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  • From: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • To: ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Another newbie question: winterizing...
  • Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:45:20 -0500

Blair,

1) "The Hive and the Honey Bee" and "The ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture" are the 2 premier reference books for beekeepers who want more than the basics. "Hive and the Honey Bee" is like a textbook, with extensive sections on every aspect of apiculture. "ABC and XYZ" is like an encyclopedia, arranged alphabetically by topic, with a few pages on each specific topic. I recommend both, but if you are prioritizing your purchase, I'd probably get "Hive and Honey Bee" first. But that's a matter of preference.
For some strange reason, you can buy "Hive and Honey Bee" directly from the publisher (dadant.com) tremendously cheaper than you can get it from amazon. So when shopping, use Dadant's price as the price to beat.

2) How many supers you'll need in the spring is a bit like asking how the stock market will be doing then. Hopefully you'll need a lot more than you have, but it could be you won't need any! I've had as many as seven medium supers on a gangbuster hive, but I own only about two or three per hive. They average out because I can have as many losers as gangbusters. My advice is to definitely get two supers per hive; if you feel really lucky get three. When the bees fill them up, all you need to do is extract the honey & put the supers back on again. I usually end up extracting twice. That way I don't need lots of supers --- I just use the same ones more than once.

Re: equipment: I like to always have extra equipment (complete hives) lying around. You never know when somebody may call and ask if you want to collect a free swarm, or you may want to make a split.

Re: preparing for winter: Do the lift test to check how much honey is in the hive. From the back, lift the hive an inch or so to see how heavy it is. If you've never done this before, lift it and then do an in-the-hive inspection to see how much stored honey is causing that much weight. After you learn what "heavy" means, you won't need to actually open the hive during the winter to check the stores. You want your hive to be very heavy right now.

It sounds like you have things well in hand, as good as you can reasonably expect.

Randall


On 11/30/2011 12:23 PM, Blair Christian wrote:
First: I'm about to order a "real" reference book for beekeeping as
opposed to the quick start book I have now (Delaplane's "First
Lessons in Beekeeping"). Is "the hive and the honeybee" by Grout the
way I want to go?

Second: I'm thinking about spring. My current setup is one deep body
(almost all brood except for the end frames) and one medium body
(almost (all) sugar syrup). How many honey supers (mediums?) should I
get ready for the spring? 2? Should I do any prep work to worry about
my hive swarming in the spring (like getting an extra deep body,
bottom board, cover to have around?).

Are there any more winterizing activities I should do? So far I have
made sure they had plenty of sugar syrup (16.4 gallons from nuc from
June to Oct via a boardman feeder), removed the feeder, and put in my
entrance reducer. Is there a winter check to see how much honey is
remaining and to see if one should install an internal feeder? I have
a migratory cover. Should I swap it out, keep it (if so, with the
tunnel (entrance) open or closed?)...

Thanks for all your help and advice this year,
Blair
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