Winter Beehive Inspections - Preparing for Almond Pollination

[@dougpeterson5257]

Great cluster size on the bees 😊

[@bennybeekeeper]

Thanks

[@CooperBees]

Thanks for explaining the “half mat”. I’m curious about the excluder - is it just so it’s easy to know where the queen is? We are taught here in Texas to never leave an excluder on in the winter - because the cluster will move up and leave the queen behind. Your hives look great. “Looking for her car keys!” 😂 Great video - and thanks for the laugh!

[@bennybeekeeper]

Yes I have got one foot in each camp when it comes to the excluders. I understand the theory that the queen can get left behind as the cluster moves up, but I’ve just never seen it as a problem here. The bees are still active, flying, raising a bit of brood. I just can’t see it happening. They’re not a more typical winter cluster you would see in a colder climate. The reason to leave the excluder there is I know where the queen is. If I want to take the second box off I don’t have a brood nest split between two boxes. It can only be down the bottom so I can take the top box away easily. For example I will reduce some of these hives down to singles to take to almonds simply because it’s less weight to transport around

[@CooperBees]

Thank you for that explanation. I’m also in a climate that doesn’t get cold for very long and I’m going to try it this coming winter. It’s good to challenge common practices and see what happens. Like you, I can check on my hives practically all through winter.

[@bennybeekeeper]

That’s the other I can check on them regularly. It’s not like they are wrapped up and covered in snow

[@rodneymiddleton9624]

We had our summer solstice. It’s been miserably hot here. Thanks?

[@bennybeekeeper]

Very cold mornings, frosts. Fairly mild afternoons. We haven’t had much of what I would call winter weather

[@troytyrrell4333]

Do you put anything in your sugar syrup.

[@bennybeekeeper]

Generally not. The syrup I used in this video actually had Mineral Bee added, it’s the very first time Ive used it so I can’t comment on it yet. I have used hivealive a bit in the past but I find the bees drown in the syrup more readily with hivealive added. It makes the syrup kind of oily so the bees get covered in it and drown. Really I think no additives is probably best.

[@troytyrrell4333]

@@bennybeekeeper just ordered mineral bee today for a try cheaper than hivealive but they seam to do well on hivealive in cap and ladder feeders.