My awful day

TheMasonicHive · July 11, 2010, 06:57:34 PM

Kind of had a rough and contemplative week, but I looked forward to today because my Mom has wanted to see what the hives are like.

I was really excited to show her, but my optimism ends there.

This is my first year as a beekeeper.

Today was my first day being stung.

Today was my first day dropping a deep frame with brood in it.

Today I saw varroa for the first time.

Today I crushed a lot of bees by rolling them while moving warped comb around.

And today I discovered the emotionally terrible part of realizing that if I want to propogate good genetics then I need to let the varroa do its dirty work and probably destroy the hive that I've come to get used to watching.

Its been rough and the compulsion to treat is a hard one to resist.

Overall a pretty terrible day for a newbeek.

Kathyp · July 11, 2010, 07:05:46 PM

some days are like that.

as for mites, i would not hesitate to treat until you can get enough hives going that you can afford to let some die. if you want to go treatment free, you need to work on replacing your hives with bees that are truly feral. that's not as easy as it might seem because you are not always sure of the source if you are doing it with swarms. cutouts are a little easier to evaluate.

remember that all hives have mites. just because you have some does not mean that your hive is doomed.

treatment free is a great goal but if you started with packages you are going to have to consider treating them. 1st year hives usually don't need treatment, but i think that might depend a lot on your area. if you have a long time of good weather and brood rearing there will be opportunity for mites to really get going.

annette · July 11, 2010, 07:38:11 PM

Chin up!!

Getting stung is a good thing. It has to happen eventually and it is good for you.

Dropping a frame happens to all of us. The bees are very forgiving

All hives have varroa

We all crush bees by accident

Sounds like a pretty normal time in the bee yard.

Don't be discouraged. I don't treat my bees, but I understand your dilemma. Just make a decision and try not to fret too much about it.

Good luck and continue to share your experiences.
Annette

annette · July 11, 2010, 08:06:22 PM

Chin up!!

Getting stung is a good thing. It has to happen eventually and it is good for you.

Dropping a frame happens to all of us. The bees are very forgiving

All hives have varroa

We all crush bees by accident

Sounds like a pretty normal time in the bee yard.

Don't be discouraged. I don't treat my bees, but I understand your dilemma. Just make a decision and try not to fret too much about it.

Good luck and continue to share your experiences.
Annette

sarafina · July 11, 2010, 08:13:05 PM

Sounds like a normal day to me! Except for getting stung - I can't say enough good things about my Ultra Breeze suit.

I did an inspection yesterday on both hives. It was soooo hot, I could feel the sweat running down my legs inside my suit but I needed to check on the girls. I had an extra brood box I use to put the first frame in I pull while I pull the others and it had collected quite a few bees in it. When I picked it up I dropped it and a big pile of bees went on the ground right where I stand to inspect. grrr..... So I moved around to the other side but eventually forgot and walked around behind and probably crushed a bunch. Then they all wanted to gather on the edges while I put the boxes together, so I set the box on the edge at the back and pushed it to slide as many out of the way as I could but I know I crushed even more. *sigh* My other hive inspection didn't have all these issues and they didn't crowd on the edges when I was putting the boxes together, either.

I opened up a couple of drone cells and was pleased to only find one mite out of 4 cells so I am happy with my oxalic acid treatment last Jan. What is your reasoning behind not treating your bees? Unless you have truly feral, mite-resistant bees you will almost surely lose them by the second year, but I suppose you know this as this appears to be a conscious decision. What I like about the oxalic acid is all the bees that were treated are long gone before honey production starts in my supers.

TheMasonicHive · July 11, 2010, 10:01:03 PM

Thanks everyone.

Oh I forgot to mention that my apiary is about 2 miles from my parents house.

When I took my veil off I put my glasses on my Dad's truck. He drove off, and they must have stayed on there for about a mile, until I came behind him.

I found them flattened on the road.

Icing on the cake!

AllenF · July 11, 2010, 10:12:25 PM

At least you didn't buy any lotto tickets that day, or get a good driver certificate from a cop on the way home. Did all your tires hold air? Paint on the car still look ok? No reactions to the sting?

And you had a fun day playing with the bees though all that.

BoBn · July 11, 2010, 11:36:45 PM

Quote from: TheMasonicHive on July 11, 2010, 06:57:34 PM
Kind of had a rough and contemplative week, but I looked forward to today because my Mom has wanted to see what the hives are like.

I was really excited to show her, but my optimism ends there.

This is my first year as a beekeeper.

Today was my first day being stung.

Today was my first day dropping a deep frame with brood in it.

Today I saw varroa for the first time.

