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I just installed a new queen in a queenless hive. I installed queen last Tuesday. When I looked today the candy hole was wide open but the queen and her attendants were still inside. Any ideas?
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The weather in Montana has been unseasonably mild for the last couple weeks. 40 degree days are not uncommon so my granddaughter and I went out to check to see if any bees were flying. We went to the...

Laura, Bee very careful when dealing with ladders and swarms!
Hope to hear from you often.

Good luck, relax and have fun with the girls....

Hello and welcome to the forum from Big Sky Montana

Glad to have you here. Relax and enjoy the experience. Make sure you suit up and don't try to imitate the videos that show some guy with no shirt, and wearing a pair of shower shoes! He makes it look...

Glad to have you here. Check out beekeeping 101 forum for great advise. Michael Bush's website is a great place to start.

Good luck and have fun

Hi Araceli I started beekeeping when I was in highschool in 1964. I quit and got back into it last year because my grandaughter wanted to have a hive. She is an awesome beekeeper and handles the...

Welcome neighbor. I'm glad to hear "Some " bees do make it through our winters. Hope to see some posts from you from time to time.

Big Sky Country Montana

Ponderosa Pine

I built 2 top bar hives and used rough cut 2X10 ponderosa pine. I'm hoping the extra thickness will add insulation. I also insulated and covered the observation window. I put up a windbreak and...

I also used Carnolans in both my TBH. The produced very well and were very easy to work with. This is my first winter so I'll let you know how they do.

DeAnna, My gut feeling is the same as yours. I planned on leaving everything alone and see how they do. Did you build your own TBH's? I used 2x6 rough cut ponderosa pine. The wood is almost 2 inches...

The flow is still on in Montana. The third super is foundation only so the girls will have to hustle. When do you usually start feeding in the fall?

My TBH has 30 bars completely drawn and full of brood and honey. How many bars of honey should I leave to insure the bees have enough honey this winter?:)

I have a langstrof hive (new this year) that has filled 2 medium honey supers. I have been told that the hive needs honey stores to survive the winter. If the 2 brood chambers ( two ten frame deeps)...

Thanks for the good advice. I have 2 1in. holes (screened) on the back of the TBH. I believe they are allowing air into the hive. This hive was new this year and the bees have drawn out 27 bars out...

The girls have been bearding on the front of the hive for the past few days. the weather has been vert hot and im wondering if they are cooling themselves off ?:)

Great advice. Thats why I come to the forum to learn as much as I can. I will definetely get back into the hive and make sure things are straightened out. Thanks for the thoughtful responses.

In an earlier post someone said "How about a puff or three of smoke". I am a new beek and have two TBH's and I struggled with the problem of squishing bees when putting top bars back together. I...

I had the same thing happen to me the other day. What a mess. I tried reattaching the honey filled comb to the bar using hair clips and the weight of the comb was too much and it fell back to the...

I installed a package in a new Langstrof May 6. All the frames were plasticell foundation. The bees have drawn out 2 ten frame (large boxes) and I put a medium 9 frame super on a couple of weeks ago....

I learned the hard way on this subject. I opened my TBH in the heat of the day and one of the combs full of honey broke off and hit the bottom. I tried reattaching with hair clips and made a bigger...

Thats a great point. There were no swarm cells. One day they are all there, next inspection queen gone and half the bees! Even after requeening that hive never bounced back.

I think the queen absconded with half the hive. I was caught off guard and did not have a swarm trap up. I won't make that mistake again!

I use 1 1/4 inch bars and noticed when the combs get farther away from the brood they get thicker and wider than the bar. A couple of combs filled with honey were stuck together and when I tried...