I am Brand new to Beekeeping.
I caught 2 hives at 2 neighbors homes.
i framed them in 5 frame nucs, then i left the nuc boxes close to their original hives for 4-5 days. They were made from the original combs of their hives rubberbanded to foundationless frames.
They appeared happy and working. I took them home.
I brought them home and installed in 10 frame brood boxes. 5 original comb along with 5 foundation frames.
Like any new beekeeper, I checked in on them too much.
Both have shown to be developing queen cells in the middle of the frames and not the bottoms where i assume swarm cells are generated.
My questions are- How do i make sure they stay here? When do i check if those cells have produced a Q? What frames most likely will hold a queen to make it easier to find her? How long should i i feed them in top feeders? Lots of blooming here in S Fla. so they should feed themselves soon?
I dont want to open the hives again for a while.
The outside acitivity is good with pollen going in and lots of foragers flying out.
Thanks!
Leave them alone for a minimum 2 weeks. Then look for eggs, larva, and capped brood. "pupa".
Never look for the queen unless you plan to catch her and move her. Look for eggs. Find eggs and you know she was there in the last 3 days. That is enough to know all is well. Feed them until they quit taking it or until the second 10 frame box has a couple drawn out frames. If pollen is going in, she "and they" are going to stay.
thankyou
You should be going into a flow? If so , let'em build their house. You've given them everything they need .
Am I allowed to post pictures / videos? I tried twice to post a video
Members are allowed, but there may be a minimum number of posts required before a new member can. Contact a moderator and send the pics to them and they will post them until you get enough posts.
https://beemaster.com/forum/index.php?topic=51631.0
Comments?
https://youtu.be/TpmxFFxbz3w
Not much activity. When you inspected did they all have brood? With that little activity they are weak at best. Perhaps doing a combine of 2 weak hives as long as there is a laying queen in one of them is an option. Being in the south I recommend putting out some bait boxes and catch some swarms to build up your apiary. It is prime swarm season now. Also it sounds like you did a cutout not a trap out. 2 different things. Any empty box you have can be used as a bait box. Catching swarm is easier and more fun with better success rate than cutouts. The reason is cutouts tend to abscond at much higher rate. A lot of work to have them fly off a few weeks down the road. If you need any help on bait traps just ask.
Yeah they were cutouts - the blue box is a bought 5 frame nuc in a 10 frame now. It?s 1 week old. Supposed to be a laying queen but little activity - the first box (yellow apimaye) is blowing up and I opened her today against iddess advice and found eggs brood pollen nectarr . The queen cells disappeared. . I removed some small cross comb and added a super. The last /green apimaye box , Im not opening per Idsees advice as the activity is low -
The cedar and slow blue nuc box had very heavy frames so I assumed nectar / honey filled. Should I feed them anyway ?
And.... did I put the nucs in ten frames too early ? The commercial beek said to as they are packed w bees?
Any hive that is queen less needs to be dealt with right away. The activity in video could be robbers harvesting what's left. You could give a frame of brood if you have one to spare. If you have some clean comb put in middle of brood of strongest hive. Mark it for easy retrieval; I use a penny. Retrieve it in 3 or 4 days and give to queen less hive and they will make a queen if there is enough bees left to do it. A combine might be best option. If there is not enough bees to forage feed them. At least you have warm nights working with you. They have to keep the brood warm.
I should make another video as my wife records the opening next week.
How long should an installed nuc begin to show good bees per minute?
Depends on several things. It takes 21 days for bee to emerge. 1 full frame of brood equals about 3 frames of bees once emerged. A worker bees life span is about 60 days so while brood is emerging many others are dieing of old age. The quality of queen is important the flow is important. No flow and they will grow slow or not at all or shrink in numbers. This time of year figure a few brood cycles to get numbers up. If there is a lot of capped brood than you have a good start. http://blogs.evergreen.edu/terroir-zack/files/2016/05/honeybee-lifecycle.jpg
nm
The new nuc - comments ? Background music was John Prine
https://youtu.be/GPaTuDxZnCE
Was there larva? If not you don't have a laying queen. The brood looks like emerging brood not fresh brood. Plenty of honey but few bees. Have the guy you bough nuc from watch video. Perhaps return it and have him restock it. Should have more bees and brood. You don't need all that capped honey you need brood larva and eggs and a lot of it.
Salty,
That is not a viable hive. Call the seller and have him replace it. There are not enough bees in that hive to cover a quarter of a frame. When you were sold the Nuc it should bee packed full of bees and need to bee put in a larger hive. That is a dead hive.
Jim
Thank you all - I laid in bed last night thinking about that video and I don?t remember a lot of bees in there .
The only reason I could think the bees left was the bottom boat d I bought was screened and we had some cool nights before I closed the bottom.
Brings up my other question - Is cold to my south Florida bees a higher temperature or do all bees , north and south, like the same temps?
I see activity pick up through the day so I assume 65-70 is cool to my bees but Wisconsin bees may thrive in it.
I use screen bottom boards year round. He might have made the nuc the same day he sold it. They need a little time to settle in and have fresh brood before being sold. You did nothing wrong. He needs to make it right. Is the seller local.
