Ive been fortunate to meet and listen to a lot of beekeepers. Many actually know what they are talking about. That said I listen, but I reserve the right to make my own stupid mistakes. I guess the biggest thing ive rethought about is foundation. When I started it was so easy to pop plastic into a frame thinking it would be easy for the bees to just draw it out. I then saw the mess if they decided to draw comb off the frame and then they don't touch the opposite frame. So, I put wax in with pins and discovered how a extractor treats it. Now, I use wax that ive wired in, because I don't know which frames the bees will store honey. I still have the other types I described and I may continue to think this. But for now the don't is plastic foundation. I cant figure why they do draw plastic like a dream but the mess of inconsistancy. Now if I can figure why they chew through the wax of the foundation.....
Another DON'T
I don't know exactly how many don'ts I have stumbled across, but it's quite a few. Probably 100 to 1 don'ts to do's. At this rate I may never learn much about bees, but I'll learn a bunch of things NOT to do. If I was smart I would write all the things down, not to do. That would probably be helpful to read that during the winter... but I digress.
The latest DON'T:
If you run out of deep foundation or are trying to phase out using foundation in the brood box, but don't take time to just cut starter strips, and if you use slotted top bar frames like I do, don't put a sheet of medium foundation in a deep frame, and support it with nothing but a few staples shot thorough the side of the top bar through the foundation. When the temps hit 90 degrees, the foundation and the comb attached to it will fall out of the frame while it sits in the hive and make one heck of a mess.
Note to self. Wire all frames and just use starter strips......
On a side note: Nectar that isn't quite dry enough to be capped still tastes really good, especially if you pick all the bees off the comb first. LOL
The latest DON'T:
If you run out of deep foundation or are trying to phase out using foundation in the brood box, but don't take time to just cut starter strips, and if you use slotted top bar frames like I do, don't put a sheet of medium foundation in a deep frame, and support it with nothing but a few staples shot thorough the side of the top bar through the foundation. When the temps hit 90 degrees, the foundation and the comb attached to it will fall out of the frame while it sits in the hive and make one heck of a mess.
Note to self. Wire all frames and just use starter strips......
On a side note: Nectar that isn't quite dry enough to be capped still tastes really good, especially if you pick all the bees off the comb first. LOL
