I'm posting this to help others and take constructive comments from other beekeepers.
I know I made plenty of mistakes so if you feel that you need to reiterate that point by all means!
I'm actually at the 18mo. mark however I've learned a ton, unfortunately partially at the expense of my bee's.
Last year I read, watched, asked, etc.. etc.. I thought I was in pretty good shape.
I split hives, I re queened hives and I even wintered all 5 of my hives.. ( I thought I was golden)
Fast forward to spring 2019.
Here are the mistakes that come immediately to mind and lessons I've learned.
- Mistake #1 I was going to try and take a more hands off approach since I felt like last year I was in my hives waayyy to much..
- Lesson Learned? - Be very proactive with your hives year around.. Plan ahead and use the winter time to plan and prepare.
- Lesson Learned? - Check on your bee's often. Even in the winter.Consideration for the weather is a given.
- Mistake #2 - I had also planned on building boxes but then decided to buy equipment as needed.
- Lesson Learned - Have extra equipment on hand is a must.
- Lesson Learned - Beekeeping can be expensive, buying equipment is fine but you need to budget accordingly.
- Mistake #3 - After I was confident they wintered good I left them alone until the end of April. When I thought the flow was about to start I peeked in all my hives and seen they were full of bee's so I added a super to each hive on May 8th.
- Lesson Learned - What I didn't do was a full inspection and notice that my bee's wintered so well that every hive was exploding with bee's and was preparing to swarm. Which I'm pretty sure they all did. This also lead to a very poor honey harvest.
- Lesson Learned - Inspect early in the season when weather starts to improve, be mindful of the weather and take advantage of warm spells.
- Mistake #4 - After adding the honey super I just left my bees alone for a month, did a spot check on them about 3 weeks later. 2 hives were filling it up but the other 3 didn't touch it.
Waited about another month and when I came back to check the out of the 3 that didn't touch it 2 had finally started drawing it out and one hive completely absconded due to wax moths.
- Lesson Learned - Inspect, Inspect, Inspect - Find out why they we not filling the supers and I don't think I would have lost a hive because I would have noticed it was too weak to defend that much space and having that super on most likely created to much space.
- Mistake #5 - Last year I had plenty of hive beetles and I built the each hive a freenman style bottom board with the oil tray. Between that and the swiffer sheets and beetle traps I managed to keep them contained.
After the weather turned cold I emptied the trays and turned them over so that it would block the draft. I didn't pull the trays out when the weather warmed up and just figured this would just be equivilent to a solid bottom board.
I thought this was a good idea until I realized I had a beetle problem again and when I pulled the trays out to turn them over to fill them they were covered in SMB. It actually provided a safe space for the SMB that the bees couldn't get to.
- Lesson Learned - Remove trays in early spring or put normal bottom boards on the hives.
Bottom line...I was really bad steward of my bees this year and as a result they all of them swarmed and I lost 1 hive. However because of my trials and tribulations I feel as I much better prepared to go in to winter and take next spring head on.
Thanks,
Ken
I'm at the 18 month mark as well, and these are all really good tips. I think the main lesson that you learned is that as a beginner (and by "beginner" I mean someone who has been keeping bees for only a few years or less) you really need to keep tabs on what is going on in your hives. When you are new, you don't know the point at which issues become major problems until it's too late, unless you are checking on your bees regularly to see problems progressing. Also as a beginner, you don't have loads of hives and resources (drawn comb, brood, extra bees, queens, equipment, etc.) to support a hive with a problem. Sorry that the year hasn't quite gone as planned for you, but as long as you are learning from your experiences and the experiences of others, no experience is a truly bad one.
Your reply is spot on! That sums it up exactly! Unfortunately most of my issues could have been prevented!
That's just terrible. ME, I've neber mad a mistaake. :shocked:
Rock, you be just North of me. I am on Norfork Lake, just across the state line in HillBilly country. If you need some queens in 2020, let me know and I will give for free. I do not mail so you would have to drive. I am bias of course, but I have the best genetics for honeybees in Arkansas, probably in the entire Southern USA. My bees pass the no smoke, gentle bare hand waive test and are good honey producers. I also instruct artificial insemination AI, techniques, again at zero cost. Most charge $800-$1200 a day for this. A little bit early for you, I know, just letting you know. AI is intensive and expensive equipment is required.
Beetles are a big issue in these parts and more of a threat than Varroa. Consider freeze spray for Beetles.
I?ll be at the Baxter county fair this month at the bee both if you care to visit. Come see my bees anytime.
Blessings
Van
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on your mistakes. You, Member, and Myself must have gathered our bees at about the same time. I got my first hive either March or April 2018. Again thanks for sharing.
PS I consider you blessed to live so close to Mr Van! That is a beautiful area. My family use to go boating and camping there on Norfork when I was young, along with Bull Shoals, Ouachita, Heber Springs, and others. Arkansas is a beautiful State. And you live in a beautiful part of it.
Phillip
I found out that just because they are packing pollen doesn?t mean they are getting nectar. That set me back a couple weeks. I should?ve feed longer this spring than I did as well. Hopefully both hives will make it through winter and I can split next spring.
I found out when doing queen rearing by the Nicot system, just because you check for queen cells at the right time before placing your grafting bar FULL of the correct age larva, into your starter hive, does not mean that you did not over look at least one QC on the old brood. A huge mistake! Ask me how I know.
:wink:
Thanks everyone for the replies!
Van, Thank you very much for the offer! Your only about 3 hours from me so that would be totally worth the drive. I have 2 hives that I've got no idea what the genetics are and would love to re-queen them next year.. Unfortunately those 2 hives also are the only ones that produced extra honey.. But none of my hives pass the no-smoke/hand wave test.. (Not that I have tried either..lol)
I have a lot to learn still and want to continue to do so. My winter plan is to get/build/buy an additional 6-8 deeps with frames and 10 medium supers with frames. Curiosity & Honey is why I started beekeeping but honey production is what will sustain my hobby by hopefully selling some to offset the costs.. I thought I could just throw some supers on this last spring and the magic would just happen as I posted above that didn't happen..
Thanks,
Ken
Bees have been on this planet for a long long time. They do not need us, we need them. We are nothing more than another large persistent pest that they have to adapt to and tolerate.
To -keep- bees the beekeeper needs only do three core things.
1) Help them be healthy. Monitor for the plethora of pests and diseases of the beehive. Help them manage when those get out of balance.
2) Place them on good forage sources and access to water.
3) Give them the right amount of hive space at the right time.
Do those three things well and the bees will be prolific. They will also promptly fix and overcome every mistake you have ever made soon as you put the lid on and walk away from the hive. Many of those mistakes you will not even know you have made.
Focus on those three core things and you will be consistently successful. You do not need to know alot nor bee an expert over and above those basics. The bees take care of themselves.
HP, you left off #4??? For the hobbyist.
#4. Breed for the best queens on the planet.
Update.. So I peeked at my oil trays in the bottom of my freeman boards and they were loaded with dead SHB. I think I avoided a potential for them absconding.. I guess they still could but hopefully they are in check for now. Next year I will do better for my little ladies..
Thanks,
Ken