Just like Tupac! :-)
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Sad news in the world of bees: as I feared, the ladies did not survive the brutal cold snap we had to start to the winter. I peeked in the hive yesterday as temps got up to 50* and was concerned I didn't see any activity. Even in the winter months, the bees will leave the hive when the temps get way enough in order to make cleansing flights to relieve themselves.

Looks like the entire cluster froze to death in a big ball. :-)

Plenty of honey stores in the hive, so I know they didn't starve.

Grace & I are going to give things another shot this spring. Going to order a nuc instead of a package. A nuc is a working mini-colony of bees: 4-5 frames of bees who have already drawn out comb and are working with their queen. You slide the frames into the hive, and away they go. They'll have a head start on honey stores from last years hive -- I think I have 6-8 full frames of honey still in the hive -- so the hope is this helps them to rapidly build up & strengthen the hive.

Look forward to continuing the adventure, but kinda' sad about losing the bees.
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Sorry about the bees, Vin. Glad that you are going to continue.
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I'm strangely saddened by the news...thru this thread, and personal conversation, invested in the project from afar... anything that would've prevented the result?? ...looking forward to the next round
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Sorry to hear about Grace and your loss of the colony, especially after all of the nurturing given to the bee's.

Maybe before next Winter set's in, some form of wind break with a heat lamp pointed in the direction of the hive. That is, just enough heat to keep the freeze off the hive. Just a thought...
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You'll tweak it a little and have better success next winter, I am sure, Vin.
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May look into planting some shrubs as a wind break. I knew going in that could be an issue, but I thought the area was wooded enough to provide a natural break. Need to research what kind of shrubs do well in heavy shade.

Not sure a heat lamp is a solution. As I understand it, artificial heat can cause the bees to think it's warmer outside the hive than it really is, and they venture out and die.
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Sorry to hear about this, Vin — I hope your next attempt is much more successful!

As others have said, I really looked forward to reading this thread and am saddened. Looking for to future updates later this year.
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Sad news indeed, maybe their memory bee a blessing.

Seems like they didn't give their tiny lives in vain as you are already researching and looking to improve next time!
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Sad news, Vin. May round two bring better success.
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Vin, sorry to hear that you lost the hive. I'm sure you'll have much better luck this time around.
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Sorry to hear it, Vin-Bob. That sucks.
You can wrap the hives come winter, insulating them.
Or build a break with hay bales, or do a lot of other stuff.

Think about the size of the hive vs. the size of the colony (which I think you already have a good grasp on).
There's gotta be enough bees to keep the heat up in the hive. If the little buggers are already chilled, they'll bite the dust on cleaning trips even though they'll shorten them.
Consider maybe even a styrofoam cover you can cob out of blue construction foam and tack on, or remove a section?
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Vin, sorry to hear you lost the bees. fingers crossed for the next attempt!
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Bees 2.0

Having successfully managed to freeze my bees to death over the winter, I was left with a hive full of comb and a lot of usable resources like pollen & honey, but no ladies to work their bee magic.

The pic on the left shows the bees basically frozen in place between frames all bunched together as you might expect for warmth. Pic on the right is after I pulled the frames apart.

Image Image

This time around, since my first batch of bees had already laid a lot of the groundwork, I opted to go with a nucleus (or "nuc") which is basically a mini working hive of five frames complete with bees and a queen already making brood and storing honey and generally doing bee things.

It comes in a box like this, and thank god I brought bungee cords because one big bump on the road and that top comes flying off. Then voila -- bees in the Jeep!

Image

And with that, I was ready to transfer the frames from the nuc to the hive ...

Image

More later.
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The hive is alive! :-)
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Sweet! Maybe you should let the new hive winter in the Jeep?
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so much win here!
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I will definitely buy honey
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man I would love to have the time to do this
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Can't wait to meet the new bees! :-)
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