[bradley39482]

hey ya'll
glad to have found this site, i have so many questions , but will start off with few! hope ya'll don't mind!
i received my bee hive fully hived on the 23, full and ready for the next brood box, i added 2 supers, and the bees seem to be doing good, there very calm and seem to be happy, moving in and out, and active. the man i got to hive my box said they might split, or swarm by end of July, maybe! if they do, i will have a brood box waiting, my question is, when i capture the swarm, do i dump the swarm in the box and add 2-3 frames, and a drone cell, and start feeding them sugar water? and do i use regular table sugar? if the feeder is an insert, a 2 gallon insert, is it 1/2 cup of sugar to 2 gallons of water? will keep reading the forums for info, but thought ya'll might have some ideas where i could find the info or advice on this.
thanks for the help.

 

[EastSideBuzz]

That all sounds good in your post. But, why not split them before they swarm. Letting them swarm is not a good solution. Do a walk away split or when the swarm cells are created then split them using the swarm cell as the new queen. I would not let them swarm and try and catch them. You might not be able too. :no:

 

[bradley39482]

o.k
but when do you know when to split them?

 

[milwaukee_natural_bees]

On the feeding question...It needs to be a by volume mixture 1 to 1 sugar and water...I prepare ours in a rinsed out gallon milk jug..a 5lb pound sugar bag fills about half of it then I top it off with warm water, shake until dissolved and you have your feed ready.....

Good luck..!!

 

[bradley39482]

o.k thanks
i have another question,sorry for all the questions, trying to learn as much as i can, i have noticed that some of the bee's are darker than the others, some are harry and yellow with yellowed striped abdomens, some are very dark with almost black abdomens, and some are in between, funny how that is, can anyone tell me the difference? is there a site that can explain the difference's? also have drones flying in and out, do they fly to other hives and mate with other queens, or are they associated with one hive?
thanks.

 

[charmd2]

can anyone tell me the difference?

Most likely the person you bought the hive from did a split from one of their hives, and you have a mixture of two different bee familys. However, a queen mates with multiple drones, so a colorful combination is possible.

also have drones flying in and out, do they fly to other hives and mate with other queens, or are they associated with one hive?

Queens mate in the air, with multiple drones. Drones fly from seperate hives in a several mile radius to meet up with a virgin queen.



when do you know when to split them?

Do you want a honey harvest or more hives? You can split them anytime you choose to do so. http://www.bushfarms.com/beessplits.htm



Actually.. http://www.bushfarms.com/bees.htm might be a good place to start, read up. some of the most comprehensive step by step information on one website I've found.

 

[MeriB]

have you gone to any classes or joined your local beekeepers assoc? You will get a lot of info at once. Also a good place to find a mentor.

 

[bradley39482]

no haven't been to a seminar class yet, plan on it in June, yep i got a mentor, the good man that hived up my bees, Ive called him several times but don't want to bug him with a bunch of questions all at once! they, the bees, seem to be doing good! but just had a few questions pop up in my head, so i figured to ask them while there on my mind, lest i forget them, like i usually do! seems i have all kinds of questions until i call my friend about the bees then when i get him on the phone i forget! thats why i ask here while i got them good and fresh on my mind!

 

[bradley39482]

thanks charmed.

 

[bradley39482]

have noticed that i have some russian bees, some cacasiun bees,carniolan bees, seems to bee a good mixture, ive read about how the diversity in the bees is a good thing, is this true?

 

[bradley39482]

have a question
how do you tell when there is a swarm cell in the hive,
what is a swarm cell.

thanks!

 

[jannaMI]

I'm a newbee too, and have really enjoyed Michael Bush's site. I've also learned a lot on www.basicbeekeeping.blogspot.com I would encourage you to check them both out!

 

[charmd2]

swarm cells tend to be on the bottom of frames, dozens at a time are possible. they look like peanut shells. nice and big queen cells.

 

[bradley39482]

thanks charmed,
i have been reading as much as i can on the bush's web site, thats how i found out about the different gene bee's that i have, Russian, Caucasian, carniolan, i have all these with a Russian queen! sorry for all the questions, sometimes its hard to get to read the web sites when i have 2 tricycle motors hanging off my legs, most of the day ,when i come home from work, plus honey doo's,
Tricycle motors= 2 kids under 3yrs old, LOL. thanks for all the help,Yall,
brad.

 

[bradley39482]

I'm a newbee too, and have really enjoyed Michael Bush's site. I've also learned a lot on www.basicbeekeeping.blogspot.com I would encourage you to check them both out!

thanks janna,
will do!