Nevadans?

[Penturner]

Ron, I started my hive on the 14th of last month. It now has 2 deep bodies with brood in both and one med honey super we put on 4 days ago. They have nto done anything with that med box yet and still have a little ways to fill up the second super. We took off the sugar water when we added the med super and foraging has gone through the roof. We had one orientation flight the other day that formed a ball i estimate 10 feet across. it was just huge. Now it looks like a full entrance is not big enough to let all the bees in and out. I am probably going to add an upper entrance tomorrow. Sunny I know that sounds like al ot of work but in reality it takes minutes and I do a lot more of it than is necessary. probably far more than is good for the bees. leaving them alone for the next month is what I really need to do. But like I have said on the beekeeping group. I am learning and am goign to watch what the bees are dong with this first hive. The bees are just going to have to tolerate it. Otherwise I need 100 hives and not enough time to pester them so much. It is like telling someone not to watch the eggs when they are attempting their first hatch. it just isn't going to happen.

 

[NevadaRon]

Wow Daniel yours have progressed that far in only one month? What's your secret? Did you start with package bees or a nuc?

 

[americanvalkyrie]

Thanks me too! I got very giddy when i saw it, lol. I hope it becomes a regular thing!

That looks like a welsummer egg. Cacciatore was laying eggs just like that, until she got sick. Right now, she's laying again, but she's not putting the last layer of shell on them. So we get a thin, brittle shell and no color deposit. Hopefully soon her cloaca will heal. Right now I'm glad she's laying.

We got 9 eggs today, from 9 hens! It's the first time we've had 100% production in a day, since getting the new pullets in February. And I'm so glad that everyone is back to laying! And even though Loco laid an egg, she's also broody. I can only imagine how she reacted when the ducks came in for the night and tried to sleep in her nesting box. She's always been a gentle hen, but also very opinionated and quirky. Now she's also a cranky broody.

And speaking of the ducks, they're staying out LATE! I think it's because the pond is in full sun, so they lay out in the shade during the hot part of the day, and go out on the pond at night. So they have a lot of swimming to get in. Also, the goldfish bite at the surface at night, and they're trying to catch them. Each night, about 10-11pm, we go out and chase them into the coop. I'm wondering how long it would take for them to just go in on their own, but I don't want to stay up long enough to find out, and risk leaving the coop door open.

 

[Penturner]

Ron, We started with a strong 5 frame nuc so the queen was laying right from the get go. I also meddled a bit and think I struck upon something that caused the bees to draw out frames faster. rather than place the 5 fraems fromt he nuc int eh center of the box I put 3 of them in the center and the other two on the outsides. both of those last two frames where the honey and pollen frames. This caused the bees to start drawing comb on the new foundation much faster. What it seemed like to me the bees did not want to recognize all the new foundation as part of their new home at first and only paid attention to the side of the frames next to there old nuc frames. when I moved the outside frames they started drawing more of the foundation. In the end I basically checkerboarded all the old frames with the nuc frames and they drew out the entire box in something like 4 days.

So on 5-14 this is how we installed the nuc and the 5 new frames.
Frame 1 New foundation
Frame 2 New foundation
Frame 3 New foundation
Frame 4 Honey and pollen from nuc
Frame 5 Brood from nuc
Frame 6 Brood from nuc
Frame 7 Honey and a bit of brood from nuc
Frame 8 Honey from nuc
Frame 9 New Foundation
Frame 10 New Foundation.

We waited three days and checked things out. all the bees had even touched was just a bit of the foundation on frames 3 and 9 and that was only one the side that faced toward the nuc frames. So I swapped frames 8 and 10 just to see what would happen. in two more days 5-19, I checked again and frame 9 was now half drawn they where starting on frame 8. taking this as a sign my thinking was right and the bees would work on any foundation that was placed between frames of the old nuc I arranged the box like this,


Also note that the queen already has full room to lay after only 5 days in the new box.
basically the entire box except frames 1 and two are , nuc frame, new foundation, nuc frame etc. I did not move brood frames.

