how many hives you have going into winter

[schawee]

i did a count and have 68 hives and 17 nucs. in the spring i will start a post to see  how many hives made it through winter.     schawee

[JP]

That's not enough. We need to add another hundred this season. 


...JP

[FRAMEshift]

i did a count and have 68 hives and seventeen nucs.      schawee

If you have to count, you have too many.   

[L Daxon]

Schawee,

As many colonies as you and JP have removed/trapped/caught/etc. I would have thought you had thousands by now.   i love all your videos.

I have two and a half -- the half is a weak one started from a swarm I caught in June and I think pesticides and robbing have gotten the better of it.

Maybe you ought to append this thread to include not only how many are you going into winter with but how many do you expect to have at winter's end!

[T Beek]

This was 'supposed' to be my year of expansion to nine, but the Spring Bear thought differently  I consider myself lucky to be going into winter with three boomer colonies.  One in a Long Hive and two in Langs.  Maybe next year will be my expansion year, either way, 3-9 is my ultimate goal, its all I want or feel I can handle right now.

When I worked with a big outfit many years ago I barely had any time to get to know the bees so I am relishing in taking such time and care with just a few hives.

thomas

[Hemlock]

i did a count and have 68 hives and seventeen nucs.      schawee

If you feed I'm glad I'm not paying your sugar bill but i know what you need for Christmas...

Going into Winter with four hives and two nucs.  Though the last nuc is a September swarm.  She's on three frames but is still laying well.  This is the first year i'm over wintering nucs so we'll see whose left come Spring.

[rufus]

I'm just a new bee and only have two.

[VolunteerK9]

 This is the first year i'm over wintering nucs so we'll see whose left come Spring.

Same here..Im trying to over winter 4 nucs this year to see how that goes. My other 12 are full sized so not many worries there.

[D Semple]

First year and I have 17 all from caught swarms and removals. Thanks to JP, schawee, Scott & Peg, and Michael Bush for teaching me how.

Don

[VolunteerK9]

i did a count and have 68 hives and seventeen nucs.      schawee

You gonna sell any of those tiger striped nucs at Buds next year?

[AliciaH]

24 hives, though I'm worried one is queenless.  My usual loss is 20%, so I expect to lose 4, maybe 5 hives.  Though, of course, I'm gonna try my darnedest to make that a worst case scenario!

[sawdstmakr]

3 hives and a swarm filled squirrel box.
Jim

[Shanevrr]

going in with 8 10fr deeps

[MTWIBadger]

Going into winter with 4 hives after coming through last winter with 4.  Thought I would expand this year but the bees kept swarming and I struggled to get them requeened all summer. 

[tenderton]

I'm a first year beek, have 4 hives, each with 2 deeps. 3 italians, 1 carnie. So far so good. All look pretty strong at this point Two produced a medium super of honey, the other two just a few random frames.

[schawee]

jp,we need to bump those numbers up to maybe 200. frameshift you never have to many idaxon,i will start another post in the spring on how many was lost.glad you like our videos.hemlock,i live in the middle of thousands of acres of sugarcane.i just walk across the street from my house and cut all i need.   don, thanks for watching our videos.you would be surprise how fast your beeyard can grow   k9,if you come to buds i will sell you a tiger stripe nuc and will give  you a tiger stripe queen too.hope to see you at bud4.

[caticind]

Had 18 at peak.  14 going into winter. 

Did 1 combine due to...well it was either EFB or that new thing I heard about at the NCSBA that the inspectors are calling "snotty brood" since they don't know the causative organism yet.  Bees were not controlling it well so I pinched that queen and threw all the frames into the middle of my strongest colony.  No sign of disease after 2 weeks.

2 combines due to failure to thrive/small size.  To be expected as I split VERY aggressively in the late spring.

1 deadout due to pesticide kill.

[VolunteerK9]

k9,if you come to buds i will sell you a tiger stripe nuc and will give  you a tiger stripe queen too.hope to see you at bud4.

Hoping that I can make it this year

[S.M.N.Bee]

I have two full size hives and a nuc. that I made from a package that was queenless most of the year and never built up to full size.

Good luck to all in the coming winter.

John

[VolunteerK9]

Good luck to all in the coming winter.

John

Walt Wright wrote in Bee Culture December 96 that:

"When you have done all you can do in the Fall to insure successful wintering, the colonies are laid-by. You have to wait out the Winter to determine the degree of success of your Fall management efforts. Unlike the farmer, however, your periodic inspections in late Winter / early Spring can influence the ultimate degree of success, if you are prepared to act on inspection findings."

I find that "laying-by" during the Winter is the most stressful, nerve racking time of my year.

[backyard warrior]

Im going into winter with 18 hives and two nucs we will see what we have in the spring may your bees be well   Chris

[Haddon]

well I guess this year I will be testing the limits of how small and little food I can have on a hive and them still come threw.

I cant even count hives right now because I know I need at least 2 queens if not 3 and none of the other hives are up to par.

Oh and SHB are every where.

Here is a attempt to list what I have.

2 hives with 2 deeps say 15 frames drawn out.

2 nucs with queens one full 5 frames other 2 frames with very few bees but I swapped locations on them last weekend so hopefully the small one increased numbers.

1 hive 10 frame deep with I would think 60 pounds of honey in there I dont understand them but thats how they wanted to live it was a swarm and that built 4 brood frames and filled the rest with capped honey and refused to move into another deep.

