The Honey Factory

[BGcoop]

What state are you in?

Central Wisconsin.

 

[5Australorpasaures]

Central Wisconsin.

Like politics, bee keeping is local. Like Saly PB said seek out local bee keepers. Easy to find as they often will have "HONEY FOR SALE" signs out. Don't stress or overwhelm yourself with too much information.

 

[Apis mellifera]

Central Wisconsin.

While beekeeping is local, unfortunately varroa mites are not. Varroa are the number one killer of bees. Learn as much as you can on the control and life cycle of varroa mites. At the end of July you want a mite wash of 3 mites or less per 300 bees.

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

While beekeeping is local, unfortunately varroa mites are not. Varroa are the number one killer of bees. Learn as much as you can on the control and life cycle of varroa mites. At the end of July you want a mite wash of 3 mites or less per 300 bees.

I got curious and did a quick search, found this. Has anyone actually tried it? I’m assuming the various miticides work better or no one would use them, but with all the supply chain shakeups over the last few years I thought it might be useful information if it works.

 

[Apis mellifera]

Thymol works good. There's several products out there like Apiguard and ApiLifVar. I use Randy Oliver's extended release treatment if a hive gets a really high mite count. It works great, but sometimes it can be a little rough on brood and you have to remove supers or your honey will taste like Listerine.
https://scientificbeekeeping.com/extended-release-thymol-blocks/

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Hi! I just started my beekeeping journey this spring with a nuc of bees and hive kit my kids got me for Christmas. Anyone want to mentor me?? The hive appears to be growing but the bigger it gets the less I feel like I know what I’m doing!

If you have questions, you can always ask here.

I started by taking an informal beekeeping class. We met once a week for a couple months at the county fairgrounds over the winter. It's a low onetime fee usually.

 

[BGcoop]

If you have questions, you can always ask here.

I started by taking an informal beekeeping class. We met once a week for a couple months at the county fairgrounds over the winter. It's a low onetime fee usually.

Yes I “took” an online class on YouTube presented by the university of Arkansas, which was very informative but now that things are up and going, I have some questions that were not answered in the course. For example:
My first frames(plastic) I did not wax as the package stated they were prewaxed. The bees built almost more like burr comb on the frames and it did not fill the entire frames. After I wised up I waxed new frames and they built much nicer comb on those, but they are still using the funky frames, how do I go about fixing those frames now? Do I just swap them out with new waxed frames and sacrifice the small amount of brood and honey/pollen stores that are in those frames?
Also, the bees have expanded to using most of the two large boxes (8 frame deeps)- although the bottom box has a few of those wonky frames still, so I added the honey super with the plastic queen excluder and waxed frames in the honey super, however the bees have seemed reluctant to build comb in the honey super despite it being waxed. Is there a way to convince them to start building up there?

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Yes I “took” an online class on YouTube presented by the university of Arkansas, which was very informative but now that things are up and going, I have some questions that were not answered in the course. For example:
My first frames(plastic) I did not wax as the package stated they were prewaxed. The bees built almost more like burr comb on the frames and it did not fill the entire frames. After I wised up I waxed new frames and they built much nicer comb on those, but they are still using the funky frames, how do I go about fixing those frames now? Do I just swap them out with new waxed frames and sacrifice the small amount of brood and honey/pollen stores that are in those frames?
Also, the bees have expanded to using most of the two large boxes (8 frame deeps)- although the bottom box has a few of those wonky frames still, so I added the honey super with the plastic queen excluder and waxed frames in the honey super, however the bees have seemed reluctant to build comb in the honey super despite it being waxed. Is there a way to convince them to start building up there?

FYI some bees hate the queen excluder with a passion. Try taking it off.
I've never added wax to my foundations, maybe someone else can chime in about that.

 

[R2elk]

I've never added wax to my foundations

If you use pre-waxed foundation or actual wax foundation, you don't need to add more wax.