I forgot to cover the bottom board of the bee hives 😭

[WthrLady]

kind of sounds like us, eh?

 

[humblehillsfarm]

OH ya.
below 38 they're zonked out
45 degrees they're awake - just inside kicking back with a cup of coffee and shuffling around the hive in their slippers,
at 54 they come out to poke around the yard.
They prefer the 70s.- 70s and sunny and they're bonkers.
About 100 degrees and they hide to find the cool and beard the hive and have trouble keeping cool.
All very useful numbers to have handy when you have things to spray.

I haven’t decided what stresses me more: bees and the cold or bees and the heat.

On another note, I told my boyfriend I’m done with the bees if they die and he said no worries he’d still get another hive.

We got bees because I wanted them, but I’m just too small and weak to do bigger tasks with the hive. I’ve had to totally rely on him and I hadn’t been thinking that’s fair, but it turns out he still loves the bees even if I can’t help a whole lot!

 

[humblehillsfarm]

kind of sounds like us, eh?

Bahaha that’s exactly like me. I still need to clean up my garden. It’s full of rotten tomatoes and plants but it’s been too cold for me to go out!!

 

[WthrLady]

I haven’t decided what stresses me more: bees and the cold or bees and the heat.

On another note, I told my boyfriend I’m done with the bees if they die and he said no worries he’d still get another hive.

We got bees because I wanted them, but I’m just too small and weak to do bigger tasks with the hive. I’ve had to totally rely on him and I hadn’t been thinking that’s fair, but it turns out he still loves the bees even if I can’t help a whole lot!

Top bar hives can have hinged lids. NO heavy lifting at all.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Top bar hives can have hinged lids. NO heavy lifting at all.

I actually have a DIY book with instructions on how to build one. Would be a cool skill to learn! I've already made quite a few projects from that book and been happy with the results.

 

[WthrLady]

I have built and worked neighbors through building several. They really are easy to built and maintain.

 

[HiEverybirdy]

We're almost a year into bees. Won't call ourselves keepers yet, but I think we'll keep working towards it even if our hives don't overwinter well.

I took a class where the teacher said a lot of keepers use screened bottoms even in extremely harsh winters to reduce moisture build-up, the way people leave chicken coops open.

Our mentor says he can't quite wrap his head around screened bottoms but is a proponent of trying everything once. Different strokes for different hives.

It's been a wild first year for us, too, whew. Bees aren't easy, or cheap. I've been looking at the money spent as "tuition for the school of bees" because this hobby is mind-expanding!

If you do have to replenish next year but don't want to spend the big bucks on nucs or packages, you could put out swarm traps or connect with local keepers who may have more splits than they know what to do with.

 

[WindingRoad]

I probably killed my bees. We have a screened bottom board that can be covered by inserting a thin metal sheet. I forgot it. We've had cold, wet, and terrible weather the last few days. A big weather-related killer of bees is wind and drafts. I'm kicking myself. Bees are such a money suck and we just bought these hives in the spring to replace our two-year old hives that we lost to colony collapse. I hadn't even winterized them yet because I haven't had time, but if I had I would haven noticed I needed to cover the bottom board. A few days of 30 degree weather isn't a killer if you haven't winterized them.... but a drafty hive will do the trick.

Thank ya'll for letting me rant. If any experienced bee keepers want to tell me I didn't kill my bees, that'd be great.

Have you checked them. I know nothing about keeping bees. Can you go out and fixed the error?

 

[WthrLady]

Don't open the hive below 55 degrees!
I like the increased ventilation of a mulch floor. PLUS it harbors beneficial critters that eat mites and non-beneficials that wander in.
It's just like the floor of an old log.
I second the local swarms. The do much better than imports.

 

[Kusanar]

Have you checked them. I know nothing about keeping bees. Can you go out and fixed the error?

They have checked on them and closed the bottom.