2nd year beekeeper many years a woodsman/forestry enthusiast, I have two small but healthy hives. I notice lots of my bees heading into my woods beyond their water source(pond), what are they foraging there? I’ve identified dogwoods, black cherry, tulip tree, redbuds, black walnut, and more; are they targeting any flowering hardwood species? I harvest/replant many of these varieties and would love to focus in on nectar/pollen sources for mine and native pollinators.

Yesterday I migrated this box’s queen to my one split that failed to requeen. Today the now-queenless colony is denying the drones re-entry.

For clarification it wasn’t in the microwave where you warm up food, it was where the electrical components are and I had to unscrew a piece of the microwave to get to it. The microwave is an overhead microwave that has vent that leads outside.

I captured it and let it outside. My question is, will it come back if it had started making a nest in there? I couldn’t see everything but I didn’t see any sign of any honeycomb but did notice a small amount of potential wax. I couldn’t view everything inside without having to take apart the microwave completely.

I’m in California if that information helps.

Is it rare to have two of these next to each other? On a bush that was on my front porch 2 feet away from front door. After these two left a third one came and settled in the same spot for a day or two... regret not callin a beekeeper. They were good bois and didn't bother us.

So does anyone ever catch marked queens when they catch swarms?

Having a hard time diagnosing. Wax moth? Foul brood? Anyone else see signs like this after winter? Queen is still there, but hive looks weak.

Anyone got further advice? The hive they left from is still going strong after looking at it after the swarm. With waxed frames + frame feeder inside deep will they be set to go?

Everyone seems to have different opinions. What’s yours?

A recent post had a lot of comments about holding one's breath, being calm, moving slowly, even humming (I didn't do this), and they really helped, so thank y'all for that! The first inspection was a bit wild. This one was a lot calmer.

It's been two weeks since my two nucs were installed (Nuc A and Nuc B). Each had four frames of brood and two frames of resources/honey, and then I added four frames of foundation I was given wax for by the super kind and awesome Redditor who sold it to me and also helped me to rub a thin layer on, although it already had wax because it just helps them draw it out. They were right!

When installing, Nuc A's queen was a bit hard to find, but when she was found, she was marked. Nuc B's was easy to find immediately. Nuc B had one queen cell, which was destroyed during installation.

During my first inspection, one week after the installation, I got stung (along with my kid) while opening up Nuc B, one each on the hands. I didn't smoke enough, in the right areas, wait long enough, and also panicked along with its being a cloudy day. I didn't even get to Nuc A last week for that first inspection.

This time, I started with Nuc A and did the above in terms of calmness and whatnot, smoked the entrance this time, and it all really helped. I was also a lot cooler with all the buzzing and flying around. Thanks again for your advice!

Hive A from Nuc A took me approximately 18-20 mins to get through all 10 frames, whereas Hive B from Nuc B took me approximately 13 mins to get through because I sped up and didn't look as thoroughly. I couldn't