[Gypsi]

I run Malwarebytes, it works much better than the other AV programs, and I use Super Anti Spyware. Man we are so far off topic but this is important stuff, to stay on the internet. IF the VPN is the privacy thing on Malwarebytes @jessgless99, I haven't braved that yet. But I do not spend a lot of time wildly browsing the internet. Good tips. How are you doing @Wil ?

 

[Wil]

I run Malwarebytes, it works much better than the other AV programs, and I use Super Anti Spyware. Man we are so far off topic but this is important stuff, to stay on the internet. IF the VPN is the privacy thing on Malwarebytes @jessgless99, I haven't braved that yet. But I do not spend a lot of time wildly browsing the internet. Good tips. How are you doing @Wil ?

Doing good and keeping my head above the water,so to speak. Way to much snow to be moving around to make going here and there around the farm much easier on the wife and I. Today should be close to 40 diggers today so good time to check the emergency sugar in the hive with a short peek in the candy board since they will no doubt be taking clean out flights today anyhow. Still can't fix this pooter,just to far over my head.Trying to talk my wife into having a kid but she said that since I will be 75 years old this month that that might not be a good idea.She said she would rather buy me a new computer.I do run Malwarebytes on here though.

 

[Gypsi]

Wil - grandchildren are also gifted at fixing electronics, and if you don't have any close by, borrow the neighbors! or go buy a new computer. While the snow is on the ground you have time to learn to use it. I've got to put syrup and more pollen sub out here, they are cleaning out the sub, I left them most of their honey but I'm not sure how much they have left, may check today.

 

[Gypsi]

My Lenovo is back up, how is yours @Wil ?

 

[Wil]

It's not doing so good. Yesterday,I tried installing pictures from my camera onto the computer and that didn't work again and when I tried to view my gun's bore through the bore scope,that wouldn't work again either. Down in the far left bottom corner of the monitor,that window looking start icon doesn't work on left click and in the search box also down in the left corner by that window icon,It won't let me write or run anything.I really need to take this thing into a geek where I bought it and see if it is fixable. I am almost afraid to buy another laptop for fear of having the same problems.I blame it on microsoft edge.
My one hive is doing real good though and a check on their sugar board a week ago showed a lot of bees up there eating the sugar and winter pattie. Bees were flying everywhere doing cleansing flights and cleaning out the dead bees from the entrance. Of course,this being Ohio,the weather changed back to ice and snow real quick and chased us all back into out hive.These cold winter mornings find me in my man cave either watching Frederrick Dunn youtube and hear what he has to say about keeping bees or sizing and loading bullets to kill paper targets behind the barn at my rifle range.It doesn't help that I am also very anxious to wet a fishing line. Lol,I am jealous when I hear the word," Texas".

 

[Gypsi]

Texas, where temps go from 82 on monday to a high of 25 today. With a brief stop at 62 yesterday. It's hard on the bees, hard to know whether to feed and how much. I leave them most of their honey for that reason. They need it. It is the perfect food. I have some fondant in the refrigerator, I haven't put it on this year. Gave them some syrup about 10 days ago, the biggest hive took a little, the 2 box didn't take any. They've been killing the pollen sub though. I think the elm blossoms have opened now so that phase of feeding will be about through. I am not opening those hives and damaging the propolis seal until I am sure the hard freezes are past.

What we did for my Lenovo. Remove the batteries, leave them out, after a day put in, start up, until it dropped out of the repair loop. My login got corrupted, had to log in via microscoft password, uninstall quickbooks run time then quick books, and remove and replace with a new password for the computer. But I had done updates. I just overloaded it when Quickbooks tried to update, it's a huge program.

I'll go shooting when it warms up. got some ammo at academy Saturday.

 

[Wil]

Same here. I am not even thinking about breaking propolis seals yet. This weather is crazy and all over the place. We are right back down in the freezing temperatures and expected to get more freezing rain and snow. My bees must be about as fed up as I am. I see some areas out west have it much worse then we do though. I'm glad I don't have to drive truck anymore. I don't miss those long, lonely nights where the only thing you see are a set of tracks in the snow from a previous vehicle showing where the road might be.
We had a beekeeper's meeting and a speaker talked about swarm control. Needless to say, since I am new at all this, I got lost along the way. Then she talked about splits, when to do it and when not to do it and when I put it all together in my own reasoning, there is only a small window of opportunity for doing both. And then there is my neighbor across the road from me who has 5 hives. He called last week and said all five of his hives died. He didn't insulate and I did. So there is that but yes, that doesn't tell the whole story either because they might have died because of some other reason. I can't help but to feel sadness. I feel bad for him and the bees. He kept bees for a lot of years.
I took the pooter in yesterday, where I bought it but the guy waiting on me was not much help behind the tech counter and he told me to go to Best Buy and have their Geeks look at it. So, I did, and I had to make an appointment for Sunday to take it in to get looked at. I tried doing upgrades, but it won't even let me do that. Left click won't work except for emails or writing in the forum and doing a search. I have a wireless mouse set up but even the pad on the laptop doesn't respond to the left click. The geek from where I bought the computer could only say," that's weird". lol. I think if I have to buy another computer, I'll be looking elsewhere.
Here I am complaining about the cold but I bet our friends north of the boarder in Canada are having a time of it. They are pretty tough people though. Years ago, I used to go way up north in Ontario for fishing and or bear hunting. Did that every year for about 6 years. One of my fishing and hunting guide was Indian and in the off season, he would pull a sled he made out of a, cut in half, 12 foot aluminum boat, filled with traps and he would live in the wilderness for the next six months, trapping and hunting with his 22lr rifle.
Speaking of honey extraction. I may have jumped the gun a little early because I bought a motorized extractor off of Amazon for about $400. Lol,I only have one hive and darn, the bees might need the honey for next winter and that is if I play all my cards right and they live to do that. I'll be sweating it out. Thats for sure. Hopefully, my swarm traps that I built will help me to add more colonies.

