Crash course in Beekeeping

[sarah d]

I've just moved in to a new place and inherited a hive and a great deal of equipment- really a dream come true.  Unfortunately, I have no idea what I'm doing but am eager to learn.  A wonderful neighbor has taken me under his wing, but I have some questions to pose to you all, so I can feel I'm learning and contributing to my crash course.
The bees just swarmed, perhaps sensing my inexperience and we collected them but there's a small group still in the tree (most are in the new hive).  Could there be two queens or are they just as confused as I am?
Next question- I'm moving the new and old hives off of the porch roof to an area on the east side of my summer kitchen.  Should I wait to move the original hive down to give the new hive a chance to settle in?
Finally- I have a limited budget but a great deal of enthusiasm.  If I have to get one and only one book. . .
Thanks so much.  I look forward to learning with you all.
Sarah

[Finsky]

Could there be two queens or are they just as confused as I am?

They may have even 5 queens. If wether is bad and swarm cannot go out, queens are bolocked in their cells untill swarm leaves.

It is usefull if you put swarm hive and original beside. When swarm has settled and build foundations, it is better put parts together. So you get yield and your ecomony becomes better.

[Brian D. Bray]

>The bees just swarmed, perhaps sensing my inexperience  and we collected them but there's a small group still in the tree (most are in the new hive). Could there be two queens or are they just as confused as I am?

Swarmming in the spring is a natural occurrance, feel great pleasure that you were able to capture it.  As to the bees still in the tree--this is also not unusual and if a queen remains they will go where the queen does.  If the bees are staying in the hive you put them in they probably have a queen the remainder if queenless will go back to the parent hive.

>Next question- I'm moving the new and old hives off of the porch roof to an area on the east side of my summer kitchen. Should I wait to move the original hive down to give the new hive a chance to settle in?

When you move the hives do so in the late evening so that all of the bees are home.  I use door/window screen cut to the width of the entrance and about a foot in leagth folded over several times to cover the entrance.  Make sure all hive bodies are secure to each other and won't come apart in case they are dropped.  the move to the selected location and remove the screen blocking the entrance.  It's best not to stand around and see the resul as moving the bees tends to amking them angery.
Place (lean) a board or branch against the front of the hive so the bees will notice the obstruction and re-orientate on the hives location.  

>Finally- I have a limited budget but a great deal of enthusiasm. If I have to get one and only one book. . .

Don't we all?  If you have wood scrapes around make your own you can find a lot of plans for making your own bee equipment at beesource.com
I've found that selecting a specific size box and using it throughout gives the beekeeper more options when problems arise and one doesn't have to worry about what the box is to be used for or even have to have an extra extractor cage to handle different sizes of frames.

Good luck and welcome to the world of beekeeping.

[Doorman]

May I suggest Beekeepers HandBook by Diane Sammataro and Alphonse Avitibile. It covers most of the basics. Then your most valuable resource will be the search page on this forum.

[Hi-Tech]

As bad as it sounds, I really enjoyed "Beekeeping for Dummies" and I learned a lot from it. Besides, the front photo was taken by our illustrious leader, Beemaster, so it has to be good...right?

[Michael Bush]

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesswarmcontrol.htm

[sarah d]

Thanks so much for the info.  I thought I'd post an update:  after my first post yesterday i got home and there was another large swarm in the tree (the first appears to still be happy in their new box).  Having just worked out all the bugs in our operation (no pun intended), we were able to get these puppies into a new hive fairly easily and my one hive is now three.  I'll push my luck with your patience and ask a few more questions:

As I'm sure you can imagine, I'm making frames like mad.  The foundations are wired but don't appear to have the hooks I've read about.  The wire ends at the end of the wax.  My neighbor tells me I don't need to worry about cross wiring these frames, but they just don't seem like they'll hold without it.  Is it true that they don't need the cross wires?

Teramycin- he also suggests that I treat my hives for foulbrood prophylactically.  I have to say that I'm just not a prophylactic antibiotics kind of a girl, and I've heard that foulbrood can be teramycin resistant anyhow- a coworker suggested I wait for the inspector to test them.  What do you all do, and if I decide to wait, am I putting my neighbor's bees at risk?
I know this is all very long-winded, but I promise these are the questions I've come up with AFTER reading what I can find.  I'll try to go easy!

[KONASDAD]

I own Beekeeping for Dummies. Its how I started. Also, this site has a wonderful ,dowloadable how to get started section. Look on Ebay for some of the bee books too.  Lastly, Mr. Bush's website is a very pragmatic aproach to beekeeping. His logic is greatly appreciated by me too.

[mark]

cross wiring isn't needed if you are not spinning the frames in an extractor.  many of us just put a starter strip in the top bar and let the bees finish the wax .  just be careful and hold the frames top bar up so it doesn't break

[Hi-Tech]

Sarah,

Here are some good books and magazines...
http://www.hh-farms.com/links/

[Brian D. Bray]

>As I'm sure you can imagine, I'm making frames like mad. The foundations are wired but don't appear to have the hooks I've read about. The wire ends at the end of the wax.


Sounds like you have pre-wired foundation, it is meant to be used without additional re-inforcement but...it often breaks along the wires already in the foundation and when that happens you'll find that the bees most likely will not bridge the gap.  It's been my overwhelming experience that cracked or broken foundation produces cracked or broken comb.
 
I use medium brood foundation.  No wires and no wax underplate.  I've found they often create more problems than they solve.  I also cut my foundation into thirds, using just a strip at the top to get them started.
 
True new comb is fragile and shouldn't be used in an extactor but older comb, with frames filled out fully, seems to be just as strong as wired comb when used in the extractor.  In other words second year comb should work fine in an extractor.

[Michael Bush]

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfoundationless.htm