Alright, I’m jumping straight into the deep end!

I’ve recently purchased a starter kit, now I need to learn everything there is about beekeeping. What’s the best recommendation as far as how to learn to do this. YouTube has always been a huge help for learning things I don’t know. But, I’m wondering what’s everyone’s favored avenue for bee keeping information/how to’s/ tips and tricks. Looking forward to the spring to get this started.

I am in the desert southwest and haven't kept bees for a while. Did a trap out a few weeks ago for a friend,and put bees in a deep, have been feeding them 2:1 sugar water.so they could build comb. Didn't think I had the queen so ordered one, which arrived today. Getting the hive ready, Was doing a mite check today with powdered sugar and whom should I see amongst the snowy drifts but Queen #1? Yikes! I washed her off best I could (it's still warm here) . What to do now? I can keep Queen #2 in reserve for a few days. Will the snow Queen make it?

I have 5 cases of honey to liquify before a market in 2 weeks. So I thought I would see if I could liquify some and how long it would take.

Super easy with everything I had her playing around.

A medium super

Two deep boxes

2 metal queen excluders

A dehydrator with a thermostat

Somesort of lid ( this is just a sheet of drywall I had in the basement)

All I did was set the thermostat to 30°C, place at the bottom of the stack. Exclude Ron top with Honey jars, then another excluder, and another box.

So far 3 days in and halfway liquid again!

My son has bees and I support him in his quest to be a beekeeper. Our hive is not docile and every time we inspect we panic mid way once we are getting slammed. We always inspect at dusk or dawn and smoke em. We need to grow a pair and get through the full inspection before we wrap the hive for winter

Does anyone have a checklist for the priorities we should we looking for when we open the hive up?

My son has bees at his school and they are much calmer so he knows what to do in theory moreso than I do but he’s 13 so I try to have him hang back when they get sassy.

I’d like to do one more varroa check too so we need to gather a handful.

Last question what do you recommend for food source for them when it’s too cold for sugar water?

I just winterized my 2 hives and forgot to apply an oxalic treatment that I usually do around this time. Is it ok to do while winterized (eg candy board, burlap sack on top with some aeration? I assume I’d need to cover that up right? Thanks in advance

Hello Forum,

I am experiencing a bit of issue with my bottled honey, which were harvested, bottled and processed by me. I found out that it was getting crystalised at the base, and i put it in a zip lock bag with warm water 70-80 degrees to allow it reliquefy and cool, I kept the batch of honey which i uncrystallized weeks after only to find out that it starts to show sign of crystallization again.

My question goes thus: Is this normal, what do you think i can do about this?

I have been stung upwards of 30 times doing hive inspections today 😭 fully suited/gloved!! I’ve only been stung a handful of times in the last year. Weather is definitely a factor as the temps are dropping and it’s a bit cloudy today, but the bees were on another level with me specifically. We have determined that they must have a fucking vendetta for oxi clean.

Can anyone suggest an alternative to get the smell out/for future washes? Maybe just a baking soda or vinegar wash?

Comment as you will

Hi,
Can anyone tell me what’s going on with this frame with sunken dark cells? There are other frames in the brood box that have normal brood cells.

Beekeeper, Southern Sweden.

Hey beekeepers!

For next season, I have considered building my own honey supers. I've been around various apiarys, and a commonly recurring trend is that beekeepers tend to have very primitive honey supers. So I'm considering doing something similar for next season, as I have (up until now) used the same poly-boxes for honey supers and brood boxes.

I assume they dont really need to be insulated, so theoretically they would be incredibly cheap to build.

What are your thoughts on this?

Had an unusually warm day the other day (Zone 6A) and took advantage to inspect and feed.

Found that the bees had filled up nearly all of the deep frames and the medium frames and started storing food in the brood box.

Only saw about two frames of capped brood and they were scant. Wondering if this is to be expected or if there’s something else going on?

Other than that everything looks good. Population looks strong, treated for mites, food stores are great.

Greetings, having had a full day at the apiary today, and being near the time where i can finally kill them all in a brood-less hive

I took my time to see how varroa behave when adhering on a live bee.

-They can walk way faster than i expected finding their way into the crevice between the abdomen of the bee rendering them virtually invisible

-It's extremely hard to physically dislodge a mite from the bee body just by sliding it off with your fingers, you need to pinch it off from below with your nails( I only imagine how hard is for our belove bees to scrape them off from their body with the limited tools they have)

-They don't die immediatlely,( i tossed 3 dislodged mites on a empty jar and theyre still alive and walking, to kill them off you must pinch hard with 2 fingers,

Early morning, +13 celsius, sky high humidity, this hive was given 2.1 syrup yesterday with garlic and cinnamon

EDIT: the expo in KENTUCKY!!!

Fellow beeks! I'm a northern California (Marin County) beekeeper with ~16 hives. Its my side-gig, but the gig is mostly honey sales and hive hosting. Have an LLC, but it does not bring in much $$$ selling at the farmers market and retail.