 

[Gypsi]

Small hives have a tough time getting thru the winter, I lost my small one last year, they just froze. Part of why I didn't split any this year, too rough keeping smaller hives going, the big guys rob them out and the numbers don't build up even if you can stop the robbing.
We've got ice here today. I am so not driving. had to pour boiling water on the concrete ramp going into my shed, followed by salt just to get in for chicken feed. Dogs found my first attempt to go around the slick patch very amusing, easier to wash my face when I'm sitting on the ground. It will clear by the weekend, but too cold for pond work. I don't try too hard to catch swarms. I keep a couple of swarm traps IN the apiary, very easy to check when I walk past to get to the chickens. Catch my own swarms sometimes, but my biggest hive came into an apiary swarm trap about 3 years ago, it's a real nice bunch of bees and they've stayed, I had to add a box to the trap the evening they showed up, they didn't fit well but they have put up with me and I am pleased they are still here.

 

[Wil]

Small hives have a tough time getting thru the winter, I lost my small one last year, they just froze. Part of why I didn't split any this year, too rough keeping smaller hives going, the big guys rob them out and the numbers don't build up even if you can stop the robbing.
We've got ice here today. I am so not driving. had to pour boiling water on the concrete ramp going into my shed, followed by salt just to get in for chicken feed. Dogs found my first attempt to go around the slick patch very amusing, easier to wash my face when I'm sitting on the ground. It will clear by the weekend, but too cold for pond work. I don't try too hard to catch swarms. I keep a couple of swarm traps IN the apiary, very easy to check when I walk past to get to the chickens. Catch my own swarms sometimes, but my biggest hive came into an apiary swarm trap about 3 years ago, it's a real nice bunch of bees and they've stayed, I had to add a box to the trap the evening they showed up, they didn't fit well but they have put up with me and I am pleased they are still here.

I wish I was a mouse watching you go to feed the chickens. Lol, a few weeks ago,I had ice crampons on my boots and a trekking pole in each hand and still had to take little, tiny steps to get 250 feet to the barn to feed then back around to the chicken coop, another 350 feet. It took a while to feed.
You brought up some good points of not wanting to split. I'll keep that in mind just in case my colony is weak.

 

[Gypsi]

I had 3 dogs bouncing around me, just tiny steps, but it's a thin ice sheen, we rarely get any volume. Those are big dogs btw, rottie mix, dobie mix, shar pei / gsd mix. Lots of help when trying to stay on a path. I will probably have to split my biggest hive this year or they will swarm. They didn't swarm last year. That advice we are given, to feed feed feed for early buildup greatly contributes to swarming I think. I gave one jar of syrup in March last year before local fruit trees started blooming, another after I robbed them in July and I think a jar of 2:1 each after I robbed a little fall honey, and that's it. Neither hive swarmed last year, so they are overdue. Not a lot of bee forage in my area anymore, they are turning fields of mesquite into warehouses and roads and a sports center. so my timing is delicate and I will probably have to sell a hive. There is enough forage for 2 or 3 hives, no more.. I may split both but I will wait until we have a good flow on and my helper won't be visiting for a day or 2. She is not a bee fan.

 

[jessgless99]

They didn't swarm last year. That advice we are given, to feed feed feed for early buildup greatly contributes to swarming I think. I gave one jar of syrup in March last year before local fruit trees started blooming, another after I robbed them in July and I think a jar of 2:1 each after I robbed a little fall honey, and that's it. Neither hive swarmed last year, so they are overdue.

I thought I had lost the bees in my horizontal hive as I had not seen any outside for quite a long time while in my Langstroth hive the bees came out on a couple of warm days.
Well, a couple of days ago it was nice out and the HH bees were buzzing around the opening. I decided today to fill the tank in their hive with sugar water to help them get going as we are still not over the COLD days yet here in Indiana.
It made my day to see that they were active enough that they were interested what I was doing in their hive.
Now I just have to try and catch a swarm that is nesting in between the roof of a rental and the ceiling of the porch. Hopefully my larger swarm box filled with scent will pull them out of the building easily. NOW WHERE AM I GOING TO KEEP THEM? I'm going to have to hustle as I don't have an extra hive. Maybe one or the other of 2 friends will take pity on me and supply at least one large brood box.

