Finger crossed. Chances are, I'll be leaving it all with them—for the first winter anyway. A nuc probably would have yielded enough surplus honey this year. I expect you to share with those less fortunate.Very nice! They'll be accostomed to the climate and ready to make you honey!
Haha! I wish. It only has five frames in it, and won't be at full working capacity for a while. They'll have to draw out comb and gather enough nectar and pollen and water to store for fall and winter, and to eat for spring and summer. True, the queen was introduced sooner than yours will be, so mine will have a bit of a head start.Finger crossed. Chances are, I'll be leaving it all with them—for the first winter anyway. A nuc probably would have yielded enough surplus honey this year. I expect you to share with those less fortunate.
Still, I wish the best luck to all of the honey bees in the world!!! We've been painting supers and hive components this week for their full sized transition.
Oh no!
Good luck there. My bees couldn't care less about anything in the yard we have planted for them.
I, too, have only seen one honey bee foraging on a single dandelion flower. Maybe they like to save the nectar sources closer to home for bad weather or nectar dearths? It's annoying though, because if they don't take it, some other bee will!
Haha, nice! We let the dandelions bloom, too. I've only seen one honey bee on a flower, though... I have no idea where they are foraging, maple tree sap, probably, but they are coming home laden with pollen and their honey stomachs are full, too, I can expect.
My wife has been talking about buying some bee balm. I mentioned to her that your bees don't bother with it and go elsewhere. You may have saved me money.
Fire ants are a concern of mine. They are all over the place.I, too, have only seen one honey bee foraging on a single dandelion flower. Maybe they like to save the nectar sources closer to home for bad weather or nectar dearths? It's annoying though, because if they don't take it, some other bee will!
Haha, nice! We let the dandelions bloom, too. I've only seen one honey bee on a flower, though... I have no idea where they are foraging, maple tree sap, probably, but they are coming home laden with pollen and their honey stomachs are full, too, I can expect.
Yes, the other bugs will love it... Not always a good thing. Make sure that you keep the weeds trimmed down at least foot around the sides and back of the hive, and maybe three feet in front. They'll need their flying room to gain altitude, and it's much easier to work bees in a trimmed area.
Watch out for ants, too! Ants found my nuc in only 12 hours. I read that normally bees can keep down an ant population, but if they get overrun they will abscond. We treated them by thoroughly shaking cinnamon over the ground, hive cover, and entrance platform. The ants don't like it, but the bees don't seem to mind. Now that the bees are in a Langstroth hive on a high hive stand with four legs, we can make an oil "moat" by putting each leg in a can of motor oil.
Made me laugh.
I suppose the other pollinators also deserve to be taken care of. They're are loving the current state of my yard. The bumbles keep to themselves and just do their thing. And I try to be tolerant of the annoying dive bombing of the male carpenter bees, but I have grown tired of caulking and painting over the holes they bore into the deck and siding.
Ants love honey, and if they come in large numbers, the colony will abscond. Bad news for a beekeeper, because you can only get honey bees once a year. They aren't a year round supermarket product, and with CCD taking its toll, the prices seem to be going up from some providers.
I'll keep that in mind and use the cat box suggestion if I have to. My hive bodies are already on blocks. Thanks!
No problem.
We're using a four legged high hive stand (built ourselves! ). We are using a screened bottom board from Mann Lake ltd with a removable drawer. The drawer is in right now, with paper covering it until we make a plastic board to cover with vaseline.
I went with the solid bottom board because I'm cheap. Lol! We'll see how that goes. Are small hive beetles a big problem in the Northwest?No problem.
I'm waiting to see if the ants come back. Their trails will be very noticable up the four legs as opposed to the all around climbing surfaces of what the nuc was sitting on. I'll use diesel or motor oil if I have to, but I'd rather not.
I get ants on occasion but the bees keep them in check. Never had any fire ants near the hives though. Can't speak for the Northwest but my hives have small hive beetles. A healthy hive can keep them in check. I see a few every time I open the hives and that disturbance causes them to come into the open where I can crush them or the bees will go after them. My friend lost most of his hives this year already due to shb. In that case the hives were probably weakened which allowed the bees to take over. I personally take a natural approach as much as possible and refuse to treat for the beetles since the bees can keep such things in check.
