Hi all,
New'bee' here. I have done a great deal of research on beekeeping and reading forums, watching videos online, talking to fellow beeks at the local chapter and taking a beekeeping 101 class. I love to learn and take a very methodical approach to most things. As many of you experts may know, there are so many methods and anecdotal information it can be somewhat confusing to start with. I personally align with Mr. Michael Bush's philosophy on beekeeping naturally and have all 3 volumes of his books - read them twice.
Well, I installed my first (2) packages over the weekend. Very excited! I have 2 parallel hives started, all using 8 frame mediums and foundationless Langstroff frames. I installed them without spraying them with sugar syrup, and direct released the queens into both and closed up the hive. I could not believe how smooth that went - although a little nerve wracking being among a group of confused bees. They quickly started to explore and fanned Nosonov at the entrance - :applause:
Day 2 - I know, let them settle, but I wanted to see. I had to see what they were up to. Please see pics. Although I am fascinated by the festooning, I do not see any new comb started. They seem to be hanging from the frames and along the top of the inner cover. No comb though. I am feeding them within a frame feeder that came with the hive using 1:1 syrup and a bit of Healthy B. In the other side I am trying a dryer sugar "paste" almost to the consistency of fondant with a little Healthy B as well. They really seem to like hanging out in it with those little tongues licking it.
Since I am going foundationless, I read it was key to get in there early when they are building comb to be sure that they start right and correct them if they get off track. Both hives have been painstakingly bubble balanced to be true.
I am concerned with not seeing any comb. Am I overreacting? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
New'bee' here. I have done a great deal of research on beekeeping and reading forums, watching videos online, talking to fellow beeks at the local chapter and taking a beekeeping 101 class. I love to learn and take a very methodical approach to most things. As many of you experts may know, there are so many methods and anecdotal information it can be somewhat confusing to start with. I personally align with Mr. Michael Bush's philosophy on beekeeping naturally and have all 3 volumes of his books - read them twice.
Well, I installed my first (2) packages over the weekend. Very excited! I have 2 parallel hives started, all using 8 frame mediums and foundationless Langstroff frames. I installed them without spraying them with sugar syrup, and direct released the queens into both and closed up the hive. I could not believe how smooth that went - although a little nerve wracking being among a group of confused bees. They quickly started to explore and fanned Nosonov at the entrance - :applause:
Day 2 - I know, let them settle, but I wanted to see. I had to see what they were up to. Please see pics. Although I am fascinated by the festooning, I do not see any new comb started. They seem to be hanging from the frames and along the top of the inner cover. No comb though. I am feeding them within a frame feeder that came with the hive using 1:1 syrup and a bit of Healthy B. In the other side I am trying a dryer sugar "paste" almost to the consistency of fondant with a little Healthy B as well. They really seem to like hanging out in it with those little tongues licking it.
Since I am going foundationless, I read it was key to get in there early when they are building comb to be sure that they start right and correct them if they get off track. Both hives have been painstakingly bubble balanced to be true.
I am concerned with not seeing any comb. Am I overreacting? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Attachments
-
98.9 KB Views: 240
-
79.5 KB Views: 294
-
77.5 KB Views: 225
-
121.6 KB Views: 215
-
67.7 KB Views: 230