Wow, lots of good questions. Rather than reply to each individually, here’s my set-up:
12 hives in the apiary and varying numbers of nucs, queen castles, mating boxes.
Hive configuration: stand, bottom board, varroa tray removable from the rear, screened bottom board, slatted rack in-line with the frames, three deeps with 12 frames solid Pierco plastic in each (which the bees draw without problems), vented inner cover, vent box (medium super), telescoping cover w/ metal on top. Half of the hives have old D.E. telescoping covers and vent boxes, the kind that have screened holes in them. Half of the hives have newer covers and just medium supers I have yet to drill for vent boxes (but inner covers are notched in front). The older ones with the D.E. covers are painted white. The newer ones are unpainted cypress, so are light brown/grayish. All have sliding/adjustable metal entrance reducers. All get Imrie shims in winter with top entrances. They all seem to have plenty of ventilation, since I don’t see bearding, even now with several days in a row of 90F+/32C+ temps, and moisture has not been a problem in winter. Nucs are polystyrene and they DO beard, even with all ports open. Way back when I started, I wrapped hives in roofing felt, but have not done so in many years.
Apiary is on the north side of a large yard/field. 100m+ from the house against a heavily wooded area on the north side. Hives are in a row – east to west, are very protected from the prevailing northwest winds and get full sun for most of the day. Usually very little snow piles up and it always melts first around the hives. I see bees taking elimination flights even with temps in the 20’sF/<0C, so the hives seem to warm fine. Hives are protected by a mesh electric fence with solar charger that stays up year round. Other than some essential oils in syrup, they are not usually treated. On those occasions (like yesterday), when I scrape drone brood, I see little varroa. Don’t know about nosema. Have had AFB in the past, when hives got knocked over by bears (pre-current electric fence configuration), but have not seen it in several years and brood looks healthy, no funky smells.
Some links to a few pics:
Looking at the hives from the yard early last summer when splits were small. Trees have been trimmed since then.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v213/narcnh/3-deeps.jpg
Looking from the hives to the south.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v213/narcnh/SwarmTreeToHive.jpg
Supers started.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v213/narcnh/Russians.jpg
The winter of 08-09 I successfully overwintered 6 of 6 hives and a few nucs. Last year I made splits up to the current 12 hives. Management technique is unchanged.
Last summer was something of a washout here, literally. After a good start in the spring, we had a stretch into mid-summer where it rained 67%+ of the days (I keep daily weather records). All hives lost weight until late summer, when the goldenrod bloomed and they picked up weight. I only harvested 2 supers and let the bees keep everything else. Fed a small amount of syrup, not much.
This past winter was not brutally cold and not much snow after Christmas, but it was damp (freezing rain or just rain), and the bees might have been more active than usual, and, so, eaten more stores. But, doesn’t explain the lack of lateral or front to back movement.
Last month I had a swarm from outside my bee yard move into one of the empty hives, so the bees are not turned off by anything inside the hives.
So, here’s what I’m thinking:
Relied too much on natural forage, i.e. too much goldenrod and it crystallized?
Too many hives? There seems to be lots and lots of forage in the area, and we have an extended season here (sumac and basswood just finished up, ending the ‘spring’ flow, and goldenrod will start in a few weeks) but I did have a problem with robbing last summer/fall. Based on observation, most seemed to be from outside my bee yard, but it definitely put a strain on my nucs, none of which survived the winter. So, all hives were probably stressed somewhat. Maybe I need to reduce the number of hives and/or move some to another yard? I have that option with local farmers.
I could try wrapping some of the hives to see if it makes a difference. Or, maybe some insulation in the vent box?
So, that’s what I can share. Any additional thoughts? Sorry, if this is too long, but wanted to get in as much info as possible.
Thanks.
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Bill
Claremont, NH
+43.35687 +43° 21’ 25”
-72.3835 -72° 23’ 01”
CWOP: D5065
Weather Underground: KNHCLARE3
HonetBeeNet: NH001
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