Is my first deep honey bound? If so, what now?
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OK, I will have to trust that they will do the same for me until I go back into that hive to check what they're doing. I have a really good photo of that queen cell to share, but the site said it was too large a file for upload...is there a place for large file uploads??
lol....sorry. www.photobucket.com
I would keep an eye out on your honey stores. As I told you on the phone the bees in our area are now starting to show robbing behavior. This past weekend while breaking down a hive into nucs, I placed all of the honey frames in one area. Very quickly the frames were covered with foragers who were sucking the nectar/honey out of the frames. Two weeks ago the bees ignored frames of honey and nectar left in the open. As I told you before the nectar flow in our area ends very abruptly, and the comb where they were backfilling will be quickly consumed. I have seen colonies that were heavy in June starve out by mid July. Keep a very close eye on their stores, and hopefully when you are feeding its inside the hive and not through the entrance.
Hey dude... I remember whatcha said.... I'm feeding all three boxes internally, which I always do as a rule, to help keep the ants under control. In addition, I closed-off the easy access feeder box entrances, so any raiders will have to go through the hives to get to the feeders...also reduced the entrances by one half as well....I will only have a problem if the bees from the other two apiaries find us...the good news is that each location has only two hives....
The resident queen killed that queen in the photo of the cell...went in to check for emergence Sunday AM, and the side was breached and cell empty...wonder why they changed their minds? That hive is cranky-as-all-get-out now to boot.....I will have to see if she's getting her act together or not yet...she seems to be OK one minute and then not laying right a week later....and her laying patterns are also not what they were in the beginning either. I'm gonna give her another week to get it together; but if she can't, gonna "supercede" her myself, wait 24 hrs., and then do a newspaper merge with my swarm nuc. She's this year's queen and has been laying for a few weeks now, so her pheremones should be strong.
I'm a new beek as well, and don't have a whole lot of experience. But don't bees usually take quite some time to move up and usually do it when they need to feed? As I picture it (and like I said, I'm new and could be wrong) the bottom would be filled with brood in a circular pattern in the middle followed by pollen stores around the brood area and honey stores thereafter. The second deep would be mostly honey stores for them to survive dearths including winter. It would then be at those times the bees would start to use their stores and very gradually move up into the second with the queen and brood following.
Is this correct?
I understood the main purpose of the second deep was mainly for stores. I also understood that bees will always move up naturally and that you want to stay ahead of this by swapping hive bodies when they do move up so they will continue to have more room to move up. Just as a part of maintainence. As if they had all moved up it would then be time to swap hive bodies so they would have room again to move up.
Is this correct?
Thanks, John
Is this correct?
I understood the main purpose of the second deep was mainly for stores. I also understood that bees will always move up naturally and that you want to stay ahead of this by swapping hive bodies when they do move up so they will continue to have more room to move up. Just as a part of maintainence. As if they had all moved up it would then be time to swap hive bodies so they would have room again to move up.
Is this correct?
Thanks, John
Yes and no, they will store and use the 2nd box not only during flows, but as brood chambers as well. Generally the best way to coax them up is to bring up a couple f frames ffrom the bottom....they will start to move up. During spring and summer and fall, they will go between box boxes..
John....you're already at the "are your hives ready for Winter" chapter and my hives are only halfway through the book.....one add'l bit of info...the hives, except for the "little-swarm" nuc, are new, 3lb. Italian packages this Spring..one installed at the beginning of April, one at the end. I also had no comb whatsoever either, so my bees/hives have to:
A. Get 20 deep frames of foundation drawn out, starting the season with a small, make-shift family of strange bees and a young queen of unknown ability, that all smell different.
B. Defy adversities that would discourage almost anything, while struggling to get their numbers increased to an adequate size to defend themselves through the dearth and function as a productive hive going into the Fall.
C. And last, but certainly not least, deal with a first-time beekeeper caring for them...screwing up and irritating them beyond anything they likely have had to deal with before and actually stay there while taking it all in stride.
Frankly, they likely are barely clinging to hope, that the Winter is survivable for them at this point.
A. Get 20 deep frames of foundation drawn out, starting the season with a small, make-shift family of strange bees and a young queen of unknown ability, that all smell different.
B. Defy adversities that would discourage almost anything, while struggling to get their numbers increased to an adequate size to defend themselves through the dearth and function as a productive hive going into the Fall.
C. And last, but certainly not least, deal with a first-time beekeeper caring for them...screwing up and irritating them beyond anything they likely have had to deal with before and actually stay there while taking it all in stride.
Frankly, they likely are barely clinging to hope, that the Winter is survivable for them at this point.
I've already read 'The Hive and the Honey Bee', 'First Lessons in Beekeeping', and 'Country Wisdom and Know How'... Front to back.
Was I incorrect?
I can only read so much. Now I need to pick brains...:scratch:
Was I incorrect?
I can only read so much. Now I need to pick brains...:scratch:
No not wrong....what you need is to join a beekeeping club and become slave labor for an experienced beek....pay attention and ask questions a little at a time....and get your own hives to practice on....a reccommended read is Langstroth's original treatise.
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