Last Year I Started Beekeeping - So Exciting

[madamwlf]

What signs can I look for that says I have a content bee colony??? I know they are busily going in and out of the hive. My husband was curious and checked the upper body chamber. I had to put the second one on since that's the one I used to put the queen back in. They are finally drawing out comb! He only checked one frame and even I could see the color difference on the black frame. Is there anything to look for? We didn't bother looking for the queen. I figure I will wait until Sunday if all goes well and see if there are eggs being laid.

 

[Blarneyeggs]

Chigger, How exciting! I wish I coud catch a swarm! I'm tired of waiting for my bees to come....

Madam, good news! I was wondering how you made out today.

I'm so jealous of everyone. My hives are still sitting empty on our porch I wonder if I set them up and then put that bait in them.... what would happen?

 

[sgtmom52]

Chigger, How exciting! I wish I coud catch a swarm! I'm tired of waiting for my bees to come....

Madam, good news! I was wondering how you made out today.

I'm so jealous of everyone. My hives are still sitting empty on our porch I wonder if I set them up and then put that bait in them.... what would happen?

To try to catch a swarm you could set up your hives or use a "bait hive" like I do, which is a nuc box with some frames of drawn comb or some bees wax and swarm lure. If you don't have swarm lure you can use some lemongrass oil on a cotton ball inside the box. Bait hives should be about 8 to 10 feet off the ground facing south to southeast with morning sun and afternoon shade & have a small entry hole, about 1/2" or so. You can also use Honey B Healthy as a swarm lure ~ it is a commercial product which you can mix with 1:1 sugar syrup ~ the bees love it and it smells wonderful!

Recipe to make you own Honey B Healthy clone ~


Honey-B-Healthy (Generic)

5 cups of water
2 1/2 lbs of sugar
1/8 teaspoon lecithin granules (used as a emulsifier)
15 drops spearmint oil
15 drops lemongrass oil.
6 drops of thyme oil (Optional)

dissolve lecithin in 1/4 cup of water. This may take several hours. Bring water to a boil, remove from heat and stir in sugar until dissolved. Stir in lecithin until dissolved. Stir in essential oils until everything is evenly distributed. Cool before using.

I use 1 tablespoon per quart but I don't use thyme in my mixture. One to two tablespoons per gallon works if using thyme oil.

Makes about 2 quarts.

 

[chigger bait]

Here is a frame of honey that I got off of my Russians last June.



A freind of mine worked up this label for my jars of honey.


I had him put a Yellow Poplar bloom on the label since that is what our bees mainly work here in Upper East Tennessee.

 

[chigger bait]

What signs can I look for that says I have a content bee colony??? I know they are busily going in and out of the hive. My husband was curious and checked the upper body chamber. I had to put the second one on since that's the one I used to put the queen back in. They are finally drawing out comb! He only checked one frame and even I could see the color difference on the black frame. Is there anything to look for? We didn't bother looking for the queen. I figure I will wait until Sunday if all goes well and see if there are eggs being laid.

I normally don't add another super on until they have drawn out 7 to 8 of the 10 frames out.

I have noticed that if I do, then the bees will by pass the frames in the lower super and begin to start building in the upper, since it is in their nature to build vertically rather than horizontally.

Also as they draw comb out and fill it(which they do so in the middle of the supers) I move the empty frames towards the middle and the full ones towards the outside.

On brood frames you just have to be careful not to spilt the hive or chill the brood.

Frames of honey, move as soon as they fill them.

 

[sgtmom52]

Here is a frame of honey that I got off of my Russians last June.



A freind of mine worked up this label for my jars of honey.


I had him put a Yellow Poplar bloom on the label since that is what our bees mainly work here in Upper East Tennessee.

Nice honey frame and label! We live in the woods with a lot of poplar trees too ~ makes good honey. We just put a couple of hives on a local farm where there are a lot of locust trees nearby. I'm looking forward to getting some locust honey.

 

[madamwlf]

If need be, I will move brood frames down or even switch the boxes around on a nice warm day. I might do that Sunday when I go in to have a peak. I can have my husband help me so that we can do it quickly.

I normally don't add another super on until they have drawn out 7 to 8 of the 10 frames out.

I have noticed that if I do, then the bees will by pass the frames in the lower super and begin to start building in the upper, since it is in their nature to build vertically rather than horizontally.

Also as they draw comb out and fill it(which they do so in the middle of the supers) I move the empty frames towards the middle and the full ones towards the outside.

On brood frames you just have to be careful not to spilt the hive or chill the brood.

Frames of honey, move as soon as they fill them.

 

[sgtmom52]

If you do move brood frames make sure that you do not "split the brood nest" If there is brood at the top of the bottom box and at the bottom of the top box ~ do not move them as it splits the brood and makes it difficult for the nurse bees to care for them and keep them warm.

Here in PA we are supposed to get 1 to 2" for rain on Sunday ~ not a good day for checking bees! Saturday looks good though.

If need be, I will move brood frames down or even switch the boxes around on a nice warm day. I might do that Sunday when I go in to have a peak. I can have my husband help me so that we can do it quickly.

 

[madamwlf]

So I guess it is best to leave the boxes alone?

 

[sgtmom52]

If there is only brood in the top box and not the bottom, it is OK to switch them. If you only move the frames and not the whole box make sure to keep them in the same order/direction as they were. It is best to have the brood in the bottom box, but that is not always possible without splitting the brood nest.

So I guess it is best to leave the boxes alone?