What I need to winter a colony of bees.

To bring a hive though winter we need the hive set up as follows.

• At least 8 frames of adhering bees. Meaning there should be bees covering both sides of at least 8 frames.
• A young queen that has not gone through a winter yet.
• Bees that are as mite free as possible.
• The hive should have been fed 2 gallons of syrup treated with Fumigilan.
  
• The top box should have 8 full frames of honey and one partially full. The partial should be located in the middle of the top box. Do not put a partially filled super on top of the full deep box of honey. The bees may move up into the top deep then, move up into the super. The bees will starve even though the deep below still has honey.
• Bees will not move down to get to honey in the winter.
  
• If you don't have enough honey the choices are, add a candy board on top of the hive or add granulated sugar on top of the hive. See how I did this on my last January 2007 post.
• A top entrance is required so the bees can go on cleansing flights during the winter.
• If you have a screened bottom board, the slide drawer should be in.
• The entrance reducer is in now to keep out mice. The large opening is installed upside down. It is upside down to keep the entrance open as hive debris collects on the bottom board throughout the winter.
• A moisture release board is put on top of the inner cover.
• Black cardboard winter cover is put over the top of the hive. A hole is cut where the upper entrance is located. One of the top flaps is folded down against the back of the hive. The other 3 flaps are folded over on top of the moisture board. This is very important, This is done to vent the moisture board and get rid of moisture buildup in the hive. A cardboard cover will cover two deep hive bodies. If you have 3 deeps, the bottom box will not be covered. This is not a problem. Cover the box with the telescoping cover. This will not fit over the winter cover. Rest the telescoping cover on top of the cardboard cover and place a rock or brick on top of it to hold it down. I cover my hives around Thanksgiving weekend, sooner if we are going to get dumped on with snow.
  
• Don't over insulate the hive. This can cause an early demise of the hive. If the hive is to warm the bees may start rearing brood and run out of food.
• A wind break is helpful on the north and west side of the hive. If the hives are in the open with no protection from winter winds. Stacking hay bales around these sides can be beneficial.
• At the end of my video I mistakenly called the Telescoping Cover the moisture board. Steven Speilberg would be disappointed.

Click on the arrow to run video.

Trying to finish up

Adding a feeder pail. If the hive isn't level I grab a stick to level out the pail.

I have been trying to finish up. I have fed some fumigilan treated syrup, The Apiguard is coming off in a couple of my bee yards.
The weather has been ideal for this.
I see colder weather on the horizon for next week. I know the bees have to be fed syrup in the next 3 days. Waiting to long the bees might not take it.
Not much else to do. The honey has been extracted, most of the bees medicated. I have two bee yards I couldn't treat with Apiguard. I was to busy to make it happen. I guess formic next spring will have to do.
Good news I have not seen the bear.

This might be the last good week for Apigard

Apigard tray on the top bars. Note shim to raise the roof. So the bees can get to the Thymol gel. Put the inner and telescoping cover on to close up the hive.

The weather the rest of the week looks perfect. As Sept moves forward the window for using mite treatments is closing.
Apigard needs warm weather to be effective, This week could be the last hurrah for this.
Apigard is a Thymol gel in a foil tray. First take off all honey that will be extracted.
Read and follow all directions. Apigard is a fall treatment only.
Remove the foil top and place on the top bars in the top box. Put a 1 x 2 shim on the top box to raise the roof an 1 - 1/2" so the bees can remove the thymol gel. Close all entrances, put in the drawer on any screened bottom boards. Leave the main entrance open. One foil tray is on for two weeks then one more two weeks later.
Apigard kills Varroa and Tracheal mites.

I had the evil eye put on me.

This picture is fairly intimidating. It must be the bear or a werewolf. I have my camera at about 5 ft 6 in. off the ground. A deer isn't that tall. It has to be the bear. I set my camera to take 3 pictures, this was the set all taken in one minute.
He must be standing up looking at the infrared flash. Bears hate trail cameras and usually trash them.

Dealing with Granulated Corn Syrup

This is a pail heater. This type of heater is not to be used in honey.

The shielded end keeps it away from the pail. I make sure the heating element is totally submerged in syrup.

Pushing it into the granulation it will heat up quickly. I never leave it unattended while it is heating.

I use a drywall mixer on a drill motor to stir it. This mixer also works great for mixing sugar and water in a 5 gallon pail.
When I add fumigillan to syrup this works great for mixing it in.

I have to feed my bees. All my HFCS high fructose corn syrup has granulated since spring. I use my bucket heater to liquefy the syrup. The heater in the pail took about 2 hours to liquefy stirring it a couple times. This heater is not to be used on honey as it is not approved to use with food.

Trouble came a calling

The puncture pail opening method works best for bears.

The bear wanted some bee supplies.

I finally got a picture of this troublemaker. He ate a 5 gallon pail of Bee Feed without even taking the lid off. He used the incisor puncture method. I am sure he was very satisfied with that.
This was 20 yds from my back door.

It's Time

I know with the cooler temps it is time to pull all my honey and get the meds on. Labor day was hot and I pulled about 75 supers off. The hot day made the honey robber on fume boards work great. I brought home a very small number of bees.
I will start putting on fumigillan now in syrup and treating for Varroa.
Any colony that didn't produce and seems to be dwindling could possibly have Nosema Cerane. The fumigillan should be able to clear this up. Hopefully the bees have time to recover.
Feeding early is better than feeding late. Feeding promotes brood production. I want the bees to slow the brood rearing as fall deepens and it gets colder. This will save more food for winter.