Author Topic: Not Knowing As Much As You Think You Do  (Read 5187 times)

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Offline tbonekel

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Not Knowing As Much As You Think You Do
« on: March 11, 2015, 11:35:08 pm »
I got into my hives today. It was a nice day and they were really active. I read up on beekeeping techniques, watched youtube and learn from more experienced keeps all winter and feel like I know enough for a person in his second year. I go to the hives feeling confident in what I will do under any situation. Then I open the first hive. The adrenaline starts to flow and the confidence turns to nervousness and apprehension. Suddenly, I feel like a brand new beek looking in this box feeling like I know almost nothing. Now, for you more experienced keepers, when does that feeling go away? Please tell me it will. There is really nothing wrong in the hive. It's just that I'm faced with decisions to make and there are so many options, that I get confused and uncertain. And on top of that, it seems to take me forever to go through a hive. At the end, I feel that I should have done something different or left them alone. I know that the bees will be forgiving and they certainly know what to do and will probably correct anything I screw up. The problem is totally with me. I always second guess myself and worry WAY to much. I guess I just wanted to say all that to let anyone else in my situation know that I feel your pain. Thanks for letting me rant!

Offline LazyBkpr

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Re: Not Knowing As Much As You Think You Do
« Reply #1 on: March 11, 2015, 11:46:49 pm »
Oh.. whew... I thought you were making a post about ME when I read the title...  I feel better now!    ;D

   I would like to say  that feeling goes away on your 836th day of beekeeping..  but it doesnt.. It does however get better, and that feeling only arrives when you encounter the unexpected, OR, someone your trying to help asks a question you dont know how to answer..
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Offline Jen

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Re: Not Knowing As Much As You Think You Do
« Reply #2 on: March 12, 2015, 12:57:59 am »
Scott "Oh.. whew... I thought you were making a post about ME when I read the title...  I feel better now!"

     .... :D

Tbone... You and I are nose to nose on this bee learning adventure. Even tho I've been keeping bees for 4 years, into my 5th, the first three don't count cause I made soo many mistakes. Then this forum found me last January. How do you think I made 6,000 posts in one year? I was a pain in the butt question asker, that's how. I didn't know whether to get into the hives once a month or every two weeks, or not at all, or on warm days, or wait for the wind to stop, should I tear down the hive every time. I didn't know!

Then, my swarm episode hit in mid march. I was chasing and hiving swarms right and left not knowing what the heck I was doing. Scott was walking me thru all of it. And I got soo much support from everyone here. One day, I made a post and Scott could tell I was pasing and waffling... and tired.  He said "Jen! You Have To Do This!... NOW GO!" So I hitched up my britches (well okay, jammies) and did just that.

After I survived bee swarm boot camp...  a week or so later someone was posting the same comments as you and I. Perry said "Folks! You Have To Get In There! Especially You Beginners! It's The Only Way To Learn And Get Comfortable With Handling The Bees!" So I did some more hitching and did just that.

I was in my hives once a week way into summer. I learned A LOT! I looked for the queen every time, so I would get used to spotting her and her behavior. I learned how to recognize what nectar looked like. How they store pollen. What capped brood looks like as opposed to capped honey. What the Arc looks like. What queen cups look like, What queen cells look like. I learned how much I loved it when the bees would land on my arm and groom while I was inspecting, that calmed me down knowing that THEY were comfortable with ME. By the middle of summer I was getting into the hives in jeans and a tank top and feeling much more at ease with it all, but I also learned how to recognize when to slowly walk away and go put my bee shirt on.

Tbone, get into your hive/hives every week, or as soon as weather permits. DO IT! Even in the early evenings. Keep doing that and just learn yourself silly. Ask A LOT of questions, trust me, everyone here will welcome what you post. You won't regret it, and by mid summer you will feel so much better. And next year will be a ton easier.

I promise  ;)  `hugs`
There Is Peace In The Queendom

Offline hamptor

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Re: Not Knowing As Much As You Think You Do
« Reply #3 on: March 12, 2015, 12:34:38 pm »
Tbone, That's why I'm on this forum every day!  I'm starting year 3 but I don't know about bee keeping FAR exceeds what I do know, even though I read, and research, and watch youtube videos all the time.   It's still exciting every time I open a hive, and the trying to figure out what to do next is an on-going adventure.
Thank goodness for the support system around here!

