A BEE thread....for those interested in beekeeping.

[#1California Chick]

Quote:
Good Job!! Good to pass around the bounty!

 

[Imker]

That's great the swarm was accessible. That can be some major work when the bees find a way into the walls. We are having a very good nectar flow this year, since the tulip poplars didn't get the typical cold snap that limits their flowering and the sourwood is yet to come.

 

[d1]

In a TBH : SHOULD THE BARS BE PLANED/SMOOTH OR CAN THEY BE ROUGH CUT?


Thanks in advance

 

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

I'm getting my bees TODAY!!!

 

[d1]

Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex :

I'm getting my bees TODAY!!!

I WANT BEES

 

[pinkwindsong]

any upstate SC bee people? im looking for someone to put a hive out on my property and they can have the honey..

bb )O(
Pink

 

[SurprisingWoman]

If you don't get a response here you may want to check your local assn: http://www.scstatebeekeepers.org/

 

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

My bees are happily buzzing around my garden, and my greenhouse (temporarily storing extra supplies) smells like honey

I am pleasantly surprized by how much my colony has grown since I last saw them a month ago... I will have to add a second story soon. My new bees are very productive

I will try to post pics tonight.

 

[jettgirl24]

In a TBH : SHOULD THE BARS BE PLANED/SMOOTH OR CAN THEY BE ROUGH CUT?


Thanks in advance

I *think* rough cut should be fine as long as they still fit together tightly but a more experienced TBH keeper may want to answer this as I'm pretty new to this

 

[jettgirl24]

I checked on my bees this weekend and they are doing great! They've got 7 bars that are about as close as you can get touching the floor without attaching plus they are starting on the 8th bar. I've got lots of capped brood both worker and drone. I only did a quick inspection of two or three bars so I don't really know exactly what the ratio of worker and drone is. I did have a couple of HUGE bees fly out that didn't seem super happy with me... They were monsters! Other than that everyone was mellow about me opening things up. They used to pour out when I removed bars but this time they didn't really even try to come out of the top... Too busy working away I suppose

Gotta love their work ethic! The plants on my property and in the forest are starting to bloom like crazy and the bees are out feeding in force. I love to stand 10 or 15 feet from the hive and watch them coming and going. It's really fun to watch the way they travel with such a purpose and I love listening to the hum when I'm sitting in the yard. Since I started keeping the bees this year I've become much more aware of their sound in many places that I go. I've also noticed I have a lot of smallish bumble bees and some other honey bees around our bushes and trees. The other day I was behind my barn and I could hear a very loud hum when I stood at the edge of the forest so I'm wondering if maybe there's a swarm in there. Unfortunately I don't have a bait hive built yet so I didn't bother to go check it out.

I do have some mold in the empty end of the hive where I was previously feeding them (I'm no longer supplementing). From what I've read they should clean it up when they need to so I'm not going to worry about that for now. I also had some ants where the sugar water had dripped on the bottom a bit. There weren't too many so I'm not going to worry about that either but if they become and issue does anyone have suggestions on how to keep them out?