Today I crushed a lot of bees by rolling them while moving warped comb around.

It sounds like you didn't take your time. Try to be slow, gentle, deliberate and methodical. Bee hive inspection is a good exercise in patience. Tune out the rest of the world and enjoy working with your bees. Take as much time as you need to.

Quote
And today I discovered the emotionally terrible part of realizing that if I want to propogate good genetics then I need to let the varroa do its dirty work and probably destroy the hive that I've come to get used to watching.

Think about replacing the queen. Some varroa is normal. Get some local help about how much varroa you actually have. Maybe a state bee inspector?

Quote
Its been rough and the compulsion to treat is a hard one to resist.

Overall a pretty terrible day for a newbeek.

Not that bad. If we didn't have bad days, we wouldn't have good days. . .
It will get easier.

A new beekeeper should probably look in their hives every 7-10 days in the summer.

Try to get in there as much as you can until you know what is going on.

Try to figure out how to inspect your hives without disturbing most of the hive.

Light your smoker so that it is ready, but do not use it unless you need too. Less smoke is often more effective than more smoke. Open your hive "in slow motion"
with no thump and bumps.
Pry up your inner cover slowly with no flashy and quick movements. Set the inner cover as a ramp upside down at the entrance. Many of the bees inside of the inner cover are nurse bees and have not yet flown. They can climb back into the hive. If then fall on the ground, sometimes they will not be able to find their way back..

Watch what is going on. If there are dozens of bees climbing up between the frames after you have removed the inner cover, then waft a slight bit of smoke across the frames. If you only see heads of bees watching you, then try to work with no smoke (slowly and methodical) not sudden moves.
This is a 2-way street. You are judging them and they are judging you.

It is not much different than a horse or a dog. You can beat them into submission, or work with what they are . . .

When you pry the frames apart, and back together again, do this slowly to allow time for bees to climb out of the way.

Also remember that there are always some "weirdos and wackos" If you are dealing with a large population there are always a few of them. Don't pass judgment on a population because of some experience with an extremist. Pass judgment on the individual.

If you take your time, work slowly and keep your eyes open, you can learn much about bee behavior. If you have some patience, you can work with them with minimal disturbance and they will be doing their normal activities such as the queen laying eggs, young workers polishing empty cells, workers packing bee bread, transferring nectar, festooning, etc.

Try picking up worker bees with your bare fingers. . .and setting them down again.
They are not a threat to you. What are you afraid of? Yup, sometimes they sting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don't know how many time stuff like this has happened to me. You are human.

Thanks.

JP · July 11, 2010, 11:54:54 PM

Most days in the bee yard are good days, but the bad days really help you appreciate the good ones. Absorb everything you can, the good and the bad and always keep on truckin'!

In the world of bee keeping there is so much to learn, we all learn at different paces. Try not to get overwhelmed by it all.

Be the bee.

...JP

sarafina · July 12, 2010, 12:33:29 AM

Quote from: TheMasonicHive on July 11, 2010, 10:01:03 PM
Thanks everyone.

Oh I forgot to mention that my apiary is about 2 miles from my parents house.

When I took my veil off I put my glasses on my Dad's truck. He drove off, and they must have stayed on there for about a mile, until I came behind him.

I found them flattened on the road.

Icing on the cake!

For me, that would be the worst of anything that happened to you today - that really bites! I cannot function at all w/o my glasses - blind as a bat and they are darn expensive to replace since I pay extra to have the coke bottle lenses ground down to as thin as possible.

lisascenic · July 12, 2010, 12:43:35 AM

Quote from: BoBn on July 11, 2010, 11:36:45 PM
Think about replacing the queen. Some varroa is normal. Get some local help about how much varroa you actually have. Maybe a state bee inspector?

Can you expand on what you're saying? I think I'm missing the pivotal part. I'm scratching my head over why signs of varroa would require a queen replacement. (And really, I'm not being snarky. I'm just being confused.)

lisascenic · July 12, 2010, 12:44:34 AM

Look at it this way: Maybe you got all of your crappy luck out of the way for the rest of the month!

Scadsobees · July 12, 2010, 09:37:50 AM

Hey, a first time for everything! And since we all learn the hard way, I'd assume that you won't be dropping any more frames and will try to figure out how not to roll bees! (been there, done that, squished the queen that way!)

I get more urgent and self conscious when I have somebody watching me for some reason and do more stupid stuff.

As to the mites...if you have one hive and let them die of mites, you've done nothing for the genetics. There are great and safe treatments out there, it is great that there are people out there doing that work, but letting your one or two hives die from mites isn't much better than letting the dog you love die of ??? to improve dog genetics.

Rick