Beekeeping Questions and Answers Episode 98 winter feeding and did my honey bees starve?

This is the audio track of the full youtube video:  https://youtu.be/QVvdwGrZPXM

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Time stamps are provided by Adam Holmes 

 

1) Can I put a bar of beeswax in the hive as a resource for the bees? 3:30

 

2) How do you reduce the size of a hive going into winter? 5:33

 

3) How do you determine the size of your brood boxes? You seem to favor one deep and one medium. Can you talk about the factors that go into that decision? 8:45

 

4) What is the point of the slats in the slatted rack? Wouldn't a 5cm shim work? 13:37

 

5) I feed 2:1 sugar syrup and pollen sub patties. My bees starved to death and did not appear to have touched the dry sugar. Is there something better than dry sugar to use in winter? 17:25

 

6) What is the difference between summer worker bees and winter workers that live so much longer? Is it metabolism? 29:45

 

7) I will be receiving packages in mid-April. Once both boxes are full, I was thinking of putting a Flow-Super on one and a Ross-Round super on the other. any thoughts? 34:00

 

8) Every day lots of bees come out of our hives and die. Lots of poo, so could it be dysentery? Probably thousands have died in the last two weeks. 40:05

 

9) I have 4 Layens Hives and want to switch them to Long Langstroth Hives I just built. The problem is that it won't be far, between 3 to 6 feet. 45:14

 

10) What is your favorite smoker? Or Which would you recommend? 50:22

 

11) I'm trying to find more information on how to feed spirulina to my bees. When do you usually feed pollen patties? Should I wait another week or two? 55:35

 

12) I have a local beekeeper selling nucleus colonies, but can't get them to me until the first week of June, is this too late? 1:10:15

 

13) I cleared the entrances of my hives and most, if not all, had their tongues out. Is this an indication of starving? 1:14:17

 

14) What are the positives or negatives to using a canvas inner cover compared to wooden inner covers? 1:15:59

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