Colony Cluster February 2022

PerfectBee Ambassadors Ron, Kate, Judi, William and Joe joined PerfectBee Founder Mark Wiliams to kick off our Colony Cluster monthly series for 2022. We got through a lot!

• (00:05:40) Ambassador Kate : Lost bees, ordered nucs to arrive in April
• (00:06:38) Ambassador Ron : February inspection, hives doing well with lots of capped brood, moving honey closer to the cluster for easy access
• (00:10:27) Ambassador William : Unusually warm weather, inspection results, one hive died but with lots of capped honey
• (00:14:50) Keeping ants out of the hive
• (00:18:30) How frequently should hives be opened during spring/summer?
• (00:25:24) Drones flying in the winter
• (00:27:33) A large number of dead bees in the winter
• (00:31:11) Bees finding pollen when plants are dead
• (00:32:45) Active bees – check now or wait till Spring?
• (00:36:46) Hive that didn’t make it, but no evidence of disease. Replace the frame or reuse the wax?
• (00:38:41) Inspecting a dead out: mite feces or sugar?
• (00:41:50) What to look for as I’m a new beekeeper?
• (00:43:09) Inspecting each frame and looking for patterns
• (00:45:33) Post photos to the Colony Forum & send photos of your frames
• (00:47:47) Two nucs for better learning
• (00:47:37) Asking bee clubs or help
• (00:49:22) Comparing brood patterns
• (00:49:52) Switching brood boxes
• (00:51:44) Cleaning up a box
• (00:54:35) What the Ambassadors believed in early on – that turned out to be wrong!
• (00:55:18) Going treatment free
• (00:59:27) Surprised that losing bees is normal
• (01:01:46) Always more to know and the learning never stops
• (01:02:51) Placing bait in an empty hive to catch swarms
• (01:06:01) Synthetic vs natural mite treatments