As the cold spell continues (and my hope of the weaker hive surviving dwindles), I continue to immerse myself in educational material. A couple of local items have appeared on the circuit that I might take advantage of.
Lewis Ginter is offering their annual Beekeeping for Beginners course. I really should have taken this last year (I believe that my gardening obsession got in the way), but might attend some (if not all) this year, just to see what they have to say. If I join Lewis Ginter, I stand to save a lot of money for multiple courses. Click here for more on the Richmond Beekeeping Course.
Although I am very active in the East Richmond Beekeeper’s Association, I have never attended the Richmond Beekeeper’s Association meetings. They have a program for Thursday, January 14 (7 to 9 pm at Lewis Ginter) on the travails of the first year beekeepers. I definitely want to try this out, as I am sure that I have much more to experience in this regard. Here is a snippet of the topic from that group : The topic this month is The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: My First Year of Beekeeping. People entering their second year of beekeeping will discuss the highs and lows they experienced for those of us starting to keep bees for the first time.
Reader Comments
Hey Jones,
You should check your hives on Friday or Saturday during the warmer parts of the day. Bees should be out and about kicking up a storm. My hives have had bees flying when I was home at lunch around 1:30 the past few days. I bet your weaker hive is doing fine. I might take off the top if it’s close to 60 F on Saturday and shove in as much fondant as I can that I’ve had in the freezer for quite awhile just as an emergency feed if they need it later on before a good nectar flow starts. If it’s not warm enough on Sat. I’ll wait until a good warm day in February.
David
I checked them today and you were correct. The weak hive still lives. It actually is still in the bottom deep and does not appear to have started to move into the upper deep yet! I am feeling more confident about them now, although I still plan to feed them through the Winter.