Hi,
This is my first hive. I installed my package on Monday evening so I haven't even been able to open things up to inspect the queen cage or check for comb or the levels on the feeder in the empty second hive body.
I go out several times a day to observe the bees' behavior and up until this afternoon things seemed okay (as much as I could tell, being new to this). I was originally trying to see if any were returning with pollen yet, when I saw two bees fighting on the ground in front of the hive. Then I noticed a couple more. Am I being robbed already? One of my worries is that I made an error when putting everything together before installing the package.
I ordered the basic unassembled kit but thought it came with a screened, not solid, bottom board. Having run out of time to order the IPM screened board (the package pickup date got bumped up by two weeks) I cut the appropriate sized hole in the plywood and realized that no store around me had 1/8" hardware cloth or metal screening so I found some hardware cloth in the cellar and used that. I have now realized that I used 1/4" hardware cloth on the bottom board.
Have I just given other bees unfettered access to my hive?
How would I even go about getting the bottom board back to put the right screening on it?
I cut a piece of 1/4" ply and slid it under the bottom board to block the screen altogether, until I can figure this out. There are a dozen or so dead bees beneath the hive. Is that just from them house-cleaning, or are those the ones who 'fell in battle'?
Gah! These bees are making me so anxious!
Any words of wisdom will be welcomed.
~Erin
This is my first hive. I installed my package on Monday evening so I haven't even been able to open things up to inspect the queen cage or check for comb or the levels on the feeder in the empty second hive body.
I go out several times a day to observe the bees' behavior and up until this afternoon things seemed okay (as much as I could tell, being new to this). I was originally trying to see if any were returning with pollen yet, when I saw two bees fighting on the ground in front of the hive. Then I noticed a couple more. Am I being robbed already? One of my worries is that I made an error when putting everything together before installing the package.
I ordered the basic unassembled kit but thought it came with a screened, not solid, bottom board. Having run out of time to order the IPM screened board (the package pickup date got bumped up by two weeks) I cut the appropriate sized hole in the plywood and realized that no store around me had 1/8" hardware cloth or metal screening so I found some hardware cloth in the cellar and used that. I have now realized that I used 1/4" hardware cloth on the bottom board.
Have I just given other bees unfettered access to my hive?
How would I even go about getting the bottom board back to put the right screening on it?
I cut a piece of 1/4" ply and slid it under the bottom board to block the screen altogether, until I can figure this out. There are a dozen or so dead bees beneath the hive. Is that just from them house-cleaning, or are those the ones who 'fell in battle'?
Gah! These bees are making me so anxious!
Any words of wisdom will be welcomed.
~Erin