Beekeeping

[GasDoc]

When you inspect the hive, place your inner cover upside down on the ground near the hive, then pull off each box and set it on the cover or the next box at a slight angle (not perpendicular so that bees can fall into the grass, but not parallel either where the propolis makes everything stick together). When you get to the primary brood body, stack it on top, then place your inner cover over it so you don't lose a lot of bees in the air. If there are bees on the bottom board, gently shake them into the hive, replace the board, then restore the hive.

I just have the one brood super right now. So I'll smoke through the inner cover, pick it up and place it on my upside down outer cover, replace the bottom board and put things back together. I'm assuming that any bees on my old bottom board, I can just brush into the top of the hive when I'm putting it back together.

 

[FlasherZ]

I just have the one brood super right now. So I'll smoke through the inner cover, pick it up and place it on my upside down outer cover, replace the bottom board and put things back together. I'm assuming that any bees on my old bottom board, I can just brush into the top of the hive when I'm putting it back together.

Yup! Good luck!

 

[FlasherZ]

The life of a beeman: another swarm call today... these ladies were in a peach tree about 4 feet off the ground, the cone was about 2 feet long - 5 lb. swarm. These girls were mean though, I plucked 8 stingers out of my pants and about 30-40 out of my gloves just from collecting the swarm. This colony is pretty aggressive, I can see they'll do well already (seems like the meaner ones tend to be very strong).

The upside? Two free colonies this year. The downside? I have no more spare equipment, so I have to order more for my nucs I'm still awaiting. I have a package coming on Saturday as well.

Cooked up a big batch of syrup today for the swarm and package colonies - I feed them for 2 months straight when I install them, especially if they need to draw comb. You know you're really in deep when you buy sugar in 50 lb. bags. Otherwise, I try not to feed them and ensure they build their own stores for the winter (although I tried using a candy board for the first time this last winter).

Question: any of you ever study whether your bees like inverted sugar syrup vs. just simple sucrose syrup? Historically, I've just made a sucrose syrup, but in small batches. Another local farmer suggested I make invert syrup in larger batches, suggesting that it will keep longer and has produced better results in his colonies, but studies I read seem to be mixed and the danger of HMF (hydroxymethylfurfural) poisoning is there.

 

[Al Sherman]

Need some advice...

I installed my package into a new hive 4 days ago.

Yesterday, I got curious and wanted to see if the queen had gotten out of her plastic cage. I put on a white "bunny suit" from the hospital, my veil, boots and gloves and I entered the hive using "liquid smoke" (my traditional smoker is supposed to arrive today). I found a LOT of bees on the frames and the queen cage was covered in bees. So I couldn't see how the queen was doing. The candy had been eaten but not all the way through yet. I wasn't sure about freeing the queen and, frankly, I was getting a little freaked out by all the bees so I closed things up and got the hell out of Dodge.

Should I leave things be for a few days or should I go back in today and free the queen? I've got to disturb them a little today anyways as I have to remove the feeder to fill it. I made a homemade front feeder which requires me to remove it to fill. Weather here today is hot (supposed to be in the 80's) and windless.

I'm obviously late on this and I assume it all worked out. FWIW: I've never had a problem freeing a queen after 4 days. They just didn't eat through the candy fast enough but shipping + 4 days should be plenty. Hope your girl is out and laying lots of eggs!

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

we tried to feed our bees but they didn't ever take any of our syrup. We have so many spruce, redwood, fir and alder trees and other trees for the bees + blackberries too.

Our hex hive had a couple of big pieces of comb crossed to the side and locking the upper super to the middle. Cleaned out one side. Tasty syrup. nice bees, except the one that was chasing me around all afternoon while I tried to change my wheels, it kept flying at my face and landing on my chest. maybe I shouldn't have been eating her comb...mmm

 

[GasDoc]

I'm obviously late on this and I assume it all worked out. FWIW: I've never had a problem freeing a queen after 4 days. They just didn't eat through the candy fast enough but shipping + 4 days should be plenty. Hope your girl is out and laying lots of eggs!

I didn't free the Queen as it was only 4 days and no shipping time. I picked up the bees at the farm.

When I went back in about 6 days after they were installed the queen was no longer in the queen cage. I didn't spend a lot of time looking for her as I'm a noob and was a little freaked out. My smoker going out also contributed to that.

Will probably go back in today and see how the comb is progressing. Hopefully I'll see evidence of queen laying. I'm still giving sugar syrup and have an entrance reducer installed. The local beek says that I don't need to do that around here as there is plenty of nectar flowing. He just says that if I remove the reducer, I should keep an eye on the hive to make sure there isn't any raiding going on and look for bees fighting near the entrance.

I've finally found a use for Google Glass. I can take pictures while my hands are occupied and I'm wearing a veil!

 

[FlasherZ]

When I went back in about 6 days after they were installed the queen was no longer in the queen cage. I didn't spend a lot of time looking for her as I'm a noob and was a little freaked out. My smoker going out also contributed to that.

Will probably go back in today and see how the comb is progressing. Hopefully I'll see evidence of queen laying. I'm still giving sugar syrup and have an entrance reducer installed. The local beek says that I don't need to do that around here as there is plenty of nectar flowing. He just says that if I remove the reducer, I should keep an eye on the hive to make sure there isn't any raiding going on and look for bees fighting near the entrance.

