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What have you learned this year?

17K views 47 replies 39 participants last post by  Seymore 
#1 ·
It's the end of the year, or so we in our advanced state believe. New Years Day is not special, except that it came from the day dedicated to the Roman God Janus or maybe the day baby Jesus was circumcised. It's not the longest day, or the shortest day, a solstice or an equinox. But for northern hemisphere beekeepers, it is a kind of split between major parts of the year. It's a dead day as we call the day between classes and finals here in the academic world. I'm sure southern hemisphere beeks have their own way of thinking of it. For me, it begins the beekeeping season. I'm cleaning up last year's messes and planning this next year's.

So what did you learn this year? What worked or didn't work? What are your basic plans for next year? How did you do this year? What did you plan to do and succeed? Where did you fail in last year's plans? What do you plan to learn this year?
 
#28 ·
This year I learned to cover the screened bottoms on top bar hives until packages get established or they might try to abscond.
This caused me to learn a good reason to have your queens wing clipped.

I learned not to let your TBHs go very long before you start getting in there and fixing cross combs.
I learned a good way to cut out cross combs and reattach them.

I learned that 2011 in Texas was a bad year to start beekeeping.

I learned that after the clover in my area overheats and stops blooming after months of no rain and months of 100+ degrees
heat everyday, you better have some trumpet vines and crepe meartals close enough to your hives to have anything trickle in.

I learned that even in a drought you can open feed a hive until it swarms. Then that swarm will come over and land on your
hive that wasn't getting much of the syrup because your feeders were getting robbed out by the hive that swarmed!!!
I couldn't figure out why I was going through a gallon and a half of syrup a day and my hive and nuc weren't storing any better.

I learned that when working TBHs a good bread knife is awesome handy.

I learned that both my bees and I like mesquite in my smoker the best.

I learned that even if both my hives die out this winter, I'll still have bees in TBHs next year.
 
#29 ·
Having ten hives is alot more to keep track of then 2.
Beekeeping is a really good form of exercise.
Try not to mess with the bees after it gets dark.
It rains alot so stash up on dry smoker fuel.
A propane torch is nice for getting a smoker lit.
Some dryer sheets in the fold of a hot tub cover can help keep the bees out of the tub.
The #30 tar felt is difficult to wrap around the hives buy the #15 instead.
I have mud tracks worn into the grass behind the hives. Now I know why it was recommended I get some outdoor carpet for infront/behind the hives.
Bee propolis has medical benefits.
Grafting a few larvae in early spring and seeing them end up as mated and laying queens in nucs was very inspiring.
Putting some honeyframes infront of the hives in spring can simulate a nectar flow for the bees.
Don't give the bees too much space to defend.
Yellow Jackets are a nuisance to the bees. If you can find the nest destroy it. Yellow jacket traps can be effective.
Drones that get kicked out can get stuck in the mouseguards.
If I'm careful and cautious I don't get stung.
I like honey more than I ever did before.
Sometimes the queen is easy to find. Other times she is extremely tough to find. I may start marking the queens.
Don't forget to put a frame back in the middle of the second deep:) Etc. I still have alot to learn but I'm better off than I was.
I'm real grateful to everyone on the forum who has helped me with my questions and what not since I've been on here. It has been a pleasure to be part of this group.
Thank You Very Much! VW
 
#32 ·
I've learned that this past year's once in a 200 year drought was pure h*** on the bees here in central Texas. Totalling 3.5 inches of rain at my house from January through September was tough on all plant and animal life! I was thinking that a desert was being born!!! It is amazing how many trees died. I lost way too many hives. The heat was unreal. I'm not sure how many days we had of 100+ degrees. Something like 110 days or so. And many, many days were over 105+. It didn't matter how much I fed the bees, the queens just quit laying!!!
:-(

The bees I have left are what I can truly call "survivor stock", ya think?
 
#33 ·
..... too much to list in totality but here are some bullet points:

I have learned:

* Foundation is probably a waste of time and money. The wax is probably contaminated. The bees already know how to draw comb for goodness sake. They've been doing it for tens of millions of years. And with the foundationless frame available you don't even have a good excuse for using starter strips!

* Essential Oils are probably not the way to go. They are still propping up bad genetics.

* Mite counts and sugar dusting are a waste of time. "Sugar dusting breeds mites that hang on better." -Sam Comfort, Anarchy Apiaries

* Inner covers are probably a waste of time, effort and money... especially if you're not going to use a one-way bee escape to harvest honey. What do YOU think they are for anyway? Why give SHB and moths more places to hide?

* Anyone that says, "Bees naturally build upwards, that's why we harvest from the top" is a liar. If you don't believe me go cut down a bee tree and tell me where they started their comb from. Warre hives are, in fact, more natural than Lang on that point.

* Beginning beekeepers are in a real quandry when it comes to first year options and feeding. Getting a package of bees established without feeding in an area that has a 2-3 month nector flow is hard. I know this because my Podcast listeners ask me about this quite often.

* Ask 10 different beekeepers the same question and you'll get 15 different answers. (even "successful" treatment-free, experienced beekeepers vary greatly in their methods and beliefs)

* After all the dust clears and the potification ends, letting bees evolve on their own to find a balance with nature is the way forward.

