Hello everybody, can anyone answer my questions plz.
1) if one buys an established Langstroth hive, when should one open the hive for 1st inspection.
2) I want a split out of that hive before winter but main pollen and nectar season is gone here, now its Summer, if i feed them, can they raise enough young before winter to bear a split and survive the winter.
3) Here in our locality we have an inferior type of apricot (sweet inside filled with nectar/ sour outside), no one eats these and are wasted, i want to feed them to my bees as I have seen a lot of them on squished ones. Should I make juice with or without sour part of fruit(it's very difficult to seperate).
4) Is pollen necessary for brood rearing or they can do it on sugar syrup alone.
Thanks in advance for helping this newbee.
Quote from: muradulislam1) if one buys an established Langstroth hive, when should one open the hive for 1st inspection?
Inspect before you pay for it! After that, I recommend that new beekeepers inspect every 7-to-10 days so they can learn.
Quote2) I want a split out of that hive before winter but main pollen and nectar season is gone here, now its Summer, if i feed them, can they raise enough young before winter to bear a split and survive the winter.
Not knowing your climate and area, I'm not able to answer. In general, for new beekeepers, I'd recommend just trying to keep on colony strong rather than trying to make a split.
Quote3) Here in our locality we have an inferior type of apricot, no one eats... i want to feed them to my bees
You could give it a try. I wouldn't use it as winter feed (might cause dysentery), but as long as the weather is warm enough for them to fly, it should be okay.
Quote4) Is pollen necessary for brood rearing or they can do it on sugar syrup alone.
Pollen is their protein, sugar is their carbohydrates. Pollen is needed for brood. Again, I don't know your climate, but in most places, if it's summer and things are growing, there are sources of pollen.
thanx indypartridge, i live in a hilly lush green area having a lot of plants and alpine woods around, for miles and miles. temperature in summer is max at 35,36 and in winter lowest is -2,-3.
if one buys an established Langstroth hive, when should one open the hive for 1st inspection?
Over here there a great similarity in hive dimensions but no established 'standard' (sorry about the quotes.) The better the fit, the easier it will be for you and your ladies. Try to find out the manufacturer of the box and the keep using them. If it is a home built hive, consider purchasing the equipment and transfer the frames and bees (make sure you do not loose the queen.
After frame transfer, I would feed with sugar water and a pollen pack for a week with a reduced entrance so the ladies learn their new home as the ladies will return to their original location (think GPS) even if the hive has been moved.
Good luck and post how things worked out.
If you have the opportunity to visit the yard you're buying them from by all means see if you can inspect them. Next inspection should be within the next two days to ensure your frames didn't spread apart en route to their new home. If so, push them back together. Always want to observe proper bee space.
As for splitting them, that's a doozy. I likely would not split them this year unless they are going like gangbusters (and you have established the brood nest & have food stores, we're talking three boxes minimum).
Then you will need ample time for the split to build up before winter as well. There lies the rub.
If you truly wanted two hives going into winter, you may have to split the hive into two nucs and may or may not need to purchase a queen for the second hive.
All this depends on many factors such as build up, feed, your winter...
Pollen is often available to bees, nectar some years better than others.
...JP
Just got those hives day before yesterday, two of them. they are bursting with bees. spent the whole yesterday with them. Took one frame out from each one, just to get my boldness back. As i don't have a smoker, i had to use my cigarette smoke on them :'( dont have any protective clothing at all so did it in normal clothing. and the most interesting of all i got both hives in just $30 from an institution of government as they are promoting beekeeping in our area.i have some questions.
1) bees do an outing in the evening, mean aeration is bad in the hive and hive is structured so i can not improve it. should i split them now as i don't want to make a new hive for them (limited resources).
2) as i don't have an extractor, should i use top bar hive, when i split.
3) please someone provide me the width of base of top bar hive if i use 19inch top bars on them.
QuoteAs i don't have a smoker, i had to use my cigarette smoke on them Cry dont have any protective clothing at all so did it in normal clothing.
You can try vinegar and water in a spray bottle. I was using it on some rather gentle bees before I got a smoker. Also the only thing I suggest you HAVE to get is a veil. Gloves are nice, you can kludge some with some garden gloves and a pair of socks with the finger holes cut out.
Quote1) bees do an outing in the evening, mean aeration is bad in the hive and hive is structured so i can not improve it. should i split them now as i don't want to make a new hive for them (limited resources).
I'm having a little trouble translating. Does "do an outing" means they are flying, or standing on the outside of the hive? Are they hanging in large clumps, like an old man's beard (bearding)? What kind of hives are these?
Quote2) as i don't have an extractor, should i use top bar hive, when i split.
An extractor makes the harvesting of honey easier. It's not vital to the kind of hive you are using. You could cut out the combs and "crush and strain" to harvest. It's easier for the bees to use the built honeycombs again, they have to build new ones with this method.
Quote3) please someone provide me the width of base of top bar hive if i use 19inch top bars on them.
