bit of a gain in both hives, even though they seem to be under regular attack from the local ferals. The horizontal hives anti robbing system seems to be working OK, however I also have it down to 1 entry. The flow has 2 entries open and there is a regular mass if dead bees in front in the turf. Having said that they are too busy foraging to worry about getting cranky, which means my management is working.
It was a fun morning, I learnt a lot.
