Questions from a new beekeeper

[SugarBeeCo]

Hello all

I've been reading the forum for the last several weeks and have learned quite a bit. I picked up two five frame nucs last weekend in New Mexico and installed them in BeexMax Polystyrene hives on Monday in between the rain showers. I even found both of the queens (marked w/ paint) during the process.

I feel really good about how things went but now I'm in "what next" mode. They have syrup in a BeeMax feeder and pollen patties. The sun finally came out today and they've been quite active. I'm assuming all is well despite a few dead bees outside the entrance.

How soon should I open things up and take a look? It was a bit difficult to get the frames pushed tightly together. Is that a problem I should try and fix when I open the hive? I didn't want to force them together and risk killing bees.

Also it was difficult to set the feeder on top without squishing bees. Can I run an empty body between the one with frames and the top feeder? Seems like it would be easier to clean and refill that way.


Thanks

Kevin

[tecumseh]

a kevin snips...
How soon should I open things up and take a look? It was a bit difficult to get the frames pushed tightly together. Is that a problem I should try and fix when I open the hive? I didn't want to force them together and risk killing bees.
tecumseh> you need to occasionally monitor the front entry for activity somewhat constantly, but a good time line for internal checking is about once a month. at the beginning as the unit grows quickly (feeding enhances this growth spurt) you will likely need to check every couple of weeks just to insure adequate space is available for the units to grow. for some of us (other will argue differently) after the frames in the original box are pulled I would reduce the number of frames to 9 (in a standard 10 frame hive). this simply allows the pulling and reinserting of one frame (no matter where it might be position in the box) to be a bit less risky for the bees themselves. this practice is extremely common amongst commercial folks since it substantially enhances inspection (reduces the time required for inspecting one hive).

kevin snip two...
Also it was difficult to set the feeder on top without squishing bees. Can I run an empty body between the one with frames and the top feeder? Seems like it would be easier to clean and refill that way.
tecumseh> sounds like 'that' should be no problem, except in cold weather when it will likely result in the feed being taken up a bit slower. the 'old school' way was to set the feeder (or super) 45 degrees off from square (to the lower box) and then to slide the top box to being square with the lower box. this process squished fewer bees and pushed aside any bees in the 'pinch areas' between boxes..
as a curious side question... what do you need to clean from this feeder?

[SugarBeeCo]

Thanks for the help Tecumseh

I believe I read that the polystyrene feeders can get moldy and sometimes need to be cleaned. That may not be a problem in the dry Colorado air.

[clarkfarm]

For what its worth, I used a "spacer frame" (i.e. about one inch deep) below my foam feeder instead of using the empty hive box you suggest. The bees built an enormous mass of comb from the bottom of the feeder going into the spaces between the wooden frames of the hive box below. It was a mess to say the least. I am wondering now if the spacer's shallow depth was the issue and the extra comb would not have been built if I had used a hive box instead.?????? I have had no problem with extra comb being built on the bottom of the feeder placed directly on the occupied hive body and have been doing that.

I have experienced the issue of crushed bees also. Since the foam feeder is not too heavy -- unless its full of course -- I place it on the closest edge, lined up with the hive body, and just slowly push it away from me into place. The bees on the edge move away in front of the box advancing toward them and few if any get crushed.

[SugarBeeCo]

clark

I never thought of the bees filling an empty box with burr comb (?). I'll probably keep running the setup like I have. I don't plan on feeding all summer anyway, so at some point I'll take it off.

I guess a squashed bee every now and then is just part of beekeeping?

[D Coates]

I guess a squashed bee every now and then is just part of beekeeping?

Indeed it is. Make sure to pull your first frame from the outer edges to avoid possibly rolling or squashing your queen.

[beedeetee]

This year it will be easy to keep the squishing to a minimum. Next year when you have two deeps full of bees and when you take the top off they slowly boil out the top and over the edges and down the sides you will look back at your problems this year and laugh.

I mostly use smoke to herd bees. With small hives it is pretty easy to smoke them down and put the top on. With next years hives that I described above you can kind of smoke them down, but by the time you put the smoker down and pick up the top they start boiling over the edges and down the side again.