excited and confused....hive and bees home yesterday !

[stevenrees]

Hello all...

Well I have finally joined this wonderful world of beekeeping.
I did a course at my local group 4 years ago. However for various reasons (busy with young children and cost mostly !!! ) never got set up.
This year I met a fab chap who had given up beekeeping many years ago. However had one old national hive lots of old kit and a swarm.
He has let me have the lot to get me started and I collected late last night.
The bees are on 4 to 5 frames in the brood box and seem in excellent health.
Over the next 4 to 8 weeks I am just looking for guidance on whats best to do ?
Do I just leave them now to continue their work ?

Any guidance would be really appreciated...

Many Thanks

 

[pargyle]

Oh my .... Where do you begin to answer a question as wide as that ?

1. Join your local association if you haven't already,

2. Get a copy of the Haynes Manual of Beekeeping and read it through a few times and then go back to the section about getting your bees ready for winter.

3. What you need to do initially is:

a) Check that you have a queen that is laying well - if it's a swarm then within a very short time she will have wall to wall capped brood if she is any good and this is what you will need to go into winter - lots of bees.

b) Tell us a bit more about your hives (what sort, have you got drawn frames or are the frames just foundation, have you got a hole in the crown board - definitely not a good idea, do they have mesh floors - the more info you provide the better the response you will get).

c) If your donor gave up beekeeping a long time ago he may not be up to speed with some of the more forward thinking ideas on here so there are things that you will find are different. So .. if in doubt - ask.

d) You need to think about Varrioa ... if the hives are old they may not have mesh floors so you will need to do some checking for mites in other ways and be ready to treat if there is a problem.

e) Read everything you can on here - so much good information - the google search button will help you.

f) Don't believe everything you read on the internet but it's a good source of information - although a lot of conflicting advice - but that's beekeeping !

g) Pray for a good flow in the autumn otherwise you will have to feed them ...

h) Assess the equipment you have been given and see what is usable and what may be scrap ... old equipment will need cleaning/flaming to make sure it's free from disease.

i) Save up for the winter beekeeping suppliers sales - you WILL need some things for sure and they are usually the cheapest place for frames, hive parts and other stuff.

And that's just a start ... and it's not in any order ... they are all priorities. There will be lots of other things you may have to do and there will be other suggestions following on ...

Good luck .. there's lots of nice people on here who will help but the first thing you need to do is help yourself a bit and formulate a plan ...

 

[enrico]

Depends on what they are bringing in. If there is not much nectar around they may need feeding to build them up for the winter. Is it an open mesh floor? OMF .
It would be worth doing a varroa check.
If it is old kit then start cleaning it up. Get prepared for autumn feeding before the day arrives, cheap sugar, feeder, fondant etc.
we are not past the swarming season yet but five frames shouldn't be a problem...... But! Now is the time to give them a few checks to improve your handling skills so consider going into them every week for a month to get you used to checking them.
good luck
Let us know how it goes
E

 

[dexter's shed]

welcome to the great hobby of beekeeping,

a) Check that you have a queen that is laying well - if it's a swarm then within a very short time she will have wall to wall capped brood if she is any good.

unless it's a virgin queen, in which case it could take 3 to 4 weeks, hopefully he has had them for some time and she's already laying, does he live further than 3 miles away from you? as if he has had them hived for any length of time, they may well fly home (to his house) if not

 

[Arfermo]

