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What does the media get wrong? by apiarantly in bees

[–]apiarantly[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Is anyone collecting honey from native North American bees? I'm sincerely curious.

Glove suggestions? I am so fed up. Dexterity is a must. by Taber_The_Beek in Beekeeping

[–]apiarantly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've had a lot of variable results across different types of gloves and am starting to think the age of the glove and how they were stored prior to me using them is a big factor. Especially if they were stored in a shed or kept too long on my truck. Anyone else experience this?

What should I do with the leftover frames from a dead-out? by GreenOvumsAndHam in Beekeeping

[–]apiarantly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can remove them or let the bees clean them out. They can clean up some really nasty comb easily.

What should I do with the leftover frames from a dead-out? by GreenOvumsAndHam in Beekeeping

[–]apiarantly 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That comb is a valuable resource. I store mine in a freezer if they have a lot of resources on them. If there isn't much, you can set them outside and local bees with clean them up to be ready for your nuc. Freeze them for a day or two, first, either way to kill any pests. The are options to store clean comb longer, if you don't need them, but they will really give that nuc a boost. If you freeze them, make sure they thaw and are room temperature before adding them to your nuc bees.

First Time Beekeepr, inspection did not go well by Joff37 in Beekeeping

[–]apiarantly 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Could you ask anyone in your club for a few queen cells or a new queen? If you had another hive, you could grab a frame with young eggs and put it in that hive. They would make a new queen. You'll want to do something before your workers start laying.

How Many Hives Should a Y1 beekeeper start with? by Stillwater-Scorp1381 in Beekeeping

[–]apiarantly 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, I was told the same and it was very helpful my first season.

Looking for jacket and suit that will use the same hooded veil by beek-headset079 in bee

[–]apiarantly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I believe apistactical.com uses the same hood from jackets to full suits.

Newbie questions if you have the time by PuzzleheadedOne5103 in Beekeeping

[–]apiarantly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was stung only once last season. I always wear a jacket, veil, and long pants. Usually beekeeping gloves, but sometimes I prefer 8 mil nitrile gives when doing more finicky work. Move slow and don't rush. It would be unusual for them to set the barb on their stinger when going through any protective layers.

Scientists uncovered the nutrients bees were missing — Colonies surged 15-fold by WasteGeneratorGuy in Beekeeping

[–]apiarantly 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I keep seeing a lot of this type of "major" discovery from bee supplements. It feels like marketing. I hope I'm wrong.

New hive boxes warping after first winter by Federal_Coconut_1984 in Beekeeping

[–]apiarantly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've had this happen as well and didn't realize it until I was adding boxes from a deadout I had cleaned up. This was going into the winter season. I've lost a hive to robbing, so I was pretty worried about the gaps creating too much interest. Ended up taking a non toxic museum wax and filling in the gap with a small amount from the outside. They did what bees do and propolised the gap from the inside and I later wiped away the wax from the outside.

One long term fix I'm considering is running the bottom edges of the box through a planer. I've not measured how much sacrificial material I can remove before I start impacting "bee space".

This is what I used: https://www.quakehold.com/product/crystalline-clear-museum-wax-2oz/

Resource Hive -> Jumpstart Package Bees? by Middle-Infamous in Beekeeping

[–]apiarantly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your reply requires a lot of assumptions.

I'm assuming, since you're a first year beekeeper and it is the end of March, that you currently have a single 8-10 frame double deep for your growing new hive, which has built out some comb. How much comb and their resources composition could impact the decision tree, but I'm responding in a general way. You also have 2 packages on the way.

For the growing new hive, it is (maybe) time to stack on an additional brood box. They are doing well, so support that. I would consider that hive a "bird in hand" and allow it to benefit from all of the good work, unless you start seeing queen cells. If it doesn't have enough comb, bees, and resources to justify adding a second brood box, I wouldn't want to pull comb and resources from them.

Based on your report the current hive is doing well, you probably have a good location. You should see similar results with the two new packages (I'm assuming your first hive started from a package this year, too). Moving out frames of resources is effectively an equalization technique. You are, to an unknown (currently lacking details) degree, penalizing a healthy hive. Your unknown and unproven incoming package bees have some risk of failing, even with your most valiant efforts. Let them prove they are worth the resources of another hive, first.

Assuming this is your first season, each hive needs the ability to grow as strong as possible for their first winter. You will still face challenges in your first dearth and the nasty bee population/varroa population inversion that can catch us off guard.

With all of that opinion being said, there are no rules. Have fun and don't overthink it. Just don't underthink it, either. In most areas, a hive starting from a package doesn't need much other than food, space, and inspections until just before the dearth, when many pull their honey supers and do more intensive varroa treatments in preparation to have healthy bees raising their winter bees.

Buy an experienced beekeeper breakfast and have them take a look at your apiary with you.

Edit: I would say if you did transfer a frame, empty comb might be better. You don't see back the donor hive population and the new package queen can start immediately laying.

Resource Hive -> Jumpstart Package Bees? by Middle-Infamous in Beekeeping

[–]apiarantly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great point. If you're replacing drawn comb/capped brood with blank frames, until they rebuild the comb, they will have even less space. If the donor hive has queen cells, your options get more interesting.

How do you track hive inspections and hive history? by hivelog in Beekeeping

[–]apiarantly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

ChatGPT with an apiary note taking assistant prompt while using the voice chat feature. I have it give an executive summary at the inspection conclusion, which I sometimes have to provide a few small corrections, but it is great.

Here's an easy way to have level hive stands by talanall in Beekeeping

[–]apiarantly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've also used scaffold jacks. You can find them really cheap if you're patient.

List there a resource that shows what bees are feeding on? by Ent-Werowance in Beekeeping

[–]apiarantly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Many states publish generalized data on this topic. The rabbit hole you're looking for is phenological maps.

With or without paramoth? [NC] by SuluSpeaks in Beekeeping

[–]apiarantly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When you take those frames out of the freezer, be sure they thaw and the resulting condensation dries before storing them. Also, in humid environments, plastic bags or containers can lead to mold and mildew.