New beekeeper.

[masimcox]

Hello everyone,

So my wife and I took the plunge and 2 weekends ago we became new Beekeepers. We have joined the local Beekeepers society and will hopefully get a mentor at the weekend when we go to our firs training session.

So this is what we have done so far:

Took delivery of a paynes poly six frame nuc of bees, attached a brood box with 6 frames and added a feeder with about a litre of 1:1 syrup.

After a wee we inspected the hive, but only the top brood box, and all 6 frames had drawn com with honey seen in the middle 2 frames. We were advised to remove the feeder, so we did.

Have we done the right thing? is there anything else we need to do? should we go into the bottom brood box on the next inspection?

All question seem really simple but......

Thanks in anticipation of the forum's advice

Mark

 

[Brigsy]

Hello, Welcome.

What have you got stacked from the floor up? Its a bit hard to understand. Might just be me though.

 

[Erichalfbee]

If you have all the frames drawn in the top box transfer them to a full size hive.
Put the original nuc frames in the middle flanked by the new drawn combs, putting the frames with the honey to the outside.
Tell what is on the original frames when you do

Oh...and welcome to the madhouse

 

[birdsandbees]

Just moved a similar colony in a stacked Paynes into a full sized Poly National myself.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

If you have all the frames drawn in the top box transfer them to a full size hive.
Put the original nuc frames in the middle flanked by the new drawn combs, putting the frames with the honey to the outside.
Tell what is on the original frames when you do

Oh...and welcome to the madhouse

A croeso.

 

[MerryBee]

we have joined the local Beekeepers society and will hopefully get a mentor at the weekend when we go to our firs training session.

Took delivery of a paynes poly six frame nuc of bees ....
....Have we done the right thing?
Mark

To state the most obvious, you should have gone to the training sessions BEFORE getting your bees!

However, that said, it is good that you have joined your BKA, will soon get a mentor, and have joined this forum for advice.

Beekeeping is a steep learning curve, and one of the things you will quickly learn is that some advice on this forum is very good, and some is not.

Good luck and enjoy your bees!

 

[thenovice]

doing great! agree to transfer to full hive. check every week for progression. By the looks of it, you will need a super soon.

 

[masimcox]

Thank you all,

I have had a paynes super with frames delivered today.

I was hoping to just stick with the Paynes for the time being or is this a bad idea?

Will there be honey available to harvest so soon? or should we let the colony increase first?

Queen cells, look for now? remove or leave? Haven't seen any yet but.......

So many questions.

Thanks again.

 

[wessexmario]

Reading Material

As well as internetting and joining your local BKA, I'd suggest you get yourself a book or two to study...
There are thousands of bee books out there, some better quality than others.
The usual suggestions for beginners are:

"The Haynes Bee Manual"
more up to date than most beekeeping tomes, well illustrated and covers most topics that you need to know for your first year or two beekeeping.

"At the Hive Entrance"
obtainable as a PDF file online - A useful primer in just how much information you can deduce by observation of what the bees are doing.
[not a substitute for regular inspections though!]
At the Hive Entrance (pdf)

"Guide to Bees and Honey" - Ted Hooper
More in depth, a good book to dip in and out of.

"There are Queen Cells in my Hive"
This is a very good reference for dealing with queen cells.
There are Queen Cells in my Hive (pdf)

Beebase
This website has useful manuals on the various diseases that affect bees, which tends to be the topic not covered well in most books.
Beebase Leaflets and Manuals

While mentioning beebase, do register your hives there - you'll then get notifications if there are outbreaks of disease found close to you.

.

 

[enrico]

Where in powys are you. Sounds like you could do with a bit of hands on experience!
E

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Thank you all,

I have had a paynes super with frames delivered today.

I was hoping to just stick with the Paynes for the time being or is this a bad idea?

Will there be honey available to harvest so soon? or should we let the colony increase first?

Queen cells, look for now? remove or leave? Haven't seen any yet but.......

So many questions.

Thanks again.