The only advantage I see to the sloped sides of a Kenyan style TBH is the ability to lift the comb without banging it on the sides of the hive. It just makes building things more difficult. People swear by the Kenyan, and the slope depends on the materials you have. The Tanzanian TBH is built like a large box, with vertical sides. It requires a separation of the comb from the sides of the hive with a sharp tool. The bees will attach comb no matter what slope you use.
From outing i mean beard of them outside the hives and the hives i got are langstroth hives and are deep super style.
Quote from: muradulislam on June 16, 2011, 06:38:35 AM
From outing i mean beard of them outside the hives and the hives i got are langstroth hives and are deep super style.
Bearding is normal in hot weather. You can increase ventilation by using a small stick to prop the top cover open a little bit.
I tried the stick approach when I first started and it kept falling and moving on me. I ther used two screws at the front of the inner cover set at about 1/4 inch. That works great for me and my girls. I also use a screened bottom board for ventilation as it can get in the high 90s for several weeks here in Virginia. I then insert a solid piece of heavy plastic over the screen in the winter to help keep things worn.
Quote from: indypartridge on June 16, 2011, 07:59:38 AM
Quote from: muradulislam on June 16, 2011, 06:38:35 AM
From outing i mean beard of them outside the hives and the hives i got are langstroth hives and are deep super style.
Bearding is normal in hot weather. You can increase ventilation by using a small stick to prop the top cover open a little bit.
It means bearding is not a sign that they will swarm???
bearding is what they do when it's hot. just like we go out on the roof :-D
like the others, i am not familiar with your micro climate. you have two choices with your hives. you can expand the hives by adding to them. this way you can build two very strong colonies (hopefully) before winter.
your other choice is to split. this will depend on what is going on inside your hive. are there enough bees? is there enough brood? are there enough stores, or can you feed? can you get your queens mated and laying in time or can you buy queens, etc.
will a split have time to build up before winter? will your original hive have time to rebuild after the split?
since you are getting bees locally maybe the people with the bees can help answer some of your questions. they would have the best local info.
The bees could benefit from more ventilation if it's very hot out. Too much ventilation/aeration would be as bad as too little. The bees usually take care of that, but then they will be working to keep the temperature in the nest rather than other work.
Because the bees keep the mass of bees hanging in the combs warm by pulling each other closer and sharing the body warmth, the inside temperature is relative. Night lows and winter the bees cling together, Day temps and summer they spread out and cool the nest by leaving drops of water on the combs. Again, too much ventilation would be as bad as none.
If they're packed to tightly in the hive, they'll stand wherever they can. You don't want too much room on a small/weak colony. When my bees started looking like this, I put another super on. They were also standing outside, but not yet bearding. This is their first year from a Nucleus hive.
(http://www.captainchicken.com/pictures/thatnuc.jpg)
A lot more bee questions.....
1) which type of honeybees have their last abdomen completely black? there are some of them in one of my hive.
2) yesterday a lot of drone activity, mean they flew off and returned for about an hour. why? this activity was on one hive, the other had no drones when i inspected it.
3) both hives had very little capped and open brood and virtually no stores at all. started feeding, but bees bring a lot of pollen, why they not bring nectar.
4) moonsoon season started, now they'll have plenty of forage, should i stop feeding or not.
5)one bee was doing a wierd type of dance at entrance, shivering and turning in circles with wing flappings, why?
6) both hives had bases of queen cells (swarm cells), are they making them or these are remnants from past?
7) Do honeybees use pollen for brood rearing only or for themselves too?
thanx for your feedback
I used to work with a man named Tariq Majeed. He was from Pakistan. I cant tell you much about the social structure there, he was the first Muslim I ever knew well.
You sound like you need to do a lot of reading. I see you're getting your messages through to the forum, so you must have some Internet access somewhere. If you can borrow books from the Library, you should go there. If you can, you should do a lot of reading on the subject. Having somebody to discuss things with also helps a good amount. You say you got the hives from a government program? There might be a government sponsored group you could ask. If not, maybe you could start one.
I'm in the uncomfortable position of having had bees when young, in my teen years, and not having anything to do with them for most of my adult life. Some things I have known for years, some things I have never heard of before (I'm clueless...). Here are my answers to your questions.
Quote1) which type of honeybees have their last abdomen completely black? there are some of them in one of my hive.
Honeybees have more than one father. The queen will breed once in her life with 10 to 25 different drones, and release the sperm one at a time.
Quote2) yesterday a lot of drone activity, mean they flew off and returned for about an hour. why? this activity was on one hive, the other had no drones when i inspected it.
Drones have one purpose. To mate with the queen. When there's nothing else to do they fly from one hive to the next.
Quote3) both hives had very little capped and open brood and virtually no stores at all. started feeding, but bees bring a lot of pollen, why they not bring nectar
The bees have a special stomach to just carry honey with. When you say, "They're not bringing in nectar" it's not like they carry a jar to put it in. They expel the nectar from their Honey Stomachs to other bees. Eventually they'll put the excess in cells to store for hard times.