Quote from: ed/La. on April 04, 2019, 11:09:11 AM
I use screen bottom boards year round. He might have made the nuc the same day he sold it. They need a little time to settle in and have fresh brood before being sold. You did nothing wrong. He needs to make it right. Is the seller local.
Very local! 10 minutes away-
Next question what to do with these frames? I have another cutout showing life like they?ve successfully produced a q. Can they use any of this? I?m not ready for part 2 of beekeeping yet (extraction ) I?m still learning how to raise them.
Her response to the video-
Not sure why but it looks like they absconded. There were plenty of bees in the Nuc when you transferred correct?
Nice new wax, honey..
Jennifer 🐝 Holmes
Hani Honey Company
772-214-5165
Florida State Beekeepers Association
Slow Food Gold and Treasure Coast
i Told her I transferred them at night and cannot account for how many bees there were
This is on her she needs to make it right.I wonder if she comes to this forum? You here Jennifer? Were all the frames in nuc drawn out with comb? 1 frame of honey would have been plenty. You needed capped brood larva and eggs. The flow is on so plenty of food available. Be nice and tell her to fix it. If that doesn't work split the difference and 1/2 price installed in your box. Leave it there for a week to settle in.
The seller is telling me to install the frames into my other hives.
Does that mean the few bees that are left go too or shake them off first? Does that mean replace the honey stores in my other hives or just one?
This hive is most definitely being robbed as it?s in between my two cutouts and I see them going in .
How and where do I put these frames?
My other hives have a few undrawn new plastic wax coated frames
Why did she tell you to install the frames in another hive. She should want them back if she is replacing the hive. If she is replacing it and giving you the frames that is great. Just add them to a hive with some smoke.
My first Nuc had a drone laying queen. She had deformed wing virus and could never have made her mating flight. I bought the hive the same day that the seller picked up the nucs. He drove an hour to check the hive, brought in a new queen and installed her. It was too late and the hive crashed due to SHBs and he replaced it with a 2 deep hive that had recently swarmed. That hive made 150 pounds of honey the following year.
It sounds like she not replacing the nuc. If true ask for half price nuc. Bring her a box and let her get it started. Leave them there for 4 or 5 days to settle in. Call her the night before you pick them up so she can close entrance. Pick up 1st thing in morning and open entrance 1/2 hour after you get them home. Leave them alone for a few weeks before you pull frames for inspection. Frames with honey are being robbed put them with your stronger hive so they can protect them. A weak hive might not be able to. Empty comb give to any hive.
She emailed me today in good faith saying her questions were strictly for education and not to cheat me- I?m like the Bible - when Peter denies 3 times I consider unfaithfulness-
She refunded my pay pal account
I would rather have bees.
I put one drawn wax frame into a strong hive and gave the honey to my guitar stringer at Guitar World who will make mead -
If your area is anything like here you should be able to catch some swarms. Use all your empty boxes and scatter around at friends and family backyard. If you are handy make up some boxes.Put out as many as you can. You do need frames where you can put 1 or 2 inch starter strips.Never used plastic frames so do not know about them. With swarms and splits I went from 5 hives to 50 in one season. It does help to make your own boxes.
Place one drawn comb next to one side and empty frames with waxed wooden strips in the slot. Put them about 5 to 8 feet above ground. Put a Qtip with lemon grass oil on it, wipe around the entrance and put the Qtip in a sealed baggie in the bottom.
Good luck.
Jim Altmiller
Quote from: ed/La. on April 06, 2019, 09:51:54 AM
If your area is anything like here you should be able to catch some swarms. Use all your empty boxes and scatter around at friends and family backyard. If you are handy make up some boxes.Put out as many as you can. You do need frames where you can put 1 or 2 inch starter strips.Never used plastic frames so do not know about them. With swarms and splits I went from 5 hives to 50 in one season. It does help to make your own boxes.
She?s making me a new nuc.
I did a total hive inspection including the green cutout hive- she has really good comb drawing out / nectar and a lot of front door activity-
The middle frame had a Q cell so I assume they are still trying to produce a Q- that?s the one Iddee told me to wait on inspection.
Talk about dejection, that was my first real hive inspection and the frame with the Q cell fell apart at both ends- I kept my calm and rubberbanded them back. That ruined my day as I immediately crashed on myself as a ?loser? - that?s my bipolar.
After that , I did a simple top off inspection of the other 2 - in hopes I wouldn?t screw up again -
The second cutout hive is gamgbusterrs and has planet bees in there.
You guys may not know but I?m disabled with mental problems so I?m trying to focus on these bees to rehab me.
Thank you for your information and love
If you keep frame in same orientation as in the hive they will not break. If you turn 90 degrees they have much better chance of breaking. Especially if it's heavy. Consider the learning curve like a college class. You messed up a frame of comb but you learned a lot. It was worth it. Probably won't happen again. The school of hard knocks. Good way to learn. If we were neighbors you could practice on my hives. I am looking for someone that wants to learn to help out. I have people that can't do inspection because they are afraid. Have you joined your local bee club? Good way to meet like minded people and learn. Ours is $10 or $15 a year. Meets once a month. How many queen cells? Just 1? Was there brood or larva.? One of the first things you look for on inspection is larva. Often you can stop right there. Lot of bees larva I'm done on to the next one. No need to look at every frame. Good luck.
I joined the club- we have 5 hives to play with there on 2 sundays a month.