At this time some of the experienced keepers at beesource started yelling at me to stop meddling with the bees. So I waited 8 days to inspect them again. Here is what I found. This is now 13 days since the nuc was installed. And I consider the first three days wasted so it is really what the bees did in 10 days.

Frame 1 New foundation partially drawn on one side and untouched on outside side.
Frame 2 New foundation 1/4 drawn on one side, drawn and filled comb on the other side
Frame 3 Honey and pollen from nuc was frame
Frame 4 New foundation fully drawn with brood
Frame 5 Brood from nuc
Frame 6 Brood from nuc
Frame 7 New Foundation fully drawn filled and capped sugar water
Frame 8 Honey and a bit of brood from nuc, was frame 7
Frame 9 New Foundation fully drawn full frames of brood and capped brood.
Frame 10 Honey from nuc was frame 8

Notice frame 9 went from an untouched foundation to fully drawn. filled with eggs and then developing larva to the point they are already being capped. brood is capped at day 9 so this frame had to have been full of eggs when I inspected on 5-19

So at any rate it has been all of 13 days since the nuc was installed and already there are now 4 frames of brood rather than 2 and one frame on both sides will emerge in no more than 12 days. I also now considered this box 80% drawn and added second deep body on 5-28. 2 weeks to the day for the bees to draw and mostly fill the first deep.

The second deep took 15 days to get drawn and approx half filled with an additional 3 frames being brood. the brood from those two frames in the lower box have now emerged and the population of the hive is exploding. I kept the bees on sugar water and fed them Mega Bee the entire time. I removed the sugar water on 6-10 but continue to give them Mega Bee to help keep the brood fed. I have so many bees foraging that one entrance is not big enough. in 4 weeks the size of this hive has more than doubled. in 2 more weeks it will double again or more. I am starting to think I will have to split it in the next few weeks.

I will say this. My idea was to give the queen room to lay the most eggs she is capable of laying. and from day three on she had more empty cells available every day than she can fill. And I fully believe that remained true for the entire 4 week period. as long as the bees do not fill those cells with honey they will remain empty for her to lay in. I also thought the bees would have a hard time finding enough food to keep all that brood going so I gave them what they needed. both sugar water and pollen substitute. they do not even have to leave the hive to raise that brood. I have not looked in teh lower box for two weeks now but I suspect the queen is keeing as many as 8 frames or even more full of brood at all times now. 4 fraems in the lower box and at least 4 in the upper box.

Is it a secret? I don't really know. I do know I am extremely observant and followed what the bees indicated to me they would do. Other than that all i knew was I wanted that queen to lay every eggs she is capable of. I have never heard of anyone doing anything like this and was actually yelled at by the experienced keepers for doing it. But as far as I can tell it worked and it worked like a charm. Is this hive a bullet train headed toward swarming? maybe. I don't think I will know the full impact of all my meddling for a few weeks yet. it may run out of forage and starve in record time also. I am still watching it with inspections of the top box every two days. inspections of the lower deeps will be once a month now. My goal now is to get them built up with honey for the winter. and with this hive I expect to need at least 100 lbs of honey to feed them.

I wish I had only gone through 25 lbs of sugar. I think I am pushing closer to 35 or 40. I am not really sure because Kim buys it in bulk and I never know how many lbs she buys. But I am pretty sure she has brought home 10 lbs at a time three different times. Plus we used everything we had at home.

Sorry to those that are bored with this conversation that it is so long. I have done a lot in this hive in just 4 weeks so it is hard to explain with few words. Also keep in mind that ll of this totaled no more than 2 hours of effort on my part over a one month period. So it is not a huge amount of time. It is the result of a huge amount of knowledge i have gained over the past 9 months or so though.

For anyone considering getting bees I will add this.
1. do you think you will be nervouse about being near them? I can help remove that concern in short order. anyone is welcome to come watch me inspect my hive. I am nto pushy and let you be as near or as far from them as you are comfortable with. I can prety much guarantee you will be hanging your head directly over the hive before it is over. This offer is not connected to the sale of my hive in any way. It is about educating others about honey bees. So if you really want to experience bees. let me know I am very happy to show mine off.