Quote4) moonsoon season started, now they'll have plenty of forage, should i stop feeding or not.
If they're bringing in nectar there's not much of a reason to keep feeding them. They will just store the sugar as a kind of "imitation" honey. If there's too much of that, there won't be any room for the queen to lay eggs.
Quote5)one bee was doing a wierd type of dance at entrance, shivering and turning in circles with wing flappings, why?
That's bee communication. She's telling the other bees where to find food.
Quote6) both hives had bases of queen cells (swarm cells), are they making them or these are remnants from past?
That one I couldn't answer with any confidence. I don't suppose you would have access to a camera and could post the photos here?
Quote7) Do honeybees use pollen for brood rearing only or for themselves too?
When they are young they will continue to eat the pollen for the protein. As they grow older they have less need for it until they live entirely on nectar.
Quote from: muradulislam on June 20, 2011, 03:13:50 AM
A lot more bee questions.....
1) which type of honeybees have their last abdomen completely black? there are some of them in one of my hive.
2) yesterday a lot of drone activity, mean they flew off and returned for about an hour. why? this activity was on one hive, the other had no drones when i inspected it.
3) both hives had very little capped and open brood and virtually no stores at all. started feeding, but bees bring a lot of pollen, why they not bring nectar.
4) moonsoon season started, now they'll have plenty of forage, should i stop feeding or not.
5)one bee was doing a wierd type of dance at entrance, shivering and turning in circles with wing flappings, why?
6) both hives had bases of queen cells (swarm cells), are they making them or these are remnants from past?
7) Do honeybees use pollen for brood rearing only or for themselves too?
thanx for your feedback
1) Those are mutts
2) Could be a mating response, possibly that hive has been requeened.
3) They bring in what they need to suit their needs.
4) In a good flow they should stop taking feed
5) Waggle dance-bee's way of giving directions
6) Could be queen cups or queen cells-if they are empty they are not using them and may tear them down
7) pollen/nectar mix for young bees, honey for adult bees.
...JP
I agree with getting books on beekeeping, I have more then I can carry at one time. There is a lot of similarity between the books but also a lot of different things. I find I can get a fairly good idea of what I want but you must make your own choices and not 100% of what you read.
Try this site for some general info: http://www.beeworks.com/index.html (http://www.beeworks.com/index.html)
Watch where the author is from because that is were there experience and their knowledge.
Something I was told when I first was introduced to beekeeping (and at the time I thought my Uncle had gone off the deep end): Listen to your bees and watch them, they will tell you if you need to correct something you just did.
One of the DVDs I saw explained the different dances the bees do, the more they dance the better things are. If your bees stop and look at you then you need to speed things up as you probably have had the hive open for to long.
Capnchkn, please tell me that is not the only box on that hive.
...JP
No Sir JP! It looks like this now!
(http://www.captainchicken.com/pictures/mailahh.jpg) (http://www.captainchicken.com/pictures/AHHHHH.jpg)
Yep! I have a super on it now, and the old rotten one on top is for holding a feeder. I use it to water the bees right now.
(http://www.captainchicken.com/pictures/hivenow.jpg) (http://www.captainchicken.com/pictures/DSCF3159.JPG)
Thanx all of you for your responses, problem is i am still a student (of MS) and my scholarship ended 4 months earlier and taking care of my own expenses is costly so can't buy bee books, that's why i'll keep pestering you with more of silly questions.
Quote from: mikecva on June 20, 2011, 04:45:02 PM
Something I was told when I first was introduced to beekeeping (and at the time I thought my Uncle had gone off the deep end): Listen to your bees and watch them, they will tell you if you need to correct something you just did.
I spend a lot of time watching my bees, whenever i have some spare that's why i observe such things and ask senior beeks about them.
One more thing, one of my hives is very active meaning a lot of food dance on the landing pad (as observed yesterday) and a lot of coming and going but the other one is dull, very little incoming and outgoing bees compared to first hive. both hives have approx. same population. why??
As for pics how to contact a moderator to post some.
thanx again
There are a lot of good free bee books you can download from Google. Google digitized a lot of out of copyright books from universities around the country.
Go to Google : More : Books and then type in a bee keyword like "bee keeping". That will pop up a bunch of books (free and not free), finally select "Free Google Books" on the left column to just see the free ones you can download. They are in PDF format.
Copyright laws in the US extend for 75+ years, so most of the free books are about 100 years old. However there are some real good books written by the pioneers in the bee business.
Here's a few titles:
Dadant System of Beekeeping
The ABC and XYZ of bee keeping
Fifty years among the bees by CC Miller
You may find more contemporary books in your local library you can check out.
Another good place to learn is from the website Michael Bush has put together.
thanx blue bee, got 5 books from there. will read them as soon as i have time.
thanx again