SoMDBeekeeeper
 
#35 ·
I have learned that:
1. Things dont have to be perfect, the bees will take care of themselves.
2. I have learned to move slowly and watch the bees. You will learn a ton my just watching them.
3. I have learned that heating honey to 120 degrees makes the filtering process much better.
4. I have learned that almost everyone loves home grown honey.

Phil
 
#36 ·
So much to share:
1. Bees winter better in 2 5xframe deep nucs stacked on top of each other than 1 ten frame deep.
2. Raising queens is exciting. Picking them up with fingers will not damage them and marking them with a dot is the best thing for locating them quickly.
3. Equipment from plywood works very well and is cheap. Making deeps 15 7/8 wide and 9 1/2 tall rather than 16 1/4 wide and 9 5/8 tall utilizes 3/4 plywood sheet sheet much better.
4. Feeding light syrup for winter works in the south, in Washington it causes major humidity issues in the hive.
5. Virgin queens do not fly out unless there is a flow or you feed them syrup. They will stay untill they become old maids.
6. Powdered sugar (3 parts) and shortening (1 part) works well for tracheal mite, but does not eliminate it. Treat in spring AND IN THE FALL.
7. Nucs really do draw out frames very quickly.
8. Motivated 7 frames full of bees will easily suck up a gallon of syrup in a day from divider feeder.
9. When in doubt, refer to Mike Bush's site.

Things to try next year.
1. Riase queens like OldTimer demonstrated
2. Build double nucs like Mike Palmer showed for the winter and then attempt to operate them as two queen hives in the spring and summer.
3. Have enough drawn frames to legitimately do checkerboarding
4. Harvest some honey to keep my honey happy. :)
 
#38 ·
I just learned that a flat rate box holds 1 lb. blocks of wax almost perfectly.

I also learned in person about multiple queen hives. http://parkerfarms.blogspot.com/2012/02/two-queens-one-hive.html

Also, don't try to compete with national supply places in prices. Price what it's worth and let the chips fall where they may.
 
#39 ·
A lesson from last year not learned until last week. I didn't collect all my swarm traps last year and left them out over the winter(if you can call it that!). I think the last time I drove the route and looked at all of them was in July. Last week I went and found those outstanding traps and discovered that 4 of them had succeeded in trapping bees. If I had been on the ball and continued checking them I might have had 4 more swarms. I don't know when they all came in so I'm not sure I could have combined them all at the same time. I would have had to feed and nurture them through the winter. But I could have had four more swarms, Ughh! This year I"m leaving my swarm traps out all year and checking them every two weeks. I've got to find new and different ways to beat odfrank at catching swarms.
 
#41 ·
That our queens never reach their full potential due to reduced population...either weather related or beekeeper induced. Colonies built up to enormous populations...cell building colonies...by adding brood over an excluder...wind up with 15 frames of brood below the excluder...7 or 8 of those being open brood. When have you ever seen colonies with 15 frames of brood with 7 or 8 of those being larvae?
 
#46 ·
I learned NOT to treat every colony the same. :no:

I entereed winter with 5 colonies and gave each colony the same amount of stores to get them through the winter.
My problem was that I had four colonies that had average populations and one colony that had probably twice the amount of bees as the others.

I found the strong hive dead this week and it was due to starvation. :( They ate their stores twice as fast as the others as they had more bees to feed and as a newbeek I didn't think of that ahead of time.:eek:
 
#48 ·
I have learned how to assemble slatted racks and shims and will be finding uses for the shims. That sometimes the plans for assembling equipment don't make sense and it's very nice when your spouse rescues you from those plans you are intent on following and the nails that won't go straight and come out the sides.

I have learned I WILL feed a hive in a dearth because the queen will stop laying - which does not mean no queen is present but it DOES mean certain death for a new hive.

I have yet to learn the discipline of record keeping and my 50+ brain regrets it every time.

I've learned a hobbling nuc can get robbed and overtaken in a very short time.

I am trying checkerboarding this year. In that vein, I have learned that early for me is often too late for the bees.

Lol - Monka. Me too on the husband thing. He has grown from pretty terrified to "watch me get close!" (but still not too too close :) )

I have learned that if you buy a hive top feeder from one place and your nuc from another, there's a good chance the nuc won't fit over the hive top feeder. Must check inside dimensions! And also test equipment before I am standing in my bee yard needing it!

I've learned that the timing of things going on for other beeks in other areas tells me very little unless I know their zone - so I put my zone in my signature to help others know what is going on in my area - hoping others may follow. I see one!!!! It's as close as we can get to "being on the same page." Your bloom time or swarm season, etc., means nothing to me if we are zones apart.

Ask ONE beekeeper a question and you can get several different answers.

Plan to try: Different local bee stock and/or to learn more about raising queens; keeping a nuc or two for spare parts.

I've learned that bees are a lot of work, especially if you are short and female and over 50. But I've also learned that beekeeping is one of the most fascinating things I've ever done and I love it anew almost every day.

I've learned that there are no AlAnon-type groups for beekeepers - BA? Or even for readers of beesource...BS? I fall asleep almost every night reading on bees - and still have barely scratched the surface!

Good question, Solomon.
 
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