Having been on a course and being a past member of a local group (BKA?) you must know quite a bit anyway, so re-join them sharpish (it's usually cheap enough and it is really essential anyway) and find a mentor there as that will probably result in some talented expert having as look at what you have and giving you hands-on (non-sexist) advice. Forget reading books for the moment - that's OK when the primary basics are sorted. Best book anyway is Ted Hooper MBE "Guide to Bees and Honey" - there is no better book!!! Register on Beebase is a must and they have a multiple of Advisory leaflets in pdf format to download; also consider subscribing to the BeeCraft magazine for a good read when you have a moment. The local mentor will advise about the international Varroa mite problem. But you must get a thymol type treatment (Apiguard best imho) to start a treatment during the last week of August (follow the instructions on the trays) so that the bees are in good fettle for the winter. To monitor the drop of mites an Open Mesh Floor is essential too. Then think about feeding them after the Apiguard or whatever during Sept/Oct - the bees will only take what they need so it can't really be overdone. Best feed is probably one of the ready-made feeds - my BKA buys in "Ambrosia" syrup and sells to the members at the club bulk discount. Benefit is it is formulated for bees and stores forever almost, homemade sugar syrup does not store more than days. You will need some sort of feeder - rapid/contact - and that will go over the open hole(s) in the crown-board- hence do not bung the holes up - ever in my view as ventilation even in winter is not as much a problem as is thought (I never ever have covered them!!)? Could write a lot more but think the basics are enough for now. PM me if you have any particular problems.

 

[mjt68]

... do not bung the holes up - ever in my view as ventilation even in winter is not as much a problem as is thought (I never ever have covered them!!)? Could write a lot more but think the basics are enough for now. PM me if you have any particular problems.

Now you've done it...

 

[Arfermo]

Now you've done it...

Probably but I haven't found anybody in my favourite BKA who ever does it either so I am not alone. Not certain about my other BKA but don't much care what they do as I am content to never lose colonies from moulds etc. Lost 'em rarely for other reasons, invariably my fault, but that's another story.

 

[mjt68]

If we're confessing less-than-mainstream opinions I think that monitoring Varroa using mite drop is a bad idea. High counts show a problem but low counts don't mean everything is OK. Phoretic counts or drone uncapping is better!

OP - look into some of these methods to get an idea of Varroa levels in the hive and be prepared to treat as necessary. Note that is bees aren't on all frames you may have to scale the dose but instructions will be on the packet.

 

[enrico]

steven, you could always rename your thread now, ..... Less excited and even more confused..... Hehe

 

[pargyle]

Well ... there's two complete opposite opinions for starters that you will have to consider.

Most on here now believe that ANY top ventilation with a mesh floor is akin to keeping your bees in a refrigerator and is a definite NO NO ... but Afermo won't consider that there is a better way. I (and many others) believe that the best way to keep bees is to provide them with a draught free and well insulated hive where the colony can maintain the temperature and humidity that they want without using excessive amounts of energy. The bit about losing bees to mould is, I am afraid, just scaremongering - I have no mould or other problems as a result of a hives that are sealed at the top and with insulation on top of the crown board.

In your present situation Hooper is not the best book for you .. yes, it has a place on your bookshelf but Haynes has a 'paint by numbers' guide to beekeeping through the year with pictures so you can actually see what to do .. much better than just words on the page. Afermo has clearly never seen a copy of Haynes.

I tend to take a less invasive path than the 'You have to treat for varroa or your bees will die' route. I've been treatment free for over three years now and my colonies are healthy and productive but it's very necessary to be aware of how your colonies are managing and in the early days this is not that easy. If they need treatment then yes they should be treated ... but first you need to be sure that the DO have a varroa problem rather than just assuming that they have one. Again, it's a bit 'old school' to just do thymol in Autumn - OA trickle at Christmas. There are a lot of people who now use Oxalic Acid Sublimation very successfully - it stresses the bees less, is over and done with in minutes and has a high kill rate. Unfortunately, some beekeepers are a bit Luddite when it comes to changing from what they have done for X number of years.

So ... as I said earlier .. you need a plan .. you will find that making your own mind up is one of the things you have to do in beekeeping as there will always be different ways of doing things and conflicting advice ...

 

[pargyle]

If we're confessing less-than-mainstream opinions I think that monitoring Varroa using mite drop is a bad idea. High counts show a problem but low counts don't mean everything is OK. Phoretic counts or drone uncapping is better!

