Beekeeping

[Rick]

Was able to harvest a little honey the other day. More to get though. My bees decided to store honey in the front of the hive too, in previous years that was all brood.

 

[ScienceGirl]

Was able to harvest a little honey the other day. More to get though. My bees decided to store honey in the front of the hive too, in previous years that was all brood.

Interesting... The front of the hive is the cooler spot, what with the entrance there and breezes coming in. Queens tend to not lay there. And honey is a good insulator! Maybe we'll start using it for housing! (lol, yummy!)

 

[Rick]

Interesting... The front of the hive is the cooler spot, what with the entrance there and breezes coming in. Queens tend to not lay there. And honey is a good insulator! Maybe we'll start using it for housing! (lol, yummy!)

Guess it depends on the hive. Mine are open on the bottom. I never really bother to look towards the front these days but just decided to on a whim.

 

[ScienceGirl]

Okay, here's the update.

We'll pick up a new hive. Beekeeping mentor and I will inspect it to be sure it is queenright and productive before I purchase it and bring it home.

As for the "Hooray for (whatever gov. they're fixed on). Down with the queen!" hive . . . mentor says to either let them die out so I'll have their equiptment, or to insert a frame of brood from the colony I'll buy. He said that once they've made the queen cells, they'll want to kill whatever queen I introduce, and that the supersedure cells they made were probably not fertilized correctly. By putting in a fresh frame of properly fertilized female eggs and larva, the colony can try to raise a queen to mate with local drones. (Crossing my fingers on this one. I paid for the hive, so I don't want it to die out. C'mon bees, please??? I'm feeding you syrup and everything!)

 

[jamurfjr]

Okay, here's the update.

We'll pick up a new hive. Beekeeping mentor and I will inspect it to be sure it is queenright and productive before I purchase it and bring it home.

As for the "Hooray for (whatever gov. they're fixed on). Down with the queen!" hive . . . mentor says to either let them die out so I'll have their equiptment, or to insert a frame of brood from the colony I'll buy. He said that once they've made the queen cells, they'll want to kill whatever queen I introduce, and that the supersedure cells they made were probably not fertilized correctly. By putting in a fresh frame of properly fertilized female eggs and larva, the colony can try to raise a queen to mate with local drones. (Crossing my fingers on this one. I paid for the hive, so I don't want it to die out. C'mon bees, please??? I'm feeding you syrup and everything!)

Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

 

[Rick]

Hope everything works out. Guess I got lucky with my hives.

 

[ScienceGirl]

Hope everything works out. Guess I got lucky with my hives.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Thank you both.

Note to Self: Tell the new hive of bees the expectations BEFORE purchasing. Post a sign for everybee to see that reads: "Assassination of Queen Punishable by the Removal of Sugar Syrup."

(I just hope that they prefer syrup to the blackberry nectar. The acres of blackberry vines have begun to flowered, and I've seen some very happy bees.

 

[ScienceGirl]

Beekeeping mentor is wondering if the two colonies that were combined from nucs killed the queen...

 

[Rick]

Seems I have wax moths in mine. My hives are strong so it shouldn't be an issue.

 

[ScienceGirl]

Seems I have wax moths in mine. My hives are strong so it shouldn't be an issue.

That's good. A pest prevention part of one of the many beekeeping books I've read said that the moths don't lay if there is light inside the hive. You can hook up a lighting system on the inside that doesn't bother the bees.

OR you could rear wax moths to sell to fishermen and stuff. Apparently it can be quite profitable. There is a section in the back of my fav. beekeeping book, "The Beekeeper's Handbook" on that.

 

[Rick]

That's good. A pest prevention part of one of the many beekeeping books I've read said that the moths don't lay if there is light inside the hive. You can hook up a lighting system on the inside that doesn't bother the bees.

OR you could rear wax moths to sell to fishermen and stuff. Apparently it can be quite profitable. There is a section in the back of my fav. beekeeping book, "The Beekeeper's Handbook" on that.

Only found a few that were between the bars encased in their silk cocoons. I removed the few I found.

 

[ScienceGirl]

Purchased and have unloaded the full sized, queen-right hive into the field. Beekeeping mentor said to let the queenless hive die out so that I could use the equiptment on the running hive. Nighttime travel = hot, crabby bees.