2 other one deep hives one not booming and the other is the exposed colony removal

Now the last junk that is left
3 hives in hard question

One God help it was living in a column like on you front porch thought I would save it to do till spring well Sunday I found it had fallen down and smacked the ground so I did a emergency cutout and could not save any of the comb and have no clue if the queen is alive but I did give them one frame of brood and eggs to keep them in the location.

Next one has refused to requeen for the last 2 months I just keep putting eggs in it but surprisingly the numbers has not dropped even thought I don't let them finish the brood out I check for queens cells after a week or more if none shake and drop another frame in.

Last is a trapout that might or might not have a queen.

If I could get one or 2 to queen right I would combine and hope for the best.

At least it has been warm.

[REDBEE]

800 palletts give or take

[Dave360]

20 or so and 4 nucs hope they over winter  better than last year had 10 lost 4

David

[gardeningfireman]

I now have seven; including one topbar hive and a nuc. One of the hives is low on stores because they requeened in lat Sept./early Oct. and didnt store much nectar. I did feed though and am crossing my fingers!

[Sundog]

I have two hives.  A Lang given to me last fall that appears strong and healthy, which  I hope to be able to split in the spring, and a KTBH from a cutout this summer with six bars of brood like the one in the photo.  It too appears healthy and growing.  (Just a hobby)

Having fun!

(Find the queen)
http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/ab218/Sunchaser01/DSCN0708.jpg

[beee farmer]

180 ...well see how the Mississippi winter treats them.

[annette]

4 now and I just started feeding this week.

[Country Heart]

I have two hives.  A Lang given to me last fall that appears strong and healthy, which  I hope to be able to split in the spring, and a KTBH from a cutout this summer with six bars of brood like the one in the photo.  It too appears healthy and growing.  (Just a hobby)

Having fun!

(Find the queen)
http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/ab218/Sunchaser01/DSCN0708.jpg

Nice!  Love the photo.  I hope to have a TBH too someday.

[oliver]

Six, 5 insulated, 1 in a building, this will be a first for this setup, we'll see come spring if it was worth the effort..dl

[CapnChkn]

3 colonies, one crazy defensive hive, one trapped swarm, and one that has a bought queen.  Right now the two "meaner" colonies get out earlier, but don't do much all day.  The bought queen hive is now getting started later, but is out until nearly dark.

[luvin honey]

3 in topbar hives

[divemaster1963]

I had 3 but combined the two weaker ones. My partner and friend has 17 started with 20 lost three to robbing. all are now very strong because of a strong fall flow. we did not harvest the fall flow to get the strong and ready for spring splitting. hoping to get a good bit of cutouts and swarms next year. trying to make the 100 to 150 mark.

[rober]

5 Strong looking hives.

[wadehump]

going in with 17 hives all from swarms,cutouts and splits

[Boonersbad]

13 hives going into winter.... we'll see how the dice roll

[AllenF]

10 or 11.   Can't remember.   Had a deadout a few weeks ago.

[ziffabeek]

Three!  with fingers crossed.

The Mississippi Queens are in a deep with 2 mediums, packed and it probably weighs about 80 lbs.  I didn't touch them this summer except to add the supers.  They are going strong.

My 2 splits are each a deep and a medium.  I was reaallly worried about them, but when I tucked them all in this weekend, they had packed in quite a bit of stores in the last week.  Their populations aren't huge but they seem healthy.  They are still light, but if the warm weather we've been having sticks, I think they might make it. Somethings giving them some bright orange pollen they've been bringing in and they are still taking food.  I know it's late to be feeding, but I figured its better to have food and maybe too much moisture than not to have food.  We'll see, fingers crossed!

love,
ziffa

[rick42_98]

3 going into winter.  I had 4 but 1 was lost after going hopelessly queenless.  They would not accept another queen for their own reasons.  My hives are moderately heavy, healthy.  I look forward to see them through the winter.

[woodchopper]

Eight as of last weekend but one of them is very weak. I think the weak one got robbed out and I don't expect it to last long. It was a off year for many beeks up here in the Northeast. We're due for a good year after the past few. 

[bayouboy]

1st year,one hive,hope it makes it.

[schawee]

oh, it will make it .

[Ignots]

I have 4 hives, 1 TBH and 3 Langs.  The 3 are 1 of 2 deeps and 2 of 3 deeps, the TBH also has a full 10 frame deep mounted on top of it from the rear that is fully stocked with access from the last 6 bars each shaved 3/16" giving access.  All are very well stocked and full of bees so hoping everything makes it through.  On colder days I place my ear on them to listen to the humm...they all sound well.  On warmer days they are flying, I know not where to...

[T Beek]

Taking their proverbial release perhaps or removing dead or other trash when able.

thomas

[ccar2000]

Two hives. I have not had a hive survive winter yet. I feel good this year.

[splitrock]

I have 40 hives going into winter. Today may have been be the last day of bee activity around here for a while, and boy were they busy.

Joel

[sawdstmakr]

I have 40 hives going into winter. Today may have been be the last day of bee activity around here for a while, and boy were they busy.

Joel

Joel,
How high do your hives get at peak season? What is you average pounds per high?
I have heard that you get some pretty good flows.

[Michael Bach]

13 hives.  Just finished beekeeping for the year.  Oxalic acid, wrapping, upper vent, mouse guards, and candy boards (if needed) have been done/installed and see them in March.