Worldwide Beekeeping
Beekeeping => Beekeeping 101 => Topic started by: Jen on February 16, 2015, 04:29:43 pm
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WOW!!! Don't know if I should shave this comb off?... if I leave it on I'll squish A LOT of bees? Be back soon
10 minutes later ~ I don't see a single drone in this mob
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Shave it. You need the wax.
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Okay, Thanks
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs30.postimg.cc%2Fiwir2d0ct%2F742cafa443ec39b1a6a5588cd255ffb4.jpg&hash=85ba4e345729fb892f09caf70b4aee633130bd95) (http://postimg.cc/image/iwir2d0ct/)
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Was there a picture with that post? ???
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Here ya go Perry, I thought I posted them
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs21.postimg.cc%2F7mvmt1ilf%2FDSCF2018.jpg&hash=e0a5b4370050ff3e93e8ffd81d768bb5bf7d0cc2) (http://postimg.cc/image/7mvmt1ilf/)
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs21.postimg.cc%2Fjtzdaloir%2FDSCF2019.jpg&hash=30c0286c22cba0d618b5b751e45723eeb59a8e02) (http://postimg.cc/image/jtzdaloir/)
Okay, so I've just worked my way into the center of the super, they have half or less of their stores and there are eggs and larva in it.
should I continue into the deep to look for queen cells or close it up and add a medium, I have a medium ready...
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Now you know why I don't use the shims. I never leave open space in a hive. It is ALWAYS the first place they draw wax.
I would remove the shim, tilt the next box back and look for Q cells. Then remove it and tilt the next box. If I didn't see Q cells looking at the bottom, I wouldn't remove frames.
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What Iddee said, remove shim and probably throw on your first super judging by those pics. Nice and strong.
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Well I made an exec decision and removed the frames from the super, one at a time and cleaned them up. They are more than 1/2 way thru their stores, less than 4 day old eggs, and larvae, tons of pollen stored.
each frame I removed I scraped off a lot of comb that attached the top of the deep frames... to the bottom of the super frames, a bunch of drone larvae/pupae was destroyed. But I felt like I should clean it up before adding the additonal medium.
As far as I can tell there was no queen cells on the super frames, just a lot of wonky drone comb. But I haven't gotten into the deep yet?
I didn't spot the queen in this super, but there were so many bees and I only have so much time today, maybe another hour.
Should I?
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If the deep sits on the bottom board, no. All is well. I'm not sure how many boxes are on that hive.
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Phew! I just got in. Iddee, I make another exec decision and checked the deep. This hive is one deep and one super. The deep if filling up with plenty of capped brood and larvae. Still didn't see queen. But that's okay, plenty of evidence.
I found no queen cells of any kind. That blew me away with that may bees in there.
I'll post some more pic later, gotta go button her up ;D I'm giddy
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Those shims work well for feeding in winter. But when winter is over, they need to go on top of the inner cover or back to the garage.
The bees are ahead of you, bet you remember what comes next! C:-)
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You asked at 2:55.
I answer at 3:36.
You were already out doing.
Just how short is my allowed time for responding?
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Iddee - 2 minutes max ;)
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Hi Tef :) I put another medium on.
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That's what I thought. You ran out of ritalin, didn't you? :yes: :P
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Hope you took a bowl with ya to get that snow white honey comb off the lid.
My mouth is watering, just thinking about it. :P
I store my "iddee robber screens" inside the shim after moving it on top.
One less thing to store elsewhere.
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Was wondering how you had all that excessive comb, then saw the shim and said well that explains that, and should have clearly defined need for proper bee space lol, understand they make excellent fire wood.
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Jen's valium drip was running a bit light lol:P
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Iddee and Barry
BANG ZOOM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98qw86DsdZ0
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Consolidation and recap of my inspection yesterday. Yes! I was excited and a little anxious to find what I would find. My hives are up and running! And I got to see the queen! same purchased queen as last year, she's running around in her green tiarra :) It Was A Really Good Day ~
I found no queen cells of any kind, that's what I was worried about, but I found a massive amount of bees, more than any other hives I have had.
plain comb built on the underside of the inner cover. This is because I used a shim. I think if I would have use fondant or sugar cakes all winter, the bees wouldn't have built this comb... thinking out loud
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs22.postimg.cc%2Fkazlpzbtp%2FDSCF2018.jpg&hash=685ff532efd310b1b9c03dee5b667cc363151166) (http://postimg.cc/image/kazlpzbtp/)
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs23.postimg.cc%2Fljgrv45dz%2FDSCF2021.jpg&hash=c9e46cdeadc82624a7394dfe922e5a187af73f1a) (http://postimg.cc/image/ljgrv45dz/)
The frames from the deep and the frames from the medium were stuck together with plenty of drone comb. Cleaned it all up.