 

[Wil]

I thought I had lost the bees in my horizontal hive as I had not seen any outside for quite a long time while in my Langstroth hive the bees came out on a couple of warm days.
Well, a couple of days ago it was nice out and the HH bees were buzzing around the opening. I decided today to fill the tank in their hive with sugar water to help them get going as we are still not over the COLD days yet here in Indiana.
It made my day to see that they were active enough that they were interested what I was doing in their hive.
Now I just have to try and catch a swarm that is nesting in between the roof of a rental and the ceiling of the porch. Hopefully my larger swarm box filled with scent will pull them out of the building easily. NOW WHERE AM I GOING TO KEEP THEM? I'm going to have to hustle as I don't have an extra hive. Maybe one or the other of 2 friends will take pity on me and supply at least one large brood box.

I look ahead all the time. Even though,right now,I only have my one hive but I bet I have four more complete hive boxes already put together and painted and ready to go into place with the locations and stands already there. If you paint, give them enough time to dry and for the paint to off gas. If your friends do give you hive boxes, make sure they did not have any harmful disease or pest in them.Nights are still pretty cold here in NE Ohio so my emergency feed is a sugar brick. I'm thinking that it is still to early here to put sugar water out for them but I regress, I am not sure.

 

[jessgless99]

I took the pooter in yesterday, where I bought it but the guy waiting on me was not much help behind the tech counter and he told me to go to Best Buy and have their Geeks look at it. So, I did, and I had to make an appointment for Sunday to take it in to get looked at. I tried doing upgrades, but it won't even let me do that. Left click won't work except for emails or writing in the forum and doing a search. I have a wireless mouse set up but even the pad on the laptop doesn't respond to the left click. The geek from where I bought the computer could only say," that's weird". lol. I think if I have to buy another computer, I'll be looking elsewhere.

Hate to keep going off-track, but, more info on computers maintenance.
1. Turn your computer off DAILY. A hard bootup solves some of the problems.
2. Run your utilities every 2-3 weeks to keep the computer clean of unwanted 'stuff'. Start these when you have to do other work and it will cut down on your sitting waiting for those to finish their jobs.
3. Go to Accessories, System Tools and run Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter.
4. It wouldn't hurt to Shut Down totally and reboot after doing #3 above.
5. IF you're thinking about installing NEW SOFTWARE - make sure your computer is compatible to run the software. Three big problems are - Not enough RAM, Old, old Operating Systems, Old, old Graphics Cards.
6. Every time you Install Software, EVERY TIME, once it completes the install, immediately Shut Down and reboot. This does NOT mean to Re-Start, it means to SHUT DOWN completely and then reboot.
7. For those who struggle with your computers - local High Schools and possibly Community Colleges often offer Computer Classes for Adults/Seniors that help one understand PROBLEMS if nothing else. IF you fine one of these and go - IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS - ASK THEM OF THE INSTRUCTOR!

Good Luck to those who have Computer Problems in getting them straightened out.

 

[Wil]

Speaking of swarms. I just hung my first swarm box of the year today. 3/30/22. The weather was nice after that cold spell and I seen a few Dandelions in the yard so around here, that is the sign to start putting up the swarm traps. My bees were bringing in lots of pollen and were causing a traffic jam at the entrance.

 

[Gypsi]

I look ahead all the time. Even though,right now,I only have my one hive but I bet I have four more complete hive boxes already put together and painted and ready to go into place with the locations and stands already there. If you paint, give them enough time to dry and for the paint to off gas. If your friends do give you hive boxes, make sure they did not have any harmful disease or pest in them.Nights are still pretty cold here in NE Ohio so my emergency feed is a sugar brick. I'm thinking that it is still to early here to put sugar water out for them but I regress, I am not sure.

If you are not sure about the health of bees formerly in those boxes, run a propane torch lightly over the interior of the boxes before using.

And @jessgless99 those are excellent computer tips. I shut down every night and I don't install a lot of new software. I get what I need on the computer and don't go running after new programs. I do need to start the laptop though. Once I got it back up, well I haven't touched it in a month, lol. Been out working ponds.

 

[Gypsi]

Speaking of swarms. I just hung my first swarm box of the year today. 3/30/22. The weather was nice after that cold spell and I seen a few Dandelions in the yard so around here, that is the sign to start putting up the swarm traps. My bees were bringing in lots of pollen and were causing a traffic jam at the entrance.

I need to get a couple set up, just on my property. I have not opened the hives and considered a split yet, too busy with work, but I probably should. And a swarm box just in case won't hurt.

 

[Wil]

3-2-22 and after talking to another beekeeper in my area, he convinced me to be ready ahead of time so I hung up two more swarm traps so now I have three up and waiting for future scout bees. I need to get my other 4 swarm traps ready because nature is picking up around here quickly. The bees are bringing in pollen and the fish are starting to come up for the Game Fish Chow that I toss in for them. The Dandelions are popping.

 

[Rick_Bee]

All of my empty gear is getting scouted heavily.
If you don't have traps out, you can't catch any.