Winter approaching

[Bridget]

Until now my first sign of winter was gritters on the road but last weekend we came up the A9 and saw lorries heading south with uni-mogs and beehives on the back. Ahh.. the heather is over and winter coming. So some advice for this newbie regarding battening down the hatches.....
The forecast is for some sunny periods and a bit warmer this weekend. We have not inspected the bees fully since the 19th Sept when they were quite cross. We thought we would leave them alone for a bit but the weather has been rotten so apart from feeding them we have not disturbed them. We would like to check their stores and general health before the winter. We have varroa treatments to remove about the 27 Oct but thought if the weather is warmish this weekend we would have a check, if only so that we have some records to compare with next year. ( the varroa drop has been quite small - i would say 20/30 per weekly check could we remove them early or is it like antibiotics - take the full dose?) We have been feeding syrup to this late summer hive and even last weekend when it was foul, a few brave souls were venturing out and coming back with pollen.
So, what should we be looking for? Will there still be some brood? How many frames of stores should we be looking for? 4 or five to get them through the winter? Should we go through the whole brood box or just check a few?
We have not fitted the mouse guard yet so presumably that should go on and later we will do some precautions re woodpeckers as we could hear them close by this summer. we will add some insulation as it's partick thistle up here in winter. what's with this Oxy-thingy you guys are giving them mid winter against the varroa? Is that de rigeur?
S o please what have I forgotten to mention, or didn't even know about?
Are there any members of this forum from my way - I would love a bee pal or mentor.
BTW love the Tapatalk app for this forum - it works really well and accessible everywhere.
thanks to all for reading this rather overlong chat - back to that Ross man on the telly .....groan.
Bridget


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=57.074254,-3.996831

[Jimbo]

Hi Bridget,

There are beekeepers near you. When I was on a visit to Aviemore last year I noticed beehives just outside the town. Have you checked the SBA site for your nearest local association secretary? If you contact them I am certain they will help with mentoring.

[Adam]

I have personally not looked at a hive this late in the year; I'll put my neck out and say that I would expect to see a small amount of brood - probably mostly capped. A hive (brood box) should be full of stores. If you take off the crown board you should see capped stores in the frames - there may not be a need to delve any deeper. Heft the hive (lift up one side) and see how heavy it is. Use this as a rough guide to tell you how full it is.

Don't know what varroa treatment you are using so can't comment - all I would say is do what the label says! My varroa treatment finished a while ago but I don't have any heather which affects things.


Oxalic Acid is a varroa treatment that does not kill mites in sealed brood, so a broodless period is required so it is usually done around the end of the year or January. To an extent you need to do a best guess on the weather to have minimum sealed brood. Some use it and some don't. (I do). If you think that the treatment you have had on recently has worked well, then you may feel the need not to treat with Oxalic Acid. Your choice!

Hope this helps.

[Bridget]

Thanks Jimbo I will check that out. I keep meeting lots of ex-beekeepers in this area, there was one in Lynchat who has just stopped and another guy I used to buy honey from in Newtonmore who has also stopped. And of course we see commercial apiaries on the heather.

[Bridget]

I have personally not looked at a hive this late in the year; I'll put my neck out and say that I would expect to see a small amount of brood - probably mostly capped. A hive (brood box) should be full of stores. If you take off the crown board you should see capped stores in the frames - there may not be a need to delve any deeper. Heft the hive (lift up one side) and see how heavy it is. Use this as a rough guide to tell you how full it is.

Don't know what varroa treatment you are using so can't comment - all I would say is do what the label says! My varroa treatment finished a while ago but I don't have any heather which affects things.


Oxalic Acid is a varroa treatment that does not kill mites in sealed brood, so a broodless period is required so it is usually done around the end of the year or January. To an extent you need to do a best guess on the weather to have minimum sealed brood. Some use it and some don't. (I do). If you think that the treatment you have had on recently has worked well, then you may feel the need not to treat with Oxalic Acid. Your choice!

Hope this helps.
Adam - Thats helpful about the heather and varroa, I wondered why I was told to start later in September when on the blogs I was reading people were starting in late August. Didn't manage to check the hive yesterday when the weather was pretty good and now they say there is a cold snap coming in so hope to have a look this evening. Bees coming and going, some with dark pollen on their legs. I don't what they are finding at this time of year and I haven't seen much in the way of ivy around here.

[nemphlar]

I moved a wooden smiths into a home made polystyrene today 3 frames of mixed brood mostly sealed, 9 frames of stores. Hope the glue and paint holds