Anyone keep Bees?

McCracken said:
why not freeze them? Just put the infected frames in a freezer for 3 days and wa-la, no more moths.
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Did all that and started cleaning them. They were so bad just decided to toss them.
 
Not to pull one from my buddy's playbook (because he kills everything) but the bees will clean a lot of that up on their own unless it's ravaged. Then they'll use the holes as passageways to the other frames and you'll end up with less honey per super.
 
I forgot to say this earlier as well but if you're looking for pollinators why not just make suitable homes for solitary bees? It's nowhere near as labor intensive and definitely cheaper. Although I like honey bees they're not the only bee that could use the help.
 
I dont like lone wolves...it takes a village.





No really though, the bumble variety bores into my rough cut shelter and leaves powder all over my stuffs.
 
Hey fellas raising this thread back up. Every year a hive swarms that lives in our house.
This year today and yesterday it swarmed. Two swarms. Yesterday was a much smaller swarm. About size of notebook out flat. I say this because at dark they where on patio brick chillin. This was also the time we mustered a last minute run to buy box and such, hoooray tractor supply. Got stung in the cheek and stabbed a digit with some of the smoker bits. Bled all over and captured the bunch. Moved them and they are still happy this morning.

Today's adventure much like the previous was unexpected. Another swarm. But this one was huge. Basket ball size and on another bush very low to the ground. Rush to tractor supply. Found they have two brands, wife made previous run. Now we have two types of everything. This sounds like four wheel drive builds, lol.
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Happy first batch. Wife was up and at em early. She watched them wake up and get active. No pics of me and the wife in the dark. She was a all pro....me I may have squealed when the smoker burnt my leg and a few bees decided to be friendly.

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Guys caught today. Much more active bunch. I bought a suit. Son was helping ( @Blake_JK ) . He asked if he needed one. I said your just helping. Turns out he was the other pro, shaking bees cutting limbs and mostly calling me a sissy.
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Stragglers from the second catch.
 
Should we be feeding these guys?
I have a family history of keeping bees but other than the basics I'm a newb.
 
WARRIORWELDING said:
Should we be feeding these guys?
I have a family history of keeping bees but other than the basics I'm a newb.
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Yes.... well maybe mix some sugar water 1:1. They will use a lot of energy drawing out the frames. So I’d make it Available for at least a couple weeks.
They don’t have any stores so if a honey flow ends and they have no honey they could die.

id also go ahead and buy some supers if you don’t have them already. They can fill a box a lot faster than you thjnk
 
Loganwayne said:
Yes.... well maybe mix some sugar water 1:1. They will use a lot of energy drawing out the frames. So I’d make it Available for at least a couple weeks.
They don’t have any stores so if a honey flow ends and they have no honey they could die.

id also go ahead and buy some supers if you don’t have them already. They can fill a box a lot faster than you thjnk
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Like a week thing or a month? I don't really want to mess with them for a week maybe two. Just going to monitor them early in the day and see if they are working. Read so much I'm bloated on info. But I understand that keeping them stirred up and they might get stressed or leave.

I really wanted to see a queen in each. I thought we had. Not certain now after to much reading. Concerned they may be without the supreme leader.
 
Check both boxes in about 3 days. If you don’t have any eggs in 3 days in one box or the other you can move a frame of eggs if you can find any. Just make sure the queen isn’t on the frame you move.

If neither box has eggs see if you can find a friend to loan you some.
 
thecj3man said:
Check both boxes in about 3 days. If you don’t have any eggs in 3 days in one box or the other you can move a frame of eggs if you can find any. Just make sure the queen isn’t on the frame you move.

If neither box has eggs see if you can find a friend to loan you some.
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Eggs meaning they will hatch and support the numbers? Also these eggs could be fed Royal Jelly if they are Queenless?
 
WARRIORWELDING said:
Eggs meaning they will hatch and support the numbers? Also these eggs could be fed Royal Jelly if they are Queenless?
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Eggs meaning there is a hopefully queen in the box. I used to get hung up on always finding the queen when I would inspect a hive. Eventually I realized as long as I had eggs a queen had been there within the last three days.

It may take a swarm a few more days depending if you had drawn comb or if they are starting from fresh foundation.

If the hive or swarm is queenless, they can use a frame of eggs from any hive to start queen cells. But, you can also stunt a healthy hive from taking too many frames over the season. It all depends on if you are more concerned with bees or honey. Being your first foray, I would concentrate on getting them healthy and built up for fall and winter.
 
WARRIORWELDING said:
Like a week thing or a month? I don't really want to mess with them for a week maybe two. Just going to monitor them early in the day and see if they are working. Read so much I'm bloated on info. But I understand that keeping them stirred up and they might get stressed or leave.

I really wanted to see a queen in each. I thought we had. Not certain now after to much reading. Concerned they may be without the supreme leader.
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get a feeder like this it slides in from the front so you dont have to get into the hive.
 
What affects the color? The kind of flowers? Weather?
 
trailhugger said:
What affects the color? The kind of flowers? Weather?
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The flowers, if you can get some honey that is almost clear, all the way to stuff that is even darker than what I’ve got.
some people try to pull honey after each nectar flow but i don’t, so it’s always a guess at what it’s gonna be like.

the lighter honey I know I put that super on first in the spring so it probably has more clover in it than the darker stuff
 
Loganwayne said:
The flowers, if you can get some honey that is almost clear, all the way to stuff that is even darker than what I’ve got.
some people try to pull honey after each nectar flow but i don’t, so it’s always a guess at what it’s gonna be like.

the lighter honey I know I put that super on first in the spring so it probably has more clover in it than the darker stuff
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Wrong
 
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