Standing tall, Bee Beard Log hive is doing well since it was revived in August 2014. It swarmed at least once on May 11 of this year, but that swarm moved on without us getting it.
Sept. 23…Lots of good orange pollen being carried into this hive. This hive will go into winter without me intervening in any way.
Sept. 17…These birdhouse bees are doing so well, I’m starting to think that small bee hives are the way to go. This hive has no other openings other than the entrance. I don’t understand how they can survive without much ventilation, but they are doing well, which is a good way to head into their second winter shadow.
Here’s a closer look at the entrance showing how crowded they are.
The video shows the amount of pollen flying in.
May 14…The day after the big swarm moved into the Grandkids Log hive, Bee-atrice log hive went into swarm mode.
May 14…Ron got this one. He lives just up the road. I’m happy to report that Ron says they are doing well. They are active and bringing in lots of pollen.
They can be seen flying well here…
Sept. 23…I’m down to only one Warre hive now. It’s doing well with lots of pollen coming in. You can see Bee-atrice Log hive ‘shuttered’ in the background. When the wasps were running rampant inside, I had to wrap it up. I’ll clean it out (scorch it) come spring and try to attract another swarm.
Bees head into the Warre loaded with pollen. This hive is heavy. I haven’t taken any honey from it. I think they will make it through the winter without me feeding.
Sept. 23, 2015…Sad to say, the Grand Kids Log hive is not going to make it. The temperature started falling in mid July, and now I see wasps nosing around and drones flying out. The Grand Kids are back.
Sept. 3…Temperature is down to 87F (30C)
Sept. 21…Looking up into the empty combs, I see a lack of bees. Clearly the queen isn’t laying and I’ve seen a few drones exiting. Footnote: This hive must have superceded a queen, because there are not only new bees, but also new comb. This is the only hive I can see from the house…from where I eat actually, and I gotta say, I’m so happy to see the bees flying to and from this hive when I sit down to eat!!!
Steve says his swarm ‘is hanging in there,’ but he’s starting to feed again because they haven’t built up enough comb to get them through the winter.
We are headed into autumn with four hives, which is all I ever really wanted, but I had really hoped that Grand Kids Log hive would be among the survivors. It begs the question…are smaller hives better? I’m beginning to think so. I’ve thought about partitioning off the big log hive, but then there might be air flow issues. The birdhouse bees seem to deal with lack of air flow, so maybe it won’t be an issue. Right now I’ll let nature take it’s course and hope I can attract another swarm in spring.
Adventures in Natural Beekeeping 
It is interesting about the small hives. I suppose they are similar to the way bees must have started out looking after themselves in holes in trees. We are “farming” our bees and took some honey from them this year. Because of that we have fed them bought syrup (not just sucrose I could have made.) We are also treating them with essential oils, which they hate, but the varroa count was too high. We still have the asian hornet problem – I really can’t take them – we must do something before next summer about them although there is no real solution. Apart from that they are looking happy and still bringing in lots of pollen. I am sure your beautiful Grandchildren hive will attract a big swarm in the spring. Amelia
Thanks, Amelia. I hope so too.
Going into a second winter w/ the same group and an addition to their hive; hoping they survive. Poked around a bit a few weeks ago, which I tend not to b/c it’s a Warre and honey production is not our goal, but did pull out some comb (Honey had strong hints of herb, which makes sense given that I let oregano, etc. bolt and it’s still attracting heavy action.). As a novice, I certainly do appreciate following your blog. Thanks and good luck!
Thanks, Suz, and congratulations on your 8th wedding anniversary today!
How much does a section of your Warré hive weigh when full of honey? Trying to decide between the Warré & the African long-box type.
A Warré box full of honey might be 30 or 40 pounds. I like the Warré because being vertical it conserves heat. That’s great for us in Oregon, but you might do better with the horizontal hive in Tucson. The thing I like about the Kenyon Top Bar hive is that when you open it up, you’re not disturbing them as much. You’re looking at them from the end keeping the top closed. It doesn’t bother them as much. The thing I don’t like about it, is the cross combing, or having to inspect it more often to prevent cross combing, whereas with the Warré, it doesn’t tend to cross comb as much. (or you can let them cross comb all they want within each box, which is what I do) I like using a quilt box on top too, to let the bees adjust their airflow.
Ah, that’s pretty heavy. I’d need jacks if I wanted to put a new box at the bottom of the stack. The guy running the class I took here has both kinds, but spent the most time showing us his Kenyan long-boxes. Access was from the top. We did see an instance of cross-combing as you mentioned, but he said it wasn’t a big deal — he just cut it out (it was against the end).
Thanks for the info!
Well, you don’t have to lift them all at once. I just lift each one separately and set them down so the combs are vertical.
My Warre has observation windows so I can see what’s going on to a certain extent.