You mentioned on 4/28 that it was in the third day, so that means the queen would have been freed sometime between then and 5/1 (6th day). You likely won't see any capped brood yet but you should easily be able to see sizable larvae swimming in honey. This morning I checked on my swarm hive from last Thursday and there are a lot of larvae in a very solid pattern. By this weekend you should start to see your first capped brood.

As long as there are a good number of bees maintaining the brood nest, I don't worry about entrance reducers in the spring during a honey flow. I do look for signs of robbing late in week 2 to early in week 3, that's when the new generation hasn't hatched yet but the bees from the package/swarm start to reach their "later days". After that, as long as there are flowers around and you don't have queen problems, you'll be just fine.

 

[GasDoc]

Did an inspection today. Didn't see the queen. How can I amongst the thousands of bees?

They've been busy making comb, I see some filled with nectar. Some have a dark brown filling (pollen?) a few with white caps.

I took some pictures with Google Glass and put them on Facebook. Can someone tell me what I'm looking at?

 

[Al Sherman]

Looks as thought they're making good progress. Might be some eggs I'm seeing in photo 5 of 8? Hard to tell but looks like it to me. It's hard not to do when you're first starting a hive but don't bug them too often. I would keep feeding through the first big nectar flow. Use the entrance reducer if you're using an entrance feeder but you can most likely take it off if you're using a hive top feeder. Opinions will vary. Geographic/seasonal differences may vary too. Pollen IS coming in like crazy right now. And should be to feed new brood. You can stare at the front of the hive and see the girls bringing in the different colors with full baskets. It's a lot of fun.

 

[FlasherZ]

Did an inspection today. Didn't see the queen. How can I amongst the thousands of bees?

You'll see her eventually... There are clues - bees tend to focus on her so they tend to cluster more around her, and the workers attending to her will all face her. You'll learn to find her quickly as you practice the craft.

I took some pictures with Google Glass and put them on Facebook. Can someone tell me what I'm looking at?

Is there a place you can put higher-res pictures? In pic 5 I think I can see eggs but it could be a sun reflection.

Cells with brown-to-orange powder are pollen stores. Cells with a whitish liquid will be royal jelly (fed to larvae for first 2-3 days, then honey). Shiny cells have honey in them. Eggs are tiny white specks, and you can see larvae more easily - typically accompanied by honey they're being fed.

I may have found your queen in picture 5 along the top rail of the frame - look for the long butt. Not sure because the picture is low-resolution on FB.

- - - Updated - - -

PS - your IPM board appears to be turned the wrong way (not upside down, but rather rotated 180 degrees). The grid is shifted, it should be entirely visible under the screen.

 

[GasDoc]

Is there a place you can put higher-res pictures? In pic 5 I think I can see eggs but it could be a sun reflection.

Can I post here?

I see a lot of reflected sunlight that might be eggs but there are a couple of combs where it is less likely to be reflections.

 

[FlasherZ]

I took a close look - the bee I thought might be the queen was not in the higher-res pic. But I think she still might be on this frame. It's not easy to tell but there are a couple of patterns of bees that caught my interest. Looking bee-by-bee is difficult -- you want to watch for certain activities. I always look for a circle of bees that might be facing the queen, or bees that move out of the way as another is moving along.

I am wondering if the bee I squared in the pic is the queen or not, it's hard to tell because her butt could be in a cell laying an egg, or the markings of a worker bee could just be hidden here. But she looks like she has a pointed abdomen and the wing cross of a queen... maybe, maybe not.

The good news? You have brood coming. I can see larvae in these cells. Look closely for the white worm. (As your brood comb goes darker, it'll be easier to see them.)

 

[GasDoc]

The good news? You have brood coming. I can see larvae in these cells.

I'm gonna be a Daddy!!!



I blew up the photo to the maximum in iPhoto and copied the locations you hilighted.

In the first photo, that one bee sure looks a lot bigger than the others.

In the second, I'm not sure if I see larva, but it looks like something is in there.

 

[Jeff Miller]

I've been interested in keeping bees for a long time and have never got around to it, but this thread has inspired me - great photos and content! I just signed up for a bee keeping course at the local honey Co-op and ordered the book Al recommended which looks quite interesting. Looking at our local code, it seems like might not be legal to raise them here, so I'll have to look into that as well.

 

[FlasherZ]

In the second, I'm not sure if I see larva, but it looks like something is in there.

I outlined them in black here - this is what to look for with larvae...

As I mentioned above, once you go through a couple cycles of brood your comb will darken, then the white larvae will show up very nicely. That beautiful white wax won't stay that way for long.

 

[bonnie]

One of my girls, hard at work.

 

[FlasherZ]

One of my girls, hard at work.

Gorgeous - do you know her breed? She doesn't look like a typical Italian, do you keep Russian or Carniolans?

 

[Denarius]

Gorgeous - do you know her breed? She doesn't look like a typical Italian, do you keep Russian or Carniolans?

Looks like a carniolan to me.

 

[bonnie]

Carniolan.

- - - Updated - - -

I've gone a little crazy this weekend taking pics of bees and other moving targets on the property - new camera lens, just making sure I know it thoroughly before taking it on vacation with me.

 

[GasDoc]

I did an inspection today. The bees have been in the hive for 19 days. The queen has probably been out for 14 days.

I found capped nectar vs sugar water (white) and some yellow caps. Are the yellow caps brood or honey?

I didn't see any eggs or larva and wasn't able to find my queen.

At one point though, there was a big ball of bees hanging off one of the frames. It looked like they were all swarmed around something in the middle. Maybe the queen? I made sure that these bees went back into the hive gently.