Trying to decide if the NORTH AMERICA Honeybee Expo is for me. I've watched Kamon and Binnie, but flying out just to see big names is not worth it in my mind. What WOULD be worth it by coming to the expo? I have about 10y beekeeping experience more or less. I can't expand because I have a full time job and limited house space.

I’m interested in improving hive management, making extraction and bottling less of a sticky hostage situation, and learning how to grow without accidentally giving myself a second full-time job.

For those who’ve attended:

• Did you learn things that actually changed how you keep bees or run your business?
• How much of the value was the talks versus vendors and conversations with other beekeepers?
• Is it worthwhile for a small operation, or will I spend three days admiring machinery designed for someone with 2,000 hives and a forklift?
• Would you fly across the country to go again?
• Anything you wish you’d known before your first visit?

I’d love to come home with useful knowledge and a few good connections. I’m concerned I’ll come home with a $3,000 stainless steel object and an explanation that begins, “Okay, hear me out.”

Please help me distinguish professional development from a very elaborate bee-themed shopping trip.

Thanks for helping me decide!

I’m a new beekeeper in North NJ. All my other brood frames were completely empty, but this one still has some capped brood. Should I be concerned? Thanks for the feedback!

Does anyone use rough raw lumber to make their bee boxes?

My wife used oxalic acid to vapor treatment her 17 hives. Despite my concerns she comes into the house in her full bee suit, mask and gloves afterwards. She undresses partially in the hallway, still has the suit tied around her waist and comes into the kitchen to wash her hands. In addition she takes a water cup out with her and leaves it in the area when she vaps. I am concerned she is contaminating herself and the home and not treating the chemical with the respect and caution needed, she thinks Im over reacting, who's right?

I have a bunch of bee equipment that is in fairly good condition but as I’ve never worked with it so I have no idea how to price it and sell it to someone who could benefit from it. (Don’t even know the name of each part)

I am based in Karelia in Finland.

Could anyone help me out?

Can share/post photos if needed. :)

I have a hive in Southern California, we had a low-no pollen summer so I’ve been supplementing with pollen patties and syrup a lot. Even with the hive on ant-trap stilts and not touching anything except those stilts, ants have managed to find a way in. Are they living in the wooden boards?? I can’t find an outlet for their trail, it just looks like endless looping around and in the hive. Really stumped. Anyone encountered this before?
I’ve taken a break from supplementing until I can get a handle on the little buggers, which I’m pretty confident are argentine or thief ants, not carpenter ants.

So I have had something new happen in my beekeeping adventure. 2 days ago I went to give all my hives Hive Alive fondant patties. Ive done this every fall for a couple of years now, never had issues. Bees love it. So this year I opened each hive, put in a patty and closed hive.

Well the next day every hive has tried to rob every other hive. Its a free for all out there and I have never seen anything like it. I have witnessed a hive or 2 in get robbed before but not 10.
I even brought out the water hose to simulate a rain shower and that barely slowed any of them down.

Has anyone ever had this happen? I have no outside feeders, everything is internal. Honey stores should be in a good place for all hives and ive never had Hive Alive set any hives off before.

Western North Carolina.

Full Hive + Hot & Humid Night = Big Beautiful Beard

Novice - I’ve been beekeeping 2 years. 

I am in Melbourne Australia. 

Hello, caught this swarm 48 hours ago. Installed plastic ziplock bag top feeder of 1:1 syrup. Not much action first day, as was quite cool (14C). Good action out front today on first warmish day (22C). Figure 8’s, entering and leaving. quick check shows syrup being consumed.

BUT - quite a cluster has spread from back corner across the inside roof cavity.

Questions:

Is that a problem?

Better to leave them so they take to the hive and deal with misplaced comb later?

Or do something now and put an excluder or something across the top (I don’t have a lid handy)?

I had planned to leave them until Monday - 7 days (I’m going away for 7 days after that). Good idea or intervene before?

Thanks :)

I've always been told it's bad to boil water+sugar while making syrup (but it's ok to boil the water and then remove it from the heat before combining with the sugar). This is how I've been making syrup for a long while, even though it's hard to get 2-1 to dissolve.

1. My bee partner just mixed up a batch of 2-1 for our hives and it was so nicely dissolved. I asked her how she achieved that and she said she boiled it for a little bit. I said WHAAAAAT? Should I toss the syrup? I feel so uncomfortable using it.

2. Why is it ok to bring sugar to 230 degrees or whatever it is, for fondant? I can't remember what it is exactly but it's definitely above the boiling point.

Thanks!!!

I only have 2 hives and plan on taking my top boxes off next week so 20 built out, mostly empty medium frames to store. I am moving next year so not investing in a freezer.

I have read I can wrap with Para-moth and store in garbage bags in a container or use Certan spray to prevent wax moths.

Any suggestions or feedback appreciated

Hello all! Seeking help purchasing straws and the appropriate impulse sealer. BPA free food safe etc. jumbo vs regular size.

Please show me your honey stick setup!

I’m in Marin county, California.