Bees! Any other beekeepers?
Hi! I might be getting beehives in the spring and I'm really excited, because bees are my special intrest! I know a lot about bees (and ants) but I've never had my own hive, any tips for getting started? I should be inherriting some from a group I worked with this past summer, because they decided to disband due to members leaving and the ones that stayed are busy and older. But yeah, any other bee enthusiasts? Or just if you like bugs in general :) what's your favorite bug?
@LonleyCheese Hi, yeah, I'm a beekeeper. Or I was. Think my hives didn't survive the winter, so I guess my silly self will be trying to catch a swarm if I see it. If you already know much about bees, I doubt my small experience has any tips to offer. As for which bees? The wildcat ones are nice for my area. I think that's what they're called. Smaller, bred to suit KY.
I love most bugs, and don't really have a favorite. They're fascinating.
@WoodsWanderer aww i'm sorry to hear that your bees didn't make it through the winter, that's always sad ):
Catching a swarm sound like so much fun, I've seen a few videos of people doing that but i've never had the oppurtinuty to see one for myself! I hope I'll get to do that someday, and luckily africanized bees haven't spread to my area yet
Finally set up my tiny hive yesterday, built my hive stand out of some bricks we had lying around and put the hive near the deck. I pulled out all the frames and picked what I'm hoping are the best ones, and put five of them into the box (: I'm so excited!!! Just a week or so more until i get to go pick them up!!
Today is the day!!! A few days ago, another local beekeeper reached out to me and told me that their hive is preparing to swarm. This is because the bees are doing very well, and beginning to overcrowd their hive. So, half of the bees and the old queen will leave the hive with tummies full of honey and in a few days, a new queen will hatch for the original hive. The original hive now has room to grow, and the others will find a new place to settle down. However, this can be devastating to the beekeeper. So, when this is going to happen, a beekeeper can split their hive manually. This local beekeeper has two hives already, and doesn't have the resources for a third. So, she reached out to me and offered for me to take some of them. Today I'm going to go down to her home and we're going to split the hive, and I couldn't be more thrilled! She has Carnolian bees and they sound like an absolute delight to work with. I am very excited, and I will keep you updated! Also, that's in addition to the Italians coming on the eleventh, so I'll have two hives! I'll have to go to my local bee store and get more hive boxes I think.
@LonleyCheese that sounds fantastic for you! I do hope you can take a few bee pictures for us please. Buzz buzz buzzzzzzx
Okay! So, yesterday we got the bees! They're a little more agressive than the Italians I have worked with before, and there were several sting attempts. Only one was successful. The queen took a long time to find, and they have rather wild bridge comb. It's pretty interesting. I will definently have to wear my full suits when working with these girls. The queen's name is Marika, and on Thursday I'm going to check in on her and make sure she's laying alright, and I'm going to mark her so it's easier to keep track of her. Also, I'll ask my mum if she got pictures later (:
@LonleyCheese How do you mark a bee? tippex? lol?
Listening - One Step At A Time!
@MistyMagic so, you only mark the queen. first, you find her. then you put her in a little tube with plastic mesh and a little plunger. you gently put her thorax against the mesh but not enough to hurt her, just immobilize her. Then you put a little dot of paint (most beekeepers use POSCA paint markers or something similar) on her thorax. There's a color system to tell how old she is, in this order: white yellow red green blue and then repeat, years ending in 1-5 and then 6-0, you mark her based on what year she was introduced to the hive or maybe born? that's usually the same year though. you can use the mneumonic (no idea how to spell that) "wow, you raise great bees"
this is the marking tube
I did my first hive check yesterday!! I saw eggs so I know that miss Marika is in there, and the girls were building bridge comb and feeding on honey or depositing nectar with their heads shoved into the comb, so cute. There are 20 frames of bees, and miss Marika was on the 19th frame, haha. Took a while to find her, but as soon as I pulled up that 19th frame I saw her immediately, so lovely. There were a lot of drones suprisingly, one or two on every frame, and several capped drone brood cells. Actually, I got to see a few of them hatching!! It was a really beutiful moment. It was a little stressful, I was scared to squish the queen putting the frames back. The sugar shake/mite check was even more stressful. I didn't have anyone helping me and I tried to shake the bees into the container and it did not work very well. I also didn't see any mites I think, which means I did it wrong because there should be like three maybe, per 100 or so bees on a good day. I'll have to have my neighbor help me next time. My mom got pictures, I just need to figure out how to get them on here.
@LonleyCheese I love the pics, but looks pretty scary, I hope they soon learn to bee nice to you!
When will you be able to get some honey?
Listening - One Step At A Time!
i'll have to get some pictures of Miss Marika and also funny sugar-covered bees next time I do a shake, because they're hilarious. but yeah, that's that!
Ah, the joys of beekeeping. I got the second hive a week ago, and I checked on them yesterday. Miss rennala (the queen bee) loves hiding. I have not seen her, and the only evdence of a queen is the eggs- there's capped brood and eggs but surprisingly no larvae? Pain in the butt, lil girl's got me worried. But, it'll work out :)
