New poster, new hive, and a hello

[HRM]

I apologized already in my first post for breaking the website the other night. I registered and was about to make my first post and [poof] it was gone...somehow I seem to remember having a lot more to say then, but I will give it a go.

Years ago as a teenager I worked at a greenhouse and the owner took up beekeeping. I have gatherered swarms, collected gallons of honey and moved supers, but during that time, I was just a grunt and never really understood why we did some things. Recently, I moved into a house and my next door neighbor had a few hives (which didn't make the winter) Just this monday he said a buddy was giving up the hobby and would I like his hives, so I said yes. The supers and boxes were all very decrepid and moldy, ect, but I cleaned them up, will scorch them and will have a new hive next week. He is ordering me one from his supplier. I am in a position where he is my kind mentor, and I must follow his lead, but I want to have only good habits...so...I have been lurking and reading up trying to fill in the blanks of the hows and whys of bees. I thank everyone for their posts that have the ability to keep on helping as us newBEES (suggestion for the title of new members..) even after the thread moves to the bottom.
Anyway, this is a hello, I am certain I can find every answer I need by searching around and will try to glean as much as I can without asking the usual questions. I will continue to lurk and read. As thanks in other forums, I try to post helpful answers as payback though it may be a while before that happens here. Thanks again for all the help and wish me luck.

[Todd Zeiner]

Welcome HRM. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Good Luck

[peggjam]

Glad you came out of the shadows, that lurking can get you in trouble!!

peggjam

[BeeBear]

It's good to see a new beekeeper. Good luck.

"All beekeeping is local". That's one of the reasons that you'll find a remarkable range of opinions here. There are few things that all beekeepers do the same way.

You've got the most important asset -- a mentor. I'd suggest that you also participate in your local beekeeping association.

And please let us know how things go.

[HRM]

Well, My hive went together easily.
We got my bees last Saturday night and Sunday about 11AM seemed like a good time to hive them.
I had prepared a solution of sugar water and we liberally sprayed the bees. Then we opened the top, took out the queen's cage, visually inspected she was alive and looked well. We pryed the cork off the bottom of her cage and carefully poked a tiny hole through the seal in the cage. After hanging the queeen and putting the can of food that came with the bees, we dumped them in the empty top super. THe bees were incredebly docile. I had never used a sugar water spray to handle bees and I was impressed.
by the end of the evening , the bees had cleaned out the dead bees (not many) and we put the top on. Mondayu they were puttering around and cleaning. Tonight we will look inside and make sure the queen has escaped (last year a bee died inside the queens cage and it prevented the queen from escaping in one of pats hive) If she has come out as we are figuring, we will put the frames in the top super and remove the food can and button it up.
For me since this hive was a sudden decision, it feels like a gift (even though I am paying for it) but it is such a hoot and I am looking forward to the ups and downs.

BTW: I have photos, can I post them here, or a link to them when I get them up?

[ScadsOBees]

Hi and welcome!
Docile bees are always a good way to start beekeeping!

Feel free to post links to photos. I love to look at other people's bee pictures.
Whereas you can post them here, some of us dinosaurs still on dialup would prefer links [img]smile.gif[/img] .

[chemistbert]

Please do post links to pictures. The more the better. I have some pics and will have more a little later but have been to lazy to put them up anywhere.

[HRM]

I am right in the middle of a reinstall of my machine and it is temporary (getting new drives) so being lazy, I will likely post a link to another forum where they will be in a thread. This way I don't have to install my FTP now and reinstall it again. I have a l
aptop with photoshop on it but the screen was never calibrated so if anyone cares, that's my excuse. They will be up when I find a few moments. Now to check the queen and put the rest of the frames in.

[HRM]

We checked the three hives at Pat's and one queen was definitely out of it's cage, one was definitely in still, they hadn't mad much progress on the seal, and another was probably out, but it was difficult to be certain so we left that one for one more day.
My hive had the plug removed, but also there were so many bees inside the queen cage that I decided to leave it in one more day putting in all the frames but four.

This photo is from last year when I was trying to catch a bee in flight. I should have much better luck this year.

http://www.moonfest.com/images/B5.jpg

I will be working on the new images and should have some good ones tomorrow as one of Pat's hives covered the queens cage with a good sized comb and I had my hands full going over so I didn't bring the camera.
B-well

[HRM]

I finally decided that I should just put up some picture now, rather than wait until I have plenty of time to "do it right"

http://www.moonfest.com/Bees/Newbees1.htm