Need Help

ApisNovus · July 11, 2008, 06:51:15 PM

This year is the first my beekeeping season. I am having 3 hives. one is hive is very week but it's straiting out. I need to talk to someone and ask questions. I believe have problems. Please send me PM, Thanks in advance.
Phil

Bennettoid · July 11, 2008, 07:10:18 PM

Publishing your phone number on an international forum is not a good idea. I would ask someone who is willing to call you to PM you and then give them your number

Kathyp · July 11, 2008, 07:15:43 PM

yup, you might get weird calls :-)

why don't you post your questions? that way we all get a crack at them, and we all get to learn from the answers.

ApisNovus · July 11, 2008, 09:50:41 PM

I purchased my bees from a local bee keeper. I paid $333 for 3 nukes and I asked for Italian bees . Anyway, I did not get what I was originally buying. Unfortunately I was in the middle of my business trip, however hives were ready for bees. I called Beekeeper and asked him if he can come to my house and place nukes so I was ready to pay extra bucks for this favor. He said that he is willing and I need to cover his expenses for the gas. It seems that it was OK. Unfortunately it was just a promis. Anyways, I returned back from my trip just in June and placed nukes by myself. One family is very week and still now did not fill all frames of the lower box (there is no second large box on it). The second family was a strong so I place a second large box after 2 weeks). The strongest is the third family. I opened the top box. The middle three frames are in the process of building. But bees built honey combs between top and bottom boxes and I ruined them I have a question. Should I replace top and bottom boxes?
Thanks for your help

Kathyp · July 11, 2008, 10:27:59 PM

if you mean that you ruined the comb between the boxes, don't worry about it. happens all the time. i just ate a bunch that i scraped off the bottom of some frames :-)

if you damaged the foundation, i wouldn't worry about that to much either. you can cut out bits and the bees will replace it. i had a cutout hive that made a mess of things. i just kept removing the bad bits, and they are much better now. make sure your frames are pushed tight together after you "fix" things. this will discourage them from building comb between frames and making a mess.

replacing the entire thing at this point would seriously set them back. you can begin rotating bad frames toward the outside, and remove them in the spring when they have no brood or honey. it takes a while to rotate frames out. just keep moving them toward the outside of the box. maybe one position every week or two.

josbees · July 11, 2008, 11:56:36 PM

Hey Apis,

Try not to worry so much ( I know, that's impossible -- I had a bunch of sleepless nights. Still do). I'm going through the same kinds of promblems, and believe me, the guys here will guide you through anything you can imagine, and a lot you can't. Just kind of hold back a bit, take a deep breath and let the bees do their thing. Best of luck to you!

qa33010 · July 12, 2008, 02:53:53 AM

Patience, though frustrating at times, is definitely a virtue when letting those girls do their thing. I think the hardest thing for me was, and still is, not trying to 'help them fix things'. I think kathyp said it the best.

Moonshae · July 12, 2008, 09:40:51 AM

Are you feeding your hives? If they haven't even filled one deep, they have a lot of work to do before winter. I suggest feeding them as much syrup as they'll take.