Offline Perry

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Re: Not Knowing As Much As You Think You Do
« Reply #4 on: March 12, 2015, 12:57:30 pm »
Here is a piece of advice for what you are going through.
When you are going through a hive and you come across something and you are in doubt about as to what to do..................?
Do nothing!
That's right, do nothing. Bees have been around for millions of years and are still here, despite us. Whatever they were doing before you cracked the lid won't be all that disrupted if you put things back the way they were, go to your computer, and sign in here and ask the questions you have.
I know, cause I've done it.
You will eventually become more comfortable going through hives as you become more acquainted with what you see, and the fact that most times what you will  see will be similar. You will soon find yourself breezing through hives and it's when you hit something unusual that you come to a stop.
"It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor."      
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Offline Jen

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Re: Not Knowing As Much As You Think You Do
« Reply #5 on: March 12, 2015, 02:33:17 pm »
Yep! I've done that as well. Do Nothing! go ask the forum. Tbone, 'Do Nothing' is famous Perry advice. It also calms you down to move out of the hive, relax, get some answers.
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Offline tecumseh

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Re: Not Knowing As Much As You Think You Do
« Reply #6 on: March 13, 2015, 07:02:57 am »
if you are wise tbonekel that thinking will always remain although the feeling will become a bit duller.  no matter what you level of experience is good advice to remain humble and remind yourself from time to time that although you or I may have lot of experience with the bees what we know relative to what all is going on inside that little white box is really very very small.  some years ago I have a short conversation with Beneford Weaver (pretty much the yoda of queen rearing down this way and the person who name inspired the company name BWeaver) and it seem that he and I shared the same common thought in that it was the anticipation of learning something absolutely new that kept both of us 'in the game'.

as a practice I try to remind new beekeeper to 'have a specific purpose' in mind when they go into a hive.  do that and then close the hive up.... the potential for doing harm is just too great if you linger in opening and closing a hive and generally there is no benefit is disassembling an entire hive.  for myself quite often an inspection is > I open up the box approximate to the brood area, I remove and casually inspect one frame and then I close the hive up.  generally data collect in the process like total population and weight of the hive are things I look for but monitor without really dwelling on those detail. 

Offline kingd

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Re: Not Knowing As Much As You Think You Do
« Reply #7 on: March 13, 2015, 07:51:04 am »
I like the "Do nothing" phrase,
  I have been in hundreds of hives with my mentor and am only going into my second year.
But,when I'm alone in my own hives I am very nervous opening my own hives, I was told the feeling gets better but never goes away
completely.

 He does say that the bees can usually  fix your mistakes ;)

Offline G3farms

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Re: Not Knowing As Much As You Think You Do
« Reply #8 on: March 13, 2015, 08:39:11 am »
All very good advice for sure!!

I will add that snapping a couple of pics to look at slowly and from the convenience of the couch will let you see things you missed or thought you saw in your nervous haste to be in and out of the bees. Some will even capture the queen in a pic and never see her in the yard or might capture something they are not sure of but have a hard time explaining to others.

The old saying a pic is worth a thousand words is so true and it also helps others learn.

Bees are bees and do as they please!

.... --- -   -... . . ...   .-- .. .-.. .-..   .... .- ...- .   -.-- --- ..-   ... - . .--. .--. .. -. --.   .- -. -..   ..-. . - -.-. .... .. -. --.   .-.. .. -.- .   -.-- --- ..- .-.   .... . .- -..   .. ...   --- -.   ..-. .. .-. .   .- -. -..   -.-- --- ..- .-.   .- ... ...   .. ...   -.-. .- - -.-. .... .. -. --.

Offline tbonekel

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Re: Not Knowing As Much As You Think You Do
« Reply #9 on: March 13, 2015, 10:48:47 am »
some years ago I have a short conversation with Beneford Weaver (pretty much the yoda of queen rearing down this way and the person who name inspired the company name BWeaver) and it seem that he and I shared the same common thought in that it was the anticipation of learning something absolutely new that kept both of us 'in the game'.


Bought a Weaver queen from those guys down there a few years ago. Nice queen and good layer. If I have to buy queens again, I will use them. Thanks for the inspiration!