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs13.postimg.cc%2F90g5i43wj%2FDSCF2023.jpg&hash=b870ad12ffce9aa7005111e61dfac2aa465c656e) (http://postimg.cc/image/90g5i43wj/)
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs13.postimg.cc%2Fptg080vcz%2FDSCF2027.jpg&hash=c8788246878753604e02cc244349f95c4dc6648f) (http://postimg.cc/image/ptg080vcz/)
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs13.postimg.cc%2Fp6low8nur%2FDSCF2032.jpg&hash=6eaf55bcfb7e03e0285505bb760c4e447cbbe390) (http://postimg.cc/image/p6low8nur/)
Then I got into the bottom deep, plenty of capped brood, eggs, and larvae. Maybe not a perfect pattern in the capped brood but I'll take it :) we'll see how she does this summer ~
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs30.postimg.cc%2Fmourxuawd%2FDSCF2030.jpg&hash=09fc66249c5990e1af83c39ee49d7304d60b13d8) (http://postimg.cc/image/mourxuawd/)
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs30.postimg.cc%2Foe3v5wqlp%2FDSCF2031.jpg&hash=19cdeda549995d5fad23a918684af4e844871436) (http://postimg.cc/image/oe3v5wqlp/)
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My question now is: I would estimate maybe a third or less of the stores are left. I didn't see any fresh nectar but plenty of pollen. I don't see that they are going to have enough food until the first flow. I do have 1 full frame of honey in the freezer, and I have 6 more frames that are not completely full of honey, maybe 70-80% full in the shed. How many frames of honey should I give this hive now?
I didn't get to learn this part last year before swarmania hit.. Thanks! :)
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The hive looks good lots of healthy bees. Did you look and see any varroa on the drone brood?
You said it is a single brood box with a Dadant honey super on it, I would add a second brood box over the first and feed syrup to get the bees to draw out the comb and give the queen more space to lay. remember that you can move some of the frames of brood to boost the weaker hives, just make sure you don't move the queen.
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Hi Apis! How the heck are ya these days.. ;)
The hive is one deep on the bottom, filling up quickly with capped brood. Then there is a medium super on that has maybe a 1/3 stores left, and the queen is up there already laying. So I put one more medium on with pulled frames.
So Apis, it's still mid Feb... even tho the weather is in the 60's this week, I'm sure we'll have some more cold snaps, is syrup the right choice?
No Mites In The Larvae... Man! How did I get so lucky
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs9.postimg.cc%2Fveajgw34r%2FDSCF2037.jpg&hash=8ee8eb9a24cec0d4a8fb5c21d237a4b88bfa2ede) (http://postimg.cc/image/veajgw34r/)
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So are you wanting to stay with medium brood boxes? Yes, add one big time! Those bees look great!
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Hey Jen, isn't that a few varroa on that drone pupae, slightly above center and left in this pic?
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Thanks Tbone ;D I'm stoked! Yes, I went with one deep and the rest mediums last summer, and it worked out well. I can lift the meds without too much strain on my back.
Barry, Nope! is not varroa, it's more like... mmm... larvae pooh or something of that nature. Frankly, I'm surprised that there is no mites in these drone larvae.
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"My question now is: I would estimate maybe a third or less of the stores are left. I didn't see any fresh nectar but plenty of pollen. I don't see that they are going to have enough food until the first flow. I do have 1 full frame of honey in the freezer, and I have 6 more frames that are not completely full of honey, maybe 70-80% full in the shed. How many frames of honey should I give this hive now?"
"The hive is one deep on the bottom, filling up quickly with capped brood. Then there is a medium super on that has maybe a 1/3 stores left, and the queen is up there already laying. So I put one more medium on with pulled frames."
okay jen, some questions, when is your first flow? also, you said the medium super has maybe 1/3 stores left, and the queen is already laying up in the deep and in the empty medium you just placed on top. how many frames of honey are the 1/3rd? and where are they located? how many frames is the queen laying in? just make sure the queen has space to lay up in the center of the box. also, you can place your frames of honey on the outside of the medium box that you just placed on.
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If your not extracting from those supers you have on I would feed syrup at 60 degrees. 1 to 1.
I pulled feeder jars from my hives this past Sunday and the bees were on the jars at 37 degrees. At 60 degrees my jars get emptied.
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Riv- I really haven't any idea when the first flow will be, I didn't pay attention to that last year ??? and we are so early this year it's just hard to say.
"how many frames of honey are the 1/3rd? and where are they located?
Hmmm, I just made a grand total estimate, didn't calculate what frames had what. I'll make a note of that on my next inspections.
"just make sure the queen has space to lay up in the center of the box. also, you can place your frames of honey on the outside of the medium box that you just placed on.e
That sounds reasonable. On my next inspection tomorrow, I'll try and make a more precise calculation.
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Yankee- "If your not extracting from those supers you have on I would feed syrup at 60 degrees. 1 to 1.
But why would I use syrup then I have frames of honey that I put away last Fall for feeding in the spring?
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Hi Jen, your bees look good.About your first flow, when do the maple trees start to blossom?We have tons of hazel nut pollen but maple flow isn't for another three weeks. :)
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I was just answering your question if you can feed syrup at 60 degrees.
Looking at those pictures looks like you just need some room pretty quick.
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Hu... scratching head... I don't remember asking that question... lol
Was wanting to know about using my frames of capped honey, and how long one frame of capped honey would last now that the queen is laying and the hive is busy.
