I'm brand new to bee keeping here in NW Georgia & I installed my first package Wed. I Gotta Nuc comming this weekend for Hive #2.
The Hive kits I built came with 1 deep (10 frame) and 1 medium. My plan is to run 1 deep and the rest mediums, I know a lot of people like to run all mediums but I'm gonna use what I have.
My question is this;
when my deep gets 7 or 8 frames built out, should I then put on queen excluder (being a newbee I'm gonna use the excluder), and a medium honey super?
or do I add the medium & wait till it is 7 or 8 frames & then add excluder and 2nd medium?
I quess what I'm confused about is this:
I was told not to expect much of a honey crop in the first year, if I add an excluder and honey super after the deep is 70/80% full, do I leave the Honey in the medium for the bees to use over winter?
How many mediums w/ the deep would typically overwinter on the hive in NW Ga?
Sorry if these questions don't make much sense..
You are working with all new equipment. You never use a queen excluder with new frames. The bees will never go up into that super. Only use an excluder with drawn frames. So put it away until next year or the year after that. 7 frames is fine then add another box. Remember we have small hive beetles so do not leave too much empty space in a hive for the beetles to hide in. You will not get honey the first year. They are burning it to make wax. I over winter in 2 deeps. I run shallows for honey supers.
David,
Congratulations on installing your first hive. After you got stung by the bee bug, I bet you thought the day your bees arrived would never get here. That is the way i was last year.
I am starting my second year so I am still learning also but I think you want 2 deeps or 3 mediums of brood, anything above that will be your honey supers. I bought queen excluders last year but I never used them for their intended purpose and never had the queen laying above the 2nd deep. I did use my queen excluder for about 3 days as a queen includer to keep the queen from leaving the hive when I received a swarm. I removed it after 3 days to allow the drones to leave the hive to relieve themselves.
One mistake I made my first winter was leaving a full box of honey on top of the deep and not forcing the bees down into one box. They had too much room to defend and I ended up with a serious infestation of wax moths, so much so that I lost one hive and nearly lost another.
Are you feeding your bees. Since you are probably starting on foundation, the bees need to draw out the foundation so that the queen has a place to start laying. Feeding them 1:1 sugar water should help with the process of getting the comb drawn out.
A word of caution and another mistake I made my first year, try not to go into hive every 3 or 4 days. Every week to 10 days would be better for a newbie but I was fascinated by the changes to the hive every time I looked in on them I could help myself but I think it really slowed them down.
Good luck with new hobby and I sure some others with more experience will offer additional advice. Do be afraid to make mistakes because that is how I learned.
Dean0
All good input. I would add - join your local bee club; they can tell you what the norm is for your local area - a deep and a medium or what for winter, and how much honey to leave on, etc. Welcome - and great luck to ya!
congrats. I managed to over winter my first hive and not kill them. I was thrilled. I use two deeps for my brood boxes and shallows for honey. Best of luck for you.
Thanks for the input! I am using all new equipment. I've been doing a lot of reading, and fortunately I have a couple local Beeks I can talk too.
My 9 & 11 yo daughters are in this with me, and so far it's been a rewarding experience.
Thanks, I'm sure I'm gonna have lots more questions.
DD
well your in the right place. everybody here is always helpful and willing to answer any questions you have.
I am about 80 miles north of you. I have wintered hives in a single deep, but a deep and a medium is a little insurance. I agree what was said about using the excluder with foundation. I don't use them to make honey. If you give the queen enough room to lay she won't move up in the honey supers. One deep might be enough for some queens, two deeps for others. Excluders used the wrong time of year will fill the trees with bees.