2. the cost of the bees are not the only costs. expect to pay close to $600 for everything you will need to care for them. a good jacket and veil will run about $100. you will want a smoker and a few other tools. So between around $300 for a hive and bees and a couple hundred dollars in tools and protective wear. I realistically throw in another $100 because few people can resist getting something else. Just set yourself up prepared for the real cost.

3. If you are not ready to own your own bees and shell out the cost. I am also looking for a location / locations to beg borrow steal or barter land to set up hives of my own. Leasing lots for keeping bees is actually very common and standard agreements are already in place. A typical lease woudl be something along the lines of I get to use your land. with full access at any time to my hives. that means your dogs aren't trying to bite me when I arrive and that sort of thing. You get anywhere from 10 to 20 percent of the honey harvest as rent. The percentage to you varies depending on how far I have to travel and what extra expenses I have to cover. I am also open to a situation that I lease your property and eventually will sell you hives once they are up and running or you feel you want to take an active roll in keeping bees. I am looking to place as many as 20 hives right now and think I can do about 5 hives per acre in this area. I have a long way to go in knowing how many hives the Nevada foliage can support but that is the numbers in my head for now.

Sorry this post is so long. One of the effects of being as busy as I have been lately. it means a ton of things are going on and none of them are simple.

 

[chicharomirinda]

I'm leaving for Chicago on Monday for a work trip. I'll return Thursday night. Hopefully the crew here can manage the chickens, cat and gardens. I've been repeating instructions for several days to Jose so hopefully it's sinking in.

what are the best fly solutions you've found? we have lots of flies now.

Daniel, looks like you have lots of cool things going on at your place. good luck selling your bees, etc.

Sunny, I hope the move goes well! We can't help again this weekend. I'm chauffering the kids to two different birthday parties and Jose is helping someone else move today.

That looks like a welsummer egg. Cacciatore was laying eggs just like that, until she got sick. Right now, she's laying again, but she's not putting the last layer of shell on them. So we get a thin, brittle shell and no color deposit. Hopefully soon her cloaca will heal. Right now I'm glad she's laying.

We got 9 eggs today, from 9 hens! It's the first time we've had 100% production in a day, since getting the new pullets in February. And I'm so glad that everyone is back to laying! And even though Loco laid an egg, she's also broody. I can only imagine how she reacted when the ducks came in for the night and tried to sleep in her nesting box. She's always been a gentle hen, but also very opinionated and quirky. Now she's also a cranky broody.

And speaking of the ducks, they're staying out LATE! I think it's because the pond is in full sun, so they lay out in the shade during the hot part of the day, and go out on the pond at night. So they have a lot of swimming to get in. Also, the goldfish bite at the surface at night, and they're trying to catch them. Each night, about 10-11pm, we go out and chase them into the coop. I'm wondering how long it would take for them to just go in on their own, but I don't want to stay up long enough to find out, and risk leaving the coop door open.

I agree with Missy. Looks like welsummer. I have one who lays more splotchy spotted ones like that and the others lay more of a smooth terracotta with tiny spots. the welsummer eggs don't always look consistently the same, at least mine do have some variety in how spotted they are.

on the 9 for 9! We haven't had a 100% day yet but the girls have been doing a great job lately with consistently high production. must be a good time of year for egg laying.

I probably missed some other posts but I've been so busy with lots of reports at work and trying to stay off the computer in the evenings for my hand.

 

[aubreynoramarie]

I agree with Missy. Looks like welsummer. I have one who lays more splotchy spotted ones like that and the others lay more of a smooth terracotta with tiny spots. the welsummer eggs don't always look consistently the same, at least mine do have some variety in how spotted they are.

well you guys have to remember that the welsummer is not the only bird i have with the dark gene.... I also have the two marans, the barnevelder, and the "olive eggers" and any of those birds can lay splotchy eggs. like in the picture above, I have been consistently getting at least two splotchy or polka dotted eggs a day. also my EExOrp mix has been laying a green egg with grey spots, its very pretty.

 

[americanvalkyrie]

what are the best fly solutions you've found? we have lots of flies now.

