hi Dave,
 
 
I believe the news is not all bad, as explained below.
 
 > Dave D. Cawley            |
 > University Of Scranton    |
 > Scranton, Pennsylvania    |
 > [log in to unmask]         |
 
 
 > hive up so I gave it a
 > good whack on the side to see if I could get a noise
 > out of them. I heard
 > NOTHING. As a newbie beekeeper, I should be taking
 > that as a bad sign, right?
 
Not necessarily, in WINTER bees may be pressed together
in their little ball shaped cluster VERY tightly, and
refuse to break loose to make some music for you, or
for any old branch that happens to fall on top of the
hive. This breaking loose is considered unhealthy
during cold winter times, as it takes quite a while
before a new cluster shape is arrived at between the
20,000 of them. During this slow process of cluster
formation a lot of bees may fall pray to coldness,
and stiffen up to immobility, which causes them to
fall down and eventually die. This can cost the colony
hundreds of bees per whack, and if it happens once
too often, it may become a life-threatening situation
for the entire colony ( because a certain minimum
amount of bees is needed to keep the colony above
freezing point. Please do not go around whacking hives
too often. What you CAN try, though( but not on the hive
you whacked before), is to put your ear against the wood
of a hive, and knocking gently to see if you can hear
anything. A soft hum from the outer bees in the cluster
should suffice as sign of life; this cannot always be
heard with your ears away from the wood.
In SUMMER its an entirely different story, and I
personally prefer to open a hive quickly then to
evaluate its contents.
 
Hope this helps..
 
sincerely, Hugo
 
               \|/
               @ @          Hugo Veerkamp
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