Last Year I Started Beekeeping - So Exciting

[sgtmom52]

Wow do I feel stupid. I looked on our local Craigslist and people are selling bees locally. Duh.

Hey ~ that is a good thing!

Do you have any problems with Africanized Honey Bees down there?

 

[Happy Chooks]

Stupid question.............I need to inspect the hive again today. I have the 2nd hive body on now. Do I need to tear the whole thing apart and look in the bottom? Last week the queen was very active and there were only 3 frames not drawn out in the bottom. Do I just check the upper hive body and make sure they are working it?

They are starting to take less sugar syrup, I haven't filled it in 3 days. The blackberries are blooming now, so I guess they have plenty to forage from right now.

 

[Blarneyeggs]

Feeling stupid is not allowed. You should feel lucky!

DH and DS found 2 queens on the same frame in our stronger hive yesterday..... Um, what's up with that? Swarm? Can we split the hive?

 

[sgtmom52]

Stupid question.............I need to inspect the hive again today. I have the 2nd hive body on now. Do I need to tear the whole thing apart and look in the bottom? Last week the queen was very active and there were only 3 frames not drawn out in the bottom. Do I just check the upper hive body and make sure they are working it?

They are starting to take less sugar syrup, I haven't filled it in 3 days. The blackberries are blooming now, so I guess they have plenty to forage from right now.

Don't ever think you are asking a stupid question ~ asking is the best way to learn!

You do not have to check the whole thing. Just take a peak at what ever you want to check for. You can usually get a pretty good feel for what is going on by just checking the top hive body without going into the bottom box too. If they are not taking the syrup take it off so that it doesn't ferment in the heat ~ you don't want drunk bees!

 

[sgtmom52]

Feeling stupid is not allowed. You should feel lucky!
DH and DS found 2 queens on the same frame in our stronger hive yesterday..... Um, what's up with that? Swarm? Can we split the hive?

Even though most people say there is only one queen in a hive there are occasions where there can be more than one. Usually it is a mother & daughter when the mother is going to be superceded. It can also be sister queens when the hive has swarmed. Two queens usually only co-exist for a short period of time before one takes over and defeats the other one. Multiple queens can also swarm with a secondary swarm. Hives can keep swarming with as many virgin queens as are available and on rare occasions swarm itself down to almost nothing.

Whether you can make a split all depends on how strong the hive is and not on the 2 queens.

 

[galanie]

Wow do I feel stupid. I looked on our local Craigslist and people are selling bees locally. Duh.

Hey ~ that is a good thing!  

Do you have any problems with Africanized Honey Bees down there?

Nope. So I'm good to go, I guess. They are only selling bees + hive and I don't really want the hive but maybe I can talk one into just selling me the bees. Or wait till I can afford both.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
Thank you! And LOL, drunk bees!

They are taking the syrup, just more slowly. It was quite cold over the past few days though, so they may not have been up to taking the syrup. We went from the 90's to the 50's and rain.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
So how do you know what they are going to do? Whether they supercede or swarm?

Man, I have so much to learn.

 

[sgtmom52]

So how do you know what they are going to do? Whether they supercede or swarm?

Man, I have so much to learn.

The best thing to do is look for queen cells and note their location on the frame. This should help give you an idea of what they are thinking.

This is a picture of one of my frames from earlier this year that shows both a supercedure cell and a bunch of swarm cells. Supercedure cells are usually somewhere on the middle to top half of the frame while swarm cells are usually along the bottom.

The funny thing about this hive is that after I took this picture ~ the bees tore down all of these cells and didn't swarm ~ until about a month later!

 

[madamwlf]

My newest hive must be doing some serious building. They've been going through over a quart of syrup a day. Probably more if I could fill it up more often. The first hive is still taking quite a bit too.