I'm a beginner
I have 2 Hives started April with Packages
I did a hive check yesterday - no evidence of disease, mites, beetles, robbing, swarming, etc...
1st Hive of a Double Deep has:
15 Sides of Capped Brood
4 Sides of Eggs
3 Sides of Larvae
9 Sides of Pollen/Nectar/Honey
7 Sides of Honey
1 Empty Sides
1 Drone Frame at 50% both sides
2nd Hive of Double Deep has:
10 Sides of Capped Brood
2 Sides of Eggs
1 Side of Larvae
16 Sides of Pollen/Nectar/Honey
1 Side of Honey
10 Empty Sides
Nothing on the one Drone Frame
I started to take notes and keep track of my hive inspections in excel - but I don't know what it all means yet.
What do I do?
What is this telling me?
Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Shannon
Shannon,
Looks like your hives have a good start.
Jim Altmiller
Thank you! That brings me some relief - I'll keep continuing to learn :)
Ms. Georgia, you are a detailed lady: impressive, I say. I wish you were a neighbor and could help with my hives. Your attention to detail and excel would come in handy. Welcome to the honeybee world.
Van
Looks like you better get busy building more equipment :shocked:. When all that capped brood hatches they are going to be out of space. Keep an eye open for swarm cell too. Not sure about you area, but up here in the NE, packages will usually swarm instead of drawing foundation.
Best of luck
Quote from: GeorgiaBeeKeeper on June 14, 2020, 10:38:23 AM
I'm a beginner
I have 2 Hives started April with Packages
I did a hive check yesterday - no evidence of disease, mites, beetles, robbing, swarming, etc...
1st Hive of a Double Deep has:
15 Sides of Capped Brood
4 Sides of Eggs
3 Sides of Larvae
9 Sides of Pollen/Nectar/Honey
7 Sides of Honey
1 Empty Sides
1 Drone Frame at 50% both sides
2nd Hive of Double Deep has:
10 Sides of Capped Brood
2 Sides of Eggs
1 Side of Larvae
16 Sides of Pollen/Nectar/Honey
1 Side of Honey
10 Empty Sides
Nothing on the one Drone Frame
I started to take notes and keep track of my hive inspections in excel - but I don't know what it all means yet.
What do I do?
What is this telling me?
Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Shannon
Hey Shannon,
I keep track of a few hives with an excel sheet as well. What the sheet can do for you is automate much of the "bee-math" that needs to be done along the way to ensure the bees have enough space and resources to continue to do well. You can also use auto-shading colors in your sheet to highlight things that need attention. Examples; too much space, too little space, not enough food, more or less foundation needed, next brood cycle burst, and on and on.
Here are some basic math tips to formulate into your sheet. Each time you do an inspection record the numbers and plug them into your sheet - it will help hi light where you need to focus attentions:
THP's Bees Threes. ... Commit to memory, pin up some where, build into your excel sheet.
- 3 days from egg to larvae
- 3 weeks from egg to bee
- 3 weeks from bee to honey making
- 3 frames of walking bees come from 1 frame of brood
- 3 frames of walking bees to care for 1 frame of brood
- 3 frames of resources (honey/pollen) minimum at all times
- 3 weeks from queen cell jelly to a laying queen
- 3 frames free at all times for queen laying space
- 3 brood cycles (9weeks) from a new hive, nuc, package to their next swarm
Start by applying those principles to the numbers you have recorded for your two hives. See where it takes you as to what you need to do next. As Robo said, you need to start building and stacking equipment, promptly. So prompt that you actually barely have any time to be reading this. ;)
Thank you for all the help and the THREEs list too - I DO need to add formulas to my excel spreadsheet.
I just need to figure out what those formulas will be so I can get "swarm warning" or "add a super" etc...
I'm a BIG fan of conditional formulas that turn the cells different colors too :)
I put a super on top of the hive with 15 sides of capped brood with no queen excluder - I hope that helps them!
Jaw just dropped. I went back and looked at my IG posts and I installed packages last year on 4-26. It was exactly 8 weeks on later on June 14 when one of them swarmed. Would have probably been 9 weeks if I hadn't installed on a few frames on drawn comb and really fed them. Thanks so much for posting!