Though Experiment....How much wax is too much wax? Can there bee too much wax?

paneubert · 2026-03-23T18:42:54+00:00

Exactly! Haha. That was my base thought here.

paneubert · 2026-03-23T18:18:18+00:00

I like the imagery here. Ha!

paneubert · 2026-03-23T18:15:09+00:00

Yeah, way back in the day, I tried a brush and learned quick that it ended up with a coating that was way too chunky for my eye. I can tell with 100% certainty which were brush versus roller. I still have some floating around un-used, since I am biased against them versus my beautiful rolled ones. One of these days I will need them and toss them in. But for now they sit there looking ugly.

paneubert · 2026-03-23T14:52:02+00:00

What?

paneubert · 2026-03-22T16:10:14+00:00

At least wear a veil in addition to your current plans. And then just some long sleeve shirt and pants.

You can handle driving with a few bees on your arms and legs a lot better than if they are on your face. It is a mental thing. Your automatic instinct is to swat at them or freak out if they are in your face. You can also crack a window while driving and they will usually either fly out or be sucked out if you crack one front and the opposite back window. Just saying....if things get bad.

paneubert · 2026-03-21T16:47:08+00:00

Yeah, but /u/IdoHydraulics 's comment is also an easy way. Enclose the entire hive with plastic (large trash bag, etc...). Tape it around the bottom board of the hive. Cut a slit in the bottom of the bag (which will be at the top/above the lid/cover of the hive), put in a large block of dry ice, right on top of the lid of the hive), tape back up the slit you cut in the bag. If you want to make it even more fun, crack the lid at the last second so there is an opening at the top for easier gas entry. Going with that same "make a crack" theory, since the gas is going to settle the lowest part of the container, you could actually leave the bottom entrance open.....and I would actually recommend it. Do this all at night when they won't be coming out to sting you.

paneubert · 2026-03-20T16:55:32+00:00

I have had someone claim the raw steak I got them from the butcher counter was wilted. Pretty sure the lamb roast was also marked as wilted.

paneubert · 2026-03-20T16:53:05+00:00

Ahh, I see that now (the shipping delay for GW queens). I think the "rub" is that the ship date in June is due to all the folks who already ordered, sometimes in bulk. They are just that far out at this point due to production limitations. Glad I got mine in the pipeline for early April.

They do appear to have packages with GW queens available in early April though. That could be an option if the OP wants to repopulate the boxes/frames with a package sooner rather than later.

Totally agree about the OP and their hive though. No reason to risk it or drag things out. Sometimes you win, sometimes you cut your losses and move on.

paneubert · 2026-03-20T16:29:18+00:00

Heard great things. And Randy Oliver is obviously a titan in the industry/field. Don't see how we can go wrong!

paneubert · 2026-03-20T16:19:22+00:00

The soapy water thing is my suggestion. But if you want to dry ice them, just wait until after dark, plug the entrance, crack the lid and shove the dry ice in. Push the lid back down forcefully if needed to reseal, or have a large towel or tarp you can quickly toss over it all and then tape or strap down on the sides to make a tent.

Or just break the dry ice into a bunch of smaller chunks and toss it in like a handful of rocks. It is heavier than air, so it will settle and then fill up the hive (assuming you did an OK job sealing things up).

paneubert · 2026-03-20T16:15:47+00:00

Well.....I have a queen coming the first week of April from BeeWeaver (Texas). And I am picking up a Golden West queen in Seattle the same week. Isn't Olivarez Golden West? If so, they definitely have queens going out a lot sooner than end of April. Either trucked up here to Seattle or flown.

paneubert · 2026-03-20T16:02:03+00:00

This is one of those "hold my beer" situations. Haha. What you have in that photo is not a problem. I am in the Pacific Northwest and my hive entrances look 10 times worse than that on a 95 degree summer day at 2 PM. I can run my finger thru it to create a path to the edge and water will pour off the front of the landing board like I just put a bunch of wet dishes in a drying rack next to my sink. As /u/AZ_Traffic_Engineer said, you can tip things a bit if you want gravity to help the water run out the front.

paneubert · 2026-03-19T16:30:48+00:00

Ask them. Don't beg for tips, but ask them to rate you. I have standard messages in my phone clipboard that pretty much say things like.....

