Last Year I Started Beekeeping - So Exciting

[chigger bait]

You must have alot of bloom right now.

 

[Happy Chooks]

We have been talking about getting bees for almost 2 years now. I just got my bees yesterday. Got them moved from the NUC to the hive. I didn't spot the queen, so I'll be anxious to look next week and see how they are doing.

 

[madamwlf]

At this very moment hive one looks like they may swarm again. There are a lot of bees outside the house flying around. No sign if her yet. I only had a medium super painted and ready to go. So we put it on top of a ladder with some pro health in a cotton ball. Hoping for the best.

 

[madamwlf]

So crisis avoided for now. I'm not sure what was going on. I don't think it was a swarm. These seemed like angry bees. So I'm wondering if they were defending against other bees. Anyway, we had a look inside once everything calmed down. Found the queen and she's been busy. I decided to move all the active frames to the bottom box and all the empty frames to the top. The queen was in the bottom one. The bottom box is pretty much full so I put the empty box with empty frames back on top. I even had my DH take some pictures.





You can just barely see the red dot marking the queen in the bottom corner.


Anyone know what that is??? I was thinking it's just a funking looking cell or one that was attached to the frame next to it.

 

[Blarneyeggs]

Madamwlf: Does indeed look like your bees have been busy! I don't know what that is down the bottom. What are your frames made of? they look nothing like ours. We have plastic frames and wax frames as we bought from two different places.

DS checked the hive today all on his own. Put on the bee suit, fired up the smoker and came back with news that the bees are building some comb on the new frames. He says he couldn't find the queen but saw that she had been laying. He said he saw lots of worker egg cells, but no drone cells. I am perplexed that he can tell the difference, and wondering just a little if maybe he's pulling my leg. Is there really a noticeable difference?

ETA: DS is 13.

 

[madamwlf]

I'm not sure what the frames are made of. I buy them from Mann Lakes since I'm horrible at building things. I prefer to have them already assembled and loaded with foundation. I think the two cells do look different but I'm new to this and have only seen the one kind so far; worker cells. Drones are larger male bees and workers are smaller female bees.

Madamwlf: Does indeed look like your bees have been busy! I don't know what that is down the bottom. What are your frames made of? they look nothing like ours. We have plastic frames and wax frames as we bought from two different places.

DS checked the hive today all on his own. Put on the bee suit, fired up the smoker and came back with news that the bees are building some comb on the new frames. He says he couldn't find the queen but saw that she had been laying. He said he saw lots of worker egg cells, but no drone cells. I am perplexed that he can tell the difference, and wondering just a little if maybe he's pulling my leg. Is there really a noticeable difference?

 

[Blarneyeggs]

Happy Chooks, Welcome! and congratulations on your bees! We also just got our first bees. We were told:

"do not give them feed. Check in 2 days to see if they are building comb on the new frames, if they're building comb, then that means they've found a pollen source and no feed is necessary. No new comb, and add a feeder.'

I'm wondering if anyone else has done it this way, because everyone else seems to give feed and then check in a week, which seems much safer to me. Except, for the fact that I'm certain I'll mess the feeder up and drown my bees.

Madamwlf: I'm sure someone with experience will chime in. BTW, do you raise Cream Legbars, and if so, what is their temperament like?

 

[sgtmom52]

How hot was it when you had a lot of bees flying outside. If it was very warm, especially after a rainy or cool day the bees may be very active outside the hive. You may also notice a lot of bees hanging on the outside of the hive at night if it is very warm.
The red dot on the Queen ~ is the Queen marked or did you mark the picture? I was just wondering as in the standard marking for queens ~ red is for years ending in 3 & 8
It is OK to move frames around ~ as long as you do not break up the brood nest. If there is brood in the top & bottom it is not recommended that you move them. Also they should always be replaced in the same order & direction in the hive.

The "funky looking cells" are "burr comb" which bees will build almost anywhere. That burr comb is drone cells ~ they are larger than the worker cells and are often built at the bottom of the frames. I keep a small plastic bucket with me when I check my hives and scrape off all of the burr comb (even if it has larva in it) and collect it. You can store it in the freezer to melt down later for beeswax crafts. The larva/brood or any other debris is easily filtered out.

So crisis avoided for now. I'm not sure what was going on. I don't think it was a swarm. These seemed like angry bees. So I'm wondering if they were defending against other bees. Anyway, we had a look inside once everything calmed down. Found the queen and she's been busy. I decided to move all the active frames to the bottom box and all the empty frames to the top. The queen was in the bottom one. The bottom box is pretty much full so I put the empty box with empty frames back on top. I even had my DH take some pictures.





You can just barely see the red dot marking the queen in the bottom corner.


Anyone know what that is??? I was thinking it's just a funking looking cell or one that was attached to the frame next to it.

 

[sgtmom52]

There is a saying ~ "If you ask 100 beekeepers how they do something ~ you will get 100 different answers"

A lot depends on the bees you got. If you got a Nuc in the spring ~ you may not need to feed as they are an established mini hive which already has drawn comb, brood honey and bees. If you get a nuc later in the year you should feed so they can draw out the rest of the comb in the full hive and put in stores for the winter.

I always feed packages & swarms no matter when I get them. Some take a little syrup ~ some a lot. It all depends on the nectar flow at the time. If they don't need it they won't take it. I think that it helps anchor the bees to the new hive at the beginning when they are mostly likely to abscond. If they are not being put into a hive that already has drawn comb ~ they need the equivalent of 10 pounds of honey to draw 1 pound of wax and they also need honey to eat and feed the brood. A quart of syrup is only pennies compared to replacing a package that absconds ~ so why take the risk. If you are concerned about drowning bee in a large top feeder, it is simple to put a quart jar with 1:1 syrup with pin holes in the lid over the hole in the inner cover inside a super or extra hive box, put the telescoping cover on top. You can also use an entrance feeder. I only use my 2 gallon top feeders for heavy feeding in the fall.

Happy Chooks, Welcome! and congratulations on your bees! We also just got our first bees. We were told:

"do not give them feed. Check in 2 days to see if they are building comb on the new frames, if they're building comb, then that means they've found a pollen source and no feed is necessary. No new comb, and add a feeder.'

I'm wondering if anyone else has done it this way, because everyone else seems to give feed and then check in a week, which seems much safer to me. Except, for the fact that I'm certain I'll mess the feeder up and drown my bees.

 

[sgtmom52]

Madamwlf: Does indeed look like your bees have been busy! I don't know what that is down the bottom. What are your frames made of? they look nothing like ours. We have plastic frames and wax frames as we bought from two different places.

DS checked the hive today all on his own. Put on the bee suit, fired up the smoker and came back with news that the bees are building some comb on the new frames. He says he couldn't find the queen but saw that she had been laying. He said he saw lots of worker egg cells, but no drone cells. I am perplexed that he can tell the difference, and wondering just a little if maybe he's pulling my leg. Is there really a noticeable difference?

ETA: DS is 13.

There is a noticeable difference in drone and worker cells/brood.
This picture shows mostly worker brood at the top & middle of the frame. The drone brood is at the bottom with a few along the top and scattered about. Drone brood is larger and have a more bullet shape. The cells are slightly larger and once drones are raised in those cells they will almost always lay infertile (drone) eggs in those cells again. If you have a frame that is mostly drone cells you may wish to cycle that frame out of your hive. Removing drone comb is one method of varroa mite control.