I have this horrible feeling that you are still sticking to a six frame brood box with another six frame box on top, and now you are talking about putting a six frame super on top? Correct me if I'm wrong.
If this is the case, you need to get the colony into a full sized ten/eleven frame brood box ASAP then when they have eight frames of brood in that, add a super.
Paynes poly nucs are not designed to be a permanent full time hive.

 

[Brigsy]

That's what I was getting at.

 

[beeno]

Hi masimcox,
To answer your question. You are on a 7 day inspection schedule for queen cells this time of the year. Have fun.

 

[masimcox]

Where in powys are you. Sounds like you could do with a bit of hands on experience!
E

Newtown

 

[masimcox]

I have this horrible feeling that you are still sticking to a six frame brood box with another six frame box on top, and now you are talking about putting a six frame super on top? Correct me if I'm wrong.
If this is the case, you need to get the colony into a full sized ten/eleven frame brood box ASAP then when they have eight frames of brood in that, add a super.
Paynes poly nucs are not designed to be a permanent full time hive.

You are correct, that is the setup I have at the moment. Why do I need the larger brood box when I have as many frames in one brood box above the other? If it's not a good idea to do that, why are these kits designed this way?

I am now confused as I was advised that this would be a good starter set up.

Thanks for all the advice, it seems I need it!

 

[Erichalfbee]

I'll go with JBM
You need to put them in a full size hive.
It's not in the realms of impossibility that you might one day have three supers on this colony and that would mean six nuc supers on top of two brood boxes if you stayed as you are.
Do you see what I mean ?

 

[masimcox]

I'll go with JBM
You need to put them in a full size hive.
It's not in the realms of impossibility that you might one day have three supers on this colony and that would mean six nuc supers on top of two brood boxes if you stayed as you are.
Do you see what I mean ?

Is that because the colony will get much larger and then the height of all these stacked upwards becomes unwieldy?

 

[Nige.Coll]

You are correct, that is the setup I have at the moment. Why do I need the larger brood box when I have as many frames in one brood box above the other? If it's not a good idea to do that, why are these kits designed this way?

I am now confused as I was advised that this would be a good starter set up.

Thanks for all the advice, it seems I need it!

Having nuc boxes as a double brood helps the bees build up and adds to versatility of the kit.
However as a production colony they are crap. Tried it with 16 frame boxes.
Get a poly hive and a couple of supers and frames. Ideally stick to one size frame. National lang 14x12 whatever. Mismatched kit is a pain.

Double brood nucs are mainly for overwintering small colonies. As a permanent home no they will be over the hedge before you catch up.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

You are correct, that is the setup I have at the moment. Why do I need the larger brood box when I have as many frames in one brood box above the other? If it's not a good idea to do that, why are these kits designed this way?

I am now confused as I was advised that this would be a good starter set up.

Thanks for all the advice, it seems I need it!

Nucs are designed to give a small developing colony a good start - the vertical stack setup is liked by some to keep a small colony in better order over winter and means in the spring they are in a better position to be put in a hive.I have had some hives with two full brood boxes and six supers. Can you imagine the height and instability of one of those in midsummer? not to speak of the fact that a lot of bees would be so far away from the queen pheremone as to trigger swarming.
If they were that good why isn't everyone using them?

I am now confused as I was advised that this would be a good starter set up.

Good starter setup for a new developing colony maybe - not a new beekeeper. The person who told you that either needs to be a bit more specific in his/her statement. Or is one to be disregarded in future.

Add>>> in a good flow my colonies will fill a full size super with honey in less than a week, a six frame one isn't going to make the grade.

I think you need to get yourself a full size hive ASAP. C Wynne Jones isn't too far away from you - or even MAisemore for their sale a week tomorrow.

 

[Cussword]

I think you need to get yourself a full size hive ASAP.

Also, you need a mentor, pretty rapidly. It's possible that you've not been given the best advice previously. You can always turn to the forum, but there's nothing like having someone there when you are starting.

.