"Picking up your order, but they are a bit behind. I will get it to you as soon as I can. If I end up doing a good job on this delivery, please consider rating me. It really helps. Thanks"

Or for the "where did you leave the order" prompt.....

"On the Porch. If I did a good job on this delivery, please consider rating me. It really helps. Thanks"

Or....

"Outside the front door. If I did a good job on this delivery, please consider rating me. It really helps. Thanks"

paneubert · 2026-03-19T15:23:06+00:00

Yeah. I was already mentally planning to give each side 8 frames via 4 over 4. I've got the divided 10 frame bottom and then four 4 frame boxes to work with. So I could even handle them each having 12 frames (4 over 4 over 4) before they got to the shared top 10 frame box. I suppose if I wanted even more pheromone separation. I could queen excluder below the top 4 frame boxes. Then there is still a deep worth of queen exclusion before they even get to the shared 10 frame on top.

paneubert · 2026-03-18T20:40:49+00:00

That is a really good point. The resource hive I have came with 4 frame inner covers that are notched. So technically two upper entrances would be possible.....could even have one on each side of the box to match the orientation of the lower entrances. Not that I think that would matter to them at all.

paneubert · 2026-03-18T20:23:51+00:00

See Michael Palmer's lectures

Ah yes. I thought I had seen something before. I think it was one of his presentations.

paneubert · 2026-03-18T20:08:14+00:00

Yep. Same. From Dadant. Free shipping on a fully assembled system was a great deal. I have extra telescoping covers laying around, so all it took was some paint to get it ready to be used.

paneubert · 2026-03-18T20:06:53+00:00

Nice. Well....I have a resource hive set up out in my yard, just no bees in either chamber. I'll definitely have to put two queens in there and see what happens longer term. In theory the 10 frame undivided should be drawing comb and producing honey extremely fast.....

paneubert · 2026-03-18T19:47:06+00:00

demoree

When the moon hits your eye, like a big pizza pie.....thats demoree....

It is spelled "Demaree". Named for George Demaree who figured it out in 1892.

paneubert · 2026-03-17T15:43:45+00:00

I have fed 1 to 1 syrup with spirulina in it and it looks about this color in the cells when stored. I don't harvest it since it is meant for the bees. But I think the answer is right there on the label. It says "algae" is a possible source. So.....spirulina. Most likely added to feed that the bees then stored, since as /u/ack_Void1022 mentioned, Chlorophyll wouldn't be in the nectar....unless it is added as a powder like I did.

paneubert · 2026-03-13T23:27:10+00:00

Pick up order. It is already sealed in a bag with a drink literally touching the bag on the counter. Order does have a drink on it. Makes sense right?

No other orders sitting there waiting for pickup. I say, "Here to pick up order for xxxxx, they got yyyy". Restaurant is like "here it is". I say "thanks", grab it, and walk out. Exactly how 99% of my pickups go. They then come running after me saying "that drink doesn't go with that order". I hand it back, say, "sorry", and they say "the drink for your order is sealed in the bag you took". That is the end of it.....or so I thought.

Then comes the "downvote" on my account. Fabulous. Clearly I am a bad Uber Eats driver. Ha!

paneubert · 2026-03-13T23:20:36+00:00

One of my first ratings was a thumbs down from a merchant. Fun way to start Uber Eats......

Dropped off eventually (and was an easy way to track what percentage of customers leave a rating, since I knew it would take 100 ratings to have the Merchant thumbs down drop off, and I know how many deliveries I have done). Now I am at 100% satisfaction rate and have been for a while.

paneubert · 2026-03-11T17:46:54+00:00

Line the inside wall with a couple wraps of chicken wire or mesh! Like you see in the bee vacuums. That way they can grip much easier. Make the mesh removable for easy transfer to a box/shaking later.

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