Offline Jen

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Re: Not Knowing As Much As You Think You Do
« Reply #10 on: March 13, 2015, 02:12:19 pm »
G3- "I will add that snapping a couple of pics to look at slowly and from the convenience of the couch will let you see things you missed or thought you saw in your nervous haste to be in and out of the bees. Some will even capture the queen in a pic and never see her in the yard or might capture something they are not sure of but have a hard time explaining to others.

     I did this A LOT last year. Got great tutoring with the pics, and takes away unneccessary typing trying to explain stuff.
     
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Offline G3farms

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Re: Not Knowing As Much As You Think You Do
« Reply #11 on: March 13, 2015, 03:25:46 pm »
Yeah buddy, Jen I still remember when you posted up a pic of the little mating nuc frame, while all of us were thinking you had a full size hive. LOL and then the Frankenframes.  ;)

Thank you for posting all of the pics for us to see and learn from.  :yes:
Bees are bees and do as they please!

.... --- -   -... . . ...   .-- .. .-.. .-..   .... .- ...- .   -.-- --- ..-   ... - . .--. .--. .. -. --.   .- -. -..   ..-. . - -.-. .... .. -. --.   .-.. .. -.- .   -.-- --- ..- .-.   .... . .- -..   .. ...   --- -.   ..-. .. .-. .   .- -. -..   -.-- --- ..- .-.   .- ... ...   .. ...   -.-. .- - -.-. .... .. -. --.

Offline Jen

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Re: Not Knowing As Much As You Think You Do
« Reply #12 on: March 13, 2015, 04:12:55 pm »
G3, and the comments I got about those frankenframes!  :D :D "Whaaaat the Heck is That All About?" I remember Riverbee saying "I'm really trying to find a way to help you here Jen..."  :D :D

But guess what G3, I have almost all of those transfer out of my hives now  Yaaaaaay ;D
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Offline riverbee

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Re: Not Knowing As Much As You Think You Do
« Reply #13 on: March 13, 2015, 10:38:02 pm »
"as a practice I try to remind new beekeeper to 'have a specific purpose' in mind when they go into a hive.  do that and then close the hive up.... the potential for doing harm is just too great if you linger in opening and closing a hive and generally there is no benefit is disassembling an entire hive.  for myself quite often an inspection is > I open up the box approximate to the brood area, I remove and casually inspect one frame and then I close the hive up.  generally data collect in the process like total population and weight of the hive are things I look for but monitor without really dwelling on those detail."

words of wisdom by tecumseh. specific purpose, data collection.

learn to 'read the frames', that is your data collection, this is what you will learn from even though you might not know or understand what you are looking at.

learn to read your frames, learn to read what's on the frames........what is normal, what is not, observe your bees, are they happy, are they cranky, are they bringing in pollen and nectar, is the queen laying, and laying properly, whatever happens in a hive WILL be evident by looking at and learning to read the frames. this will tell you a great deal about what to do or not to do.

every time you open the hive, look at the frames, what do you see?  even if you don't understand what you are seeing, take note of it, ask here, read, do whatever it is you do to learn to read the frames. once we get a handle on what we should be seeing, we can begin to understand or make decisions about what to do or not to do, and as tecumseh said, our purpose for being in there.

hope this makes sense tbone.........
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Offline tbonekel

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Re: Not Knowing As Much As You Think You Do
« Reply #14 on: March 13, 2015, 11:04:02 pm »
It does make sense, Riv, but reading the frames is really the trick when it comes to comparing colonies. Each colony is different, of course. That's what makes it a head scratching good time. I have one hive that is harvesting and hoarding pollen like crazy. Plus a hive that has a little bit of everything, all over the place. It's all a new adventure every time I go in. I have to remember, though, that they know better than I do about what the need which is really NOTHING from me except to leave them alone. The hive that had so much pollen also had brand new larvae everywhere and in a few weeks, that place is going to be a monster. I probably missed my opportunity to split when I was in there yesterday, but I wasn't prepared.

Offline riverbee

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Re: Not Knowing As Much As You Think You Do
« Reply #15 on: March 13, 2015, 11:30:20 pm »
every colony is different tbone, but 'reading the frames' is always the same, as you mentioned on your observations of your hives.....
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