Honey Bees

[Turkey Creek]

I just fed simple syrup. Don’t want a draft to be able to get in there. I bet at a minimum the elms are blooming.

The bee keeper I got my bees from recommended to place it like that. Just wasnt sure if that was normal for the inner lid to not lay tight with that under it? Any harm in laying the patty say on an upside down 5 gallon bucket close to the hive?

 

[TreeDaddy]

Not sure if we want to turn this into a question and answer thread, but I have a question. I put a pollen patty in on top of my frames today, as we dont have anything much in bloom yet. My queen has eggs, larvae and just a little capped brood already. My inner hive lid sticks up a bit because of the thickness of the patty. I put my top cover on as normal. Any problem with the inner cover not laying down flat at this point?

No

In fact, it helps with ventilation in the summer and prevents condensation in the winter

bill

 

[Corey Peterson]

As long as rain can't get in you should be ok. I haven't had great luck with pollen patties as soon as my bees can forage for pollen they usually won't touch them. I prefer to open feed a dry pollen substitute. Ultra Bee seems to be the one the bees like best, and if you want it in the hive you can just fill one side of a drawn frame with dry pollen substitute - I usually do this to help new splits. We don't have small hive beetles around here not sure if you do in Nebraska, but keep an eye peeled for them I here they really like pollen patties.

 

[Turkey Creek]

I only plan on using a pollen patty for the very short term until things start blooming. If they dont seem to be using it I will pull it out of the hive. Thanks for everyones input I am sure there will be more questions coming!

 

[Tap]

I don't raise honey bees, but I have thousands upon thousands of Mason bees that have taken over my firewood piles.
When I brought wood inside over the winter, bees were emerging as the wood warmed up. I had dozens of Masons in my house last winter. It took me a while to realize they were coming out of the firewood. I've had issues with saw flies boring into my firewood for a long time, but it seems that the Mason bees are making good use of all the saw fly holes.

I did a little research and read that Mason bees are actually superior to honey bees for pollenating. The reason is that honey bees wet the pollen and it sticks to them and not as much falls off when the bee is on the next flower. But Mason bees leave the pollen dry and it easily falls off on other flowers.
Mason bees don't sting either. I handle them with bare hands and have never been stung. They don't make honey, but that's okay. I like the little suckers.

 

[ksgobbler]

Super’d My new hive. They have queen cells in there so swarm likely before too long. In 3 days my other hive has started storing honey in their super.

 

[Turkey Creek]

My new hive seems to be doing fine. Did a check earlier in the week pulled the frames out of the deep super, larva, lots of capped brood and syrup in a lot of cells. A couple of frames had to weigh 5lbs easy. Today was a bee autiful day finally: warm, sunny and light winds, I am sure the bees made the most of it.

 

[SwampCat]

Super’d My new hive. They have queen cells in there so swarm likely before too long. In 3 days my other hive has started storing honey in their super.

Good time to start a nuc with those queen cells.

 

[ksgobbler]

I’ve got a swarm trap nearby. I don’t know anything about starting a nuc

 

[TreeDaddy]

I’ve got a swarm trap nearby. I don’t know anything about starting a nuc

Take a few frames along with the frame of queen cells and stick 'em in a hive body.

Just make sure the reigning queen doesn't go along for the ride!!!

bill

 

[Corey Peterson]

Definitely easier to just grab a few frames and start a new hive then letting them swarm. I’d pull the laying queen and a few frames brood and a frame of honey and start a new hive. Pulling down all the queen cells can buy you sometime assuming the existing queen is still in there and laying. Good luck!

 

[H20fwler]

I'm finally in the bee club!
Got a swarm trap put up Saturday and the bases laid for the first two hives at big woods later this week. Also have the bases down for two hives at little woods (thanks for advice Peeps)...so should have four new hives up and running by end of week!

 

[Peeps]

Just got word our 2 nucs will be ready for pickup Thursday.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

Do any of you with bees live with bear? I was thinking about getting a hive, but I have lots of bear, and I don’t think it would be worth the hassle. I already fight with them on my apple trees.

 

[Peeps]

Yes I have lots of bears around. I built a little compound to protect the hives and a garden. I first cemented 4x4 posts into the ground, then used a 6’ welded wire for fencing with a 3 strand top for a height of about 8 feet. Then I put up a 4 strand wire electric fence out about 4-5 ft from the main fence. I used a solar electric fence charger rated to 30 miles along with 3 8 ft buried ground rods. This juice maxes out my tester. So far so good. Sometimes when I’ve had a few I’m tempted to grab the wire to see how big of a jolt it gives.

 

[Peeps]

Installed our 2 nucs today. They both appeared to be very robust. Hopefully they like their new homes and are still there next weekend when we make it back up there.

 

[Turkey Creek]

My bees are going strong. Collecting lots of pollen. Pulled some frames out last night and lots of capped brood. Outside frames are still empty. When do you guys decide to add on another deep super? Running 2 deeps year round seems to be pretty common on the permanent hives around here. Leaves enough stores to make it through a typical winter.

 

[SwampCat]

If you only have the two deep hive bodies, I would add the first honey super as soon as the bees are really actively working. I prefer medium supers for honey - instead of deeps. The deeps get awfully heavy to work. I typically use three medium hive bodys for the main hive and the same size for honey supers. That way, all woodenware is the same

 

[H20fwler]

Yes I have lots of bears around. I built a little compound to protect the hives and a garden. I first cemented 4x4 posts into the ground, then used a 6’ welded wire for fencing with a 3 strand top for a height of about 8 feet. Then I put up a 4 strand wire electric fence out about 4-5 ft from the main fence. I used a solar electric fence charger rated to 30 miles along with 3 8 ft buried ground rods. This juice maxes out my tester. So far so good. Sometimes when I’ve had a few I’m tempted to grab the wire to see how big of a jolt it gives. View attachment 18276

I am so glad I don’t have to deal with bears! That one looks like a tank.
Biggest problem around here is the rare Einstein that takes a shot at a hive.

 

[Turkey Creek]

Those 2 deeps will be permanent brood/ honey stores for the bees. If they fill those I will start adding shallow supers for honey.