OP - look into some of these methods to get an idea of Varroa levels in the hive and be prepared to treat as necessary. Note that is bees aren't on all frames you may have to scale the dose but instructions will be on the packet.

Totally agree .... if the OP's hive(s) are as old as he says then the likelihood is that they won't have open mesh floors so counting mites on the inspection board is not going to be an option without some serious hive moidifications.

 

[Arfermo]

Well ... there's two complete opposite opinions for starters that you will have to consider.

Most on here now believe that ANY top ventilation with a mesh floor is akin to keeping your bees in a refrigerator and is a definite NO NO ... but Afermo won't consider that there is a better way. I (and many others) believe that the best way to keep bees is to provide them with a draught free and well insulated hive where the colony can maintain the temperature and humidity that they want without using excessive amounts of energy. The bit about losing bees to mould is, I am afraid, just scaremongering - I have no mould or other problems as a result of a hives that are sealed at the top and with insulation on top of the crown board.

In your present situation Hooper is not the best book for you .. yes, it has a place on your bookshelf but Haynes has a 'paint by numbers' guide to beekeeping through the year with pictures so you can actually see what to do .. much better than just words on the page. Afermo has clearly never seen a copy of Haynes.

I tend to take a less invasive path than the 'You have to treat for varroa or your bees will die' route. I've been treatment free for over three years now and my colonies are healthy and productive but it's very necessary to be aware of how your colonies are managing and in the early days this is not that easy. If they need treatment then yes they should be treated ... but first you need to be sure that the DO have a varroa problem rather than just assuming that they have one. Again, it's a bit 'old school' to just do thymol in Autumn - OA trickle at Christmas. There are a lot of people who now use Oxalic Acid Sublimation very successfully - it stresses the bees less, is over and done with in minutes and has a high kill rate. Unfortunately, some beekeepers are a bit Luddite when it comes to changing from what they have done for X number of years.

So ... as I said earlier .. you need a plan .. you will find that making your own mind up is one of the things you have to do in beekeeping as there will always be different ways of doing things and conflicting advice ...

I've only ever trickled oxalic once but have sublimated oxalic for several years and suffered from those on this forum who scorned it's efficiency with scaremongering by suggesting there is a risk of a lingering death for beekeepers as well as actual mortal results when there is not a scrap of evidence to support that contention. Now it seems that quite a lot of people are at last coming round to the idea. Hooray.

 

[pargyle]

I've only ever trickled oxalic once but have sublimated oxalic for several years and suffered from those on this forum who scorned it's efficiency with scaremongering by suggesting there is a risk of a lingering death for beekeepers as well as actual mortal results when there is not a scrap of evidence to support that contention. Now it seems that quite a lot of people are at last coming round to the idea. Hooray.

To suggest that there is no evidence for the toxicity of Oxalic Acid is very irresponsible .. we are in the Beginners Section. OA sublimation is a very effective mite treatment but it can be exceedingly dangerous to health if OA is ingested as a result of inadequate personal protection. Permanent lung or nerve damage, kidney damage and blindness are all potentially possible as a result of exceeding exposure limits. There is plenty of evidence. Don't talk rubbish ...

http://avogadro.chem.iastate.edu/MSDS/oxalic_acid-2H2O.htm

 

[REDWOOD]

The most important thing at the moment is the bees not the beekeeper, If the swarm has a virgin queen not much you can do at the moment only feed after a few days and wait for 3-4 weeks, and after that period you should see eggs or brood, not out of the woods yet! as you need to wait until you see capped brood to determine if you have a mated queen and if the swarm brought any diseases with them.

 

[Swarm]

I doubt he wants to know the ins and outs of Oxalic acid.

For now, my advice would be to just watch them and enjoy them. While you are doing this, you have the time to consider any treatment and Winter preparation.

 

[dexter's shed]

I'd love to comment, but it may be deemed poor advice and get removed