Anyway, yah, I put on another medium yesterday. I knew it was getting close, my bees have been very busy for 3 weeks or more.
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The bees will us a frame of honey fo every frame of brood they raise. So if no nector is coming in they can run out of stors fast or if the weather turns cold and wet and they cant forage. Feed the frames as they were filled with humming bird water and syrup if i remember corectly.Just dont add to many filled frames thatyou limit the queens laying. As i said earlyer you can use the extra brood that is being produced to strenthen some of the weaker hives. You dont want to be removing brood to soon that you slow down the development of the strong hive.
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Maybe I read this wrong. No matter, sounds like yo got a plan.
"So Apis, it's still mid Feb... even tho the weather is in the 60's this week, I'm sure we'll have some more cold snaps, is syrup the right choice?"
The thing I would do though, is I would go with a second deep for brood. Either have 2 deeps (brood), or all mediums. That way you can move brood frames around between brood boxes boxes. Seems like you might get in a bind at times if you need to move brood around if you have deep and medium brood boxes mixed.
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Here's a mite I saw in my hive a couple of years ago:
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-kuX5Lqv6aJI%2FUCxN5W8N4VI%2FAAAAAAAAAH0%2FiJMAecy56ZM%2Fs1600%2F2012-08-15_15-02-24_5b.jpg&hash=02951ed46acbe8c0d7176ad555a644b963fe9ee5)
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Yankee- It actually has posed a problem with starting with a deep and then all mediums there after. As it stands now, I can only trade frames with the deeps on the other two hives. Hubby and I go back and forth with this. The only problem with two deeps together is that I don't want to attemp to lift that second deep.
I believe I need to go all mediums period beings I'm the one who does all the inspections and lifting. I have the other two hives to inspect this week, I'll see if there is a way I can start to convert to mediums on those.
Thanks for your input Yankee ;)
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I think if you have 3 mediums as brood chambers you actually have a little more room for queen than if you have 2 deeps. I've had your problem with the deeps and mediums.
I guess at some point you will have to put the deep above a queen excluder with the queen below in mediums and wait until all the brood hatched out of deep them remove it.
Myself, I'm gonna try some 3 deeps this year.
Brood factory baby. Already have 2 :laugh:
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I believe I need to go all mediums period beings I'm the one who does all the inspections and lifting. I have the other two hives to inspect this week, I'll see if there is a way I can start to convert to mediums on those.
You could go to all shallows. I've been considering shallows for the supers. But you could use them exclusively (but that's a lot of frames).
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Yes Slow! That Is A Lot Of Frames!
What I do with mediums is I have an empty medium on the work table next to me. As I lift and examine each med frame from the hive, I move it over to the empty medium on the table, keeping the frames in the same pattern as I took them out of the hive. This makes the lifting almost nill. However, when I have to replace the honey super, that's heavy and awkward to get back up on the hive. So, this year beings our season has started so soon, I'm going to have to be on my game to get supers emptied and replaced. No stacking up the supers.
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Jen, can I get you a membership to the local gym, build up your massive, biceps, forearm, back muscles. Then you will be tossing deep supers like paper towels.
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Barry Dear... Thank You very much for that kind offer. However I am my own gym ;D Due to my work I need to stay strong so I workout almost everyday. I'm pretty tough! My problem is that my spinal vertibrae's are becoming too mobile with time, which leaves my spine loose and weak, it's in the bone not the muscle. I have to be careful :)
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It's that toomany disease. I have it, too.
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Wow Jen, beautiful pictures. I wish my hive was that strong :) Mine are pretty thin on the upper frames and only completely covering about 4 frames in the bottom deep...they started out small and they've been small all winter. But my queen is working hard on changing that.
Next time I do an inspection I'll make sure I get some pictures to post up here.
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Yes Slow! That Is A Lot Of Frames!
I'm going to have to be on my game to get supers emptied and replaced. No stacking up the supers.
Better eat your Wheaties! (https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi585.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fss298%2FSlowmodem_photo%2F302_person_lifting_weights.gif&hash=abbafea351f73300458340d29d2be4251b247e7c)
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Slow- I'm really looking forward to this season. So far I've been into 2 out 3 hives and no queen cells of any kind, empty or capped. Whew! This year I'm learning splits, and nucs :)
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That's what I thought. You ran out of ritalin, didn't you? :yes: :P
Amusement abounds this morning.. Almost had coffee through the nose...
jaybird... Asking questions does you no good if you answer them yourself. Getting advice is pointless if you choose to over ride it with your own.. I know, it is a female thing, My wife doesnt like my answers to her questions either.. So i often ask her why she asked me in the first place.. she gets a puzzled look on her face and shakes her head... "Umm, I really dont know?"
I am quite certain you have done no harm, but the ritalin will help.. :laugh: :laugh:
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:D Ritalin? Me? Never! Who wants to calm down when it time to play with the bees and you find that all three queens are doing better than ever? NOT THIS BEE GIRL!
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs1.postimg.cc%2F68va1v9jv%2Fsnoopy_dance.jpg&hash=8db2b089af6e5d8b491609660baf1fd409088fc6) (http://postimg.cc/image/68va1v9jv/)