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Propolis around the rim where the boxes touch it, wax in the middle.

Looks like a fair percentage of the brood is drone. I've never installed a package, but it seems strange that a new colony would already be producing drones. Could that indicate a potential issue?

The 4-H organization has quite a bit of info geared toward a younger audience. I have found many useful sites and documents Googling things like "4-H lesson plan beekeeping", "4-H beekeeping", etc....

Yes, give them the frames. They'll take care of minimal damage in no time, and get rid of the pollen if they can't use it.

Thank you all for the input. I'll be ready with my hive tool next time, and hope it doesn't turn into a problem.

I've never heard a single beekeeper I know in this area mention dealing with SHB. The other day though, I was shaking bees off of frames for extraction, and on one, just as I gave a hard jolt, I...

You can do that.

At a hardware store, buy two buckets, one lid and a package of five gallon paint strainers. In the bottom of one bucket, drill a whole bunch of 1" holes with enough space between...

If by "swap", you mean remove, you are fine. If by "swap" you mean swap, probably a mistake.

Not much of a problem at all. Just remove the lower deep and place the upper on your bottom board. Remove the medium with feeder temporarily and shake any bees that may be on the now removed frames...

If "underground" means in a meter box, valve box or something similar, it's possible. I've seen that several times. If they are actually in the ground they will likely be yellow jackets, or whatever...

Don't think wearing through the thin steel is the issue, but I agree that thicker is better. We have Maxant, and I've used Dadant in the past. Have checked out several Mann Lake models in their...

Throwing on a queen excluder without knowing why, or how it should be used.

Caused a REAL big swarm, REAL fast when I did this on our first hive during peak flow. "What? You mean the bees might...

Update:

Kudos to those that warned of swarming. Did that yesterday.

As (bad) luck would have it, I got very ill for a few days and did not have the energy or strength to do anything with the...

Lots of good thoughts here. Much appreciated.

I have no foundation for these shallow frames so I may just pull it for now, add a medium with foundation, and rethink.

I adopted a hive about five weeks ago from someone who could not keep it. I know this person well and know the history of the hive - always strong, and a very good producer of both cut-comb and...

Give Mountain Feed and Farm in Ben Lomond (10 miles from Santa Cruz) a call and ask for Karla. She is their resident beekeeper and is involved with the SC club, and I'm sure could answer your...

03/08/13 - Danville, CA 94506

Nice size, probably four pounds, seven feet up in a redwood tree. First of the year for me.

Same thing I was thinking Dan, and I'm a lot closer to Livermore than you are! Haven't seen the beetles yet, but found Black Widows in each lid when checking our three the other day. That was a...

I would place them so the bees can continue to use the entrances they are used to. Put the hive with queen on the bottom and leave both entrances open, at least at first. I've done this 3-4 times,...

You can take a look at Michael Bush's site where he discusses these. No frames used there, but no reason you couldn't build it to fit standard frames.

Horizontal Hives

Sounds like you may have your top deep full of honey if it is really heavy. If so, the bees are more likely to use the middle super for brood now. Move it out and see if you need to extract the deep...

That's a Country Rubes bottom board.

Just as a bit of information for you, last year I got a call at work from my daughter telling me she believed one of the hives in our yard was about to swarm. I had her put some drawn frames in a nuc...

Picked one up 3/11/12 in San Ramon, CA - 94583
Gathered in shrub about 3pm according to homeowner. Medium size with some drones present.

Just a small order, and not a lot of money involved but they could not have handled my issue any better and I wanted to let everyone know that their customer service is amazing. I called their...