View Full Version : My bees come tomorrow morning and I feel SO UNPREPARED!
:eek:
i ordered the wrong feeder to start with so now i only have an entrance feeder. I still have to get my water source up on the roof and filled. The only meds I got are the apistan strips that are coming with my bees. GAH!
How did I miss all of this. Will I totally fail if a week or so lapses until I get these things?
I'm so scared of screwing this up. Any words of encouragement?
Jesse
04-11-2009, 06:04 PM
It's gonna bee fine ;)
Everything is a learning process - so even if you do screw it up - you'll know what NOT to do next time. :D
Good Luck and welcome to beekeeping,
Jesse
cow pollinater
04-11-2009, 06:16 PM
I installed alot of packages when I first started with bees and I found that the ones where I just popped the lid and dumped them in the box made it just about as often as the ones that I did everything I could for.
An entrance feeder is perfect for a new beekeeper starting packages as you can closely monitor their intake and stop feeding when they quit taking feed. Just use an entrance reducer to cut down on robbing from any strong hives in the area.
As far as a water source, they won't have brood for awhile so water is not an absolute must for a while but a small bucket or jar with some wet wood shavings or cotton balls should be fine. Just add a little water each time you go to visit.
As far as medications are concerned, I'd buy from a reputable source so that you know you aren't starting out with problems and then treat problems as they arise. You've got plenty of time to worry about that.
Relax, dump your bees into the box and quit worrying about it.
Chef Isaac
04-11-2009, 06:18 PM
Meg:
No problems..... relax and be calm.
Skip the apistan. It is a waste of time. As for the entrance feeder, skip that. I assume you have a inner cover yes? Do you have two brood boxes?
If so, no problem. Shake the bees in, add the inner cover, take the jar of feed and invert that over the inner cover hole, place another box on top of that and top it off with an outter cover. There you go!
Feel free to lean on other beekeepers for help too. Matter of fact, if you need help with anything, you can email me at chefif@comcast.net or call me at 360 261 2055. I am always glad to talk bees!
Whew! thanks for the helpful advice. as far as the feeder over the inner cover I dont have to worry about the jar tipping over or anything? Just the jar with nail holes over the cutout?
dcross
04-11-2009, 06:35 PM
Just the jar with nail holes over the cutout?
Yep! Or two jars:)
Chef Isaac
04-11-2009, 06:43 PM
This works great. No need to worry about the jars tipping over. At least non of mine have.
so, let me ask you....if i just put one jar in and it doesnt completely cover the hole, is that no good?
Chef Isaac
04-11-2009, 06:45 PM
It will be fine. :)
WOOHOO! ok, i feel much better now. I'm about to go make some syrup for my feeder and spray bottle. I'll let you all know how it goes!:gh:
Chef Isaac
04-11-2009, 07:03 PM
remember... one part water to 1 part sugar. Sometimes the liquid has a hard time passing through the spray tube. If that happens, just add more water to the spray bottle.
bobbees
04-11-2009, 07:59 PM
Meg another easy way to feed is you a gallon Zip lock. Fill it about 3/4s full with syrup and lay it right on top of your frames. Make a few small slits in the top side of the bag. The bees will line up like cattle to fed. Put a empty honey supper over that. then your inner and outer cover.
1:1! that's what i did. its cooling right now.
Chef Isaac
04-11-2009, 08:25 PM
zip lock works great..... except it wasts a zip lock. Good for backup in case you have nothing else!
YAY! Bees are in their hive! How soon should I get their water source up there?
beebuzz
04-12-2009, 10:29 AM
How close is your closest water supply?
EastSideBuzz
04-12-2009, 11:36 AM
This newbie was also really unprepared and I think it turned out OK. :)
Here is what happened to me.
I bought a whole bunch of hives from a guy getting out of the bee keeping. Got them all set up and realized I was a bit underfunded until pay day. I figured that all I needed to do was get the bee's into the hives and did not all the hive tools, smoker and gear for a couple weeks.
So when I went and picked up my bee's 2 packs I just bought the bee's and Vail. When I got home I put on my work gloves (not bee gloves) and duck taped them to my sleeves (really important when you piss them off). Put on the Vail and started. Sprayed them with sugar water. Opened the cage and dumped in a pile of bee's. Then took the queen keeper and put in it also opened. I was told she would run out into the pile of bees. Not really sure if that happened because they soon covered the little cage. I put on a Deep box with 2 empty no foundation frames and suspended the cage in them and put on the top. Worked out kind of nice.
Then I did the second pack. Same process but, this time I tried to actually get he queen out. I think she came out and took to flight. It all happened so quickly. I put the top on as quick as I could. I think she is still inside. (I was told that she had been with the bee's over a week and if I was dumb enough to open her and set her down like many people do she could come back.) So I felt ok that if she got out in the massive swarm that was around my head that she would be coming back. I dumped the rest of them in and really pissed them off and did the second deep cage suspended thingy I did last time.
I left them alone for a couple hours and things settled down. Took off my gloves and Vail and went in the house. Laid down and played with my 8 year old. She was laying on me as usual watching TV and she noticed a bee crawling on my leg. She freaked a bit about a bee in the house. I got up and went outside and shook it off.
At around 8pm I went to check on the hives and remove the cage get the rest of the bee's out. Seems lots went back into the cage (they must think it is home). Sprayed them again Dumped and shook tons of them out into the box. closed them up put the cages faceing the opening so they could crawl out onto the ledge and in.
It was getting dark and I did not know how many were on me. I tool off the vail and gloves again and shook my jacket a bit. Went to the glass door in the light and asked if there were any stuck on me. My wife said no. Went in the house and all was good. None on me (I bet you know where this is going). Soon my daughter started screaming about a bee flying at the kitchen lights while she was dipping her Easter eggs. So we quickly got a cup and paper and captured him in the cup and dumped him outside.
All was good. No bee's on me and the one that escaped outside. Then my wife noticed two more crawling on my back. Not sure where they were all hiding. I ran outside and took off the jacket and shook. I think that was all of them.
So lessons learned. Wear cloths that you take off when you work on angry bee's. Also don't over spend on the hives without all the tools. Bee's hide in pockets etc so don't take them inside. :doh:
Next week I have 4 more packs coming. Might figure this thing out yet. :lpf:
yeesh, dude. you tried to take the queen out?
my bees are doing their thing now. i havent messed with it at all except to switch the feeders. they are going through about one ball jar every two days. i suppose that is normal?
it's raining today and tomorrow. i went out to switch the feeder today and it was cloudy. i got a few bees bouncing off me trying to test me but they were otherwise really calm. it was kind of cool out this morning. im worried about a bunch of those guys. my original feeder had a leak and slowly dumped sugar water all over the bees in the hive. i hope too many of them didnt drown. :(
How close is your closest water supply?
my water supply is a flat rubbermaid container with some holes drilled in the side to regulate the water level. i put several bricks in as islands and a bunch of driftwood for floats. i got some peppermint and lemongrass oil today to make some homemade HBH so hopefully once it stops raining I can train them to visit the watersource i made. its located behind the hive maybe 20 ft. is that too close?