We'll see how they look tomorrow. The honey-flow is on, so this is when they'll make it or break it. Let's hope this hive flourishes!

 

[sally]

Here's hoping everything goes well

 

[ScienceGirl]

Here's hoping everything goes well

Thank you.

 

[ScienceGirl]

Orientation flights commenced this morning.

I also got to see an up close view of the back legs of a honeybee - more specifically, the pollen basket structure, which is composed of a slight indent into the bees' leg and hairs that all point downwards. The other legs of a bee also have similar comb hairs covering them. These are used to comb pollen from various parts of a foraging bee and to deposit in on the hairs of the back leg.

 

[mtolosa]

This is so cool! Do you mind if I ask how much the total start up cost? I've been thinking about getting bees for some time now, and would be interested in knowing how much I should save up. Thanks for your great post!

 

[ScienceGirl]

This is so cool! Do you mind if I ask how much the total start up cost? I've been thinking about getting bees for some time now, and would be interested in knowing how much I should save up. Thanks for your great post!

Well, there are four ways:

1. Collect a swarm (free!)
2. Buy a full-size, up and running colony
3. Buy a nucleus hive (a small hive with only five frames)
4. Buy a queen (typically $25) and package bees (sold by pounds, typically want to get three lbs or more) and install them into hive bodies.

You can check around with various suppliers, and get in touch with some local beekeepers. If you purchase from a local beekeeper, you'll have a mentor and someone to ask questions who knows the bees and climate in the area. Some suppliers are: beecommerce.com, mannlakeltd (my favorite), and Dadant. You can request a free catalog from Mann lake and from Dadant.

I also highly recommend these two books: "The Beekeeper's Handbook" and "Beekeeping For Dummies".

Purchasing all of your equiptment new will be around $300. You'll need a suit, a smoker, a hive tool, at least two hive bodies, frames, and the bees.

 

[Rick]

Well, there are four ways:

1. Collect a swarm (free!)
2. Buy a full-size, up and running colony
3. Buy a nucleus hive (a small hive with only five frames)
4. Buy a queen (typically $25) and package bees (sold by pounds, typically want to get three lbs or more) and install them into hive bodies.

You can check around with various suppliers, and get in touch with some local beekeepers. If you purchase from a local beekeeper, you'll have a mentor and someone to ask questions who knows the bees and climate in the area. Some suppliers are: beecommerce.com, mannlakeltd (my favorite), and Dadant. You can request a free catalog from Mann lake and from Dadant.

I also highly recommend these two books: "The Beekeeper's Handbook" and "Beekeeping For Dummies".

Purchasing all of your equiptment new will be around $300. You'll need a suit, a smoker, a hive tool, at least two hive bodies, frames, and the bees.

I much prefer and have had great success with a package. There are many suppliers, for example I prefer Brushy Mountain Bee Farm. There a lot of choices and options when it comes to hives and the components of hives. There are even different kinds of hives. I use top bar hives. All types have their pros and cons. Most areas have bee clubs or ag extensions that can help you. There are also plenty of beekeeping forums online too. Keep in mind some locales don't allow the keeping of bees or require permits. That is of course not a worry if you live in the country.

 

[mtolosa]

Thanks, guys! I know we have a Northern Virginia Apiary society, so I'll probably contact them for all of their suppliers. They also have meetings for beginners, which should be helpful

 

[ScienceGirl]

Thanks, guys! I know we have a Northern Virginia Apiary society, so I'll probably contact them for all of their suppliers. They also have meetings for beginners, which should be helpful

Great! You're off to a good start already!

Perhaps you could buy some bees or used equiptment from them.

Another thing about bees - you'll want to get started as close to spring or, hesitantly, early summer as possible. The bees will need time to draw out comb, forage, and for the queen (if you introduce her) to be released and have the first egg emerge as a worker in 21 days.

If you have any more questions, or just want to talk bees with us, please do ask/join us!

OH! And I can't stress the importance of reading, reading, reading. Libraries are a great source for taking a look at hobbies before you jump into them. (I myself checked out 10+ books on beekeeping during the past year.) Once you find a book that you really like, buy it! Then you'll have a bunch of information to help you as you're working your hives and identifying problems.