When I was over at Sunny's last week, I saw her fly traps. They were FULL of flies! I remember Ron saying they work well for him too. So I bought two of them at Lowe's yesterday, and plan to hang them today. This is the one...

http://www.rescue.com/product/disposable-fly-trap

 

[aubreynoramarie]

yeah those work super well. We used them last year. the only downside was that if you dont throw them out after three days they start smelling to high heaven like dead animal. yucko. Then again some of ours were in the sun so maybe that made them stink too

 

[NevadaRon]

Yeah that's the kind of fly traps I use too. I don't put them in full sun though. That does sound like it could get a bit nasty!

They work really well - once I started using them I hardly ever noticed flies whereas before...

Sounds like you really hit on something that works Daniel! I read in one of the books I have that if you ask 10 beekeepers how to do something you will get 11 different answers, so I wouldn't worry too much about what the "experts" say - if it's working for you, just do it! I began with package bees so mine basically had to start from scratch with everything. Since bees only live about 6 weeks many hives started with packages don't make it because there aren't enough replacements born before the originals die out. I also got mine from the guy in Carson City and I asked him if it wouldn't make sense to put some pollen substitute in there to "kickstart" the colony. He kept insisting that it wasn't necessary but I also heard him on another occasion telling a customer how he doesn't get 100% success with his hives started with pacjkage bees. So after watching mine not do much for a few weeks I was starting to get concerned and I decided to get some pollen substitute anyway. It was a week or two afterwards that my fledgling colony finally started to take off! Now I see all kinds of juveniles when I open it up and even drones, which are the first thing a colony sacrifices when times are tough. So much for the "expert" advice! I'm going to PM you to discuss this further so we don't bore everyone here.

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote: Yes I'm afraid we didn't get going as early as we should have. It was this comedy of errors (not funny to us but might have been to someone else) and indecision on what needed to be done first was rampant so we were not very productive at all! Not like us normally but oh well!

BTW forgot to tell you all - so far I've gone through a 25 lb. bag of sugar feeding my bees!

How long have you had them?

Ron, I started my hive on the 14th of last month. It now has 2 deep bodies with brood in both and one med honey super we put on 4 days ago. They have nto done anything with that med box yet and still have a little ways to fill up the second super. We took off the sugar water when we added the med super and foraging has gone through the roof. We had one orientation flight the other day that formed a ball i estimate 10 feet across. it was just huge. Now it looks like a full entrance is not big enough to let all the bees in and out. I am probably going to add an upper entrance tomorrow. Sunny I know that sounds like al ot of work but in reality it takes minutes and I do a lot more of it than is necessary. probably far more than is good for the bees. leaving them alone for the next month is what I really need to do. But like I have said on the beekeeping group. I am learning and am goign to watch what the bees are dong with this first hive. The bees are just going to have to tolerate it. Otherwise I need 100 hives and not enough time to pester them so much. It is like telling someone not to watch the eggs when they are attempting their first hatch. it just isn't going to happen.

LOL!!! I know that phenomenon very well!

So if you really want to experience bees. let me know I am very happy to show mine off.

3. If you are not ready to own your own bees and shell out the cost. I am also looking for a location / locations to beg borrow steal or barter land to set up hives of my own...

We would love to see the hives in action! Steve is willing to learn to learn too but he said that he has a "sensitivity" to bee stings, meaning he has a moderate allergy. I worry about this because a moderate allergy can bloom into a big one if a person is exposed again. Now renting out space is an idea that really appeals to me! We have 10 acres here and permission to have whatever critters we like and the lot is accessible by another road that does not come near the house or the dogs (but the silly dogs are terrible watch dogs since they seem to love everyone! But don't tell anyone cause at least they look scary).

Elizabeth Thank you so much for your concern but you don't have to explain anything. You guys were so sweet to come and help that whole long day!!! Not anyone's fault that we are still not moved except ours! Just not sure how to speed it up since something has happened almost everyday that throws a wrench in our plans. I think the universe is just trying to teach us to relax and not stress over stupid stuff like having to pay a little extra rent.

Hope you have a nice easy trip and that everything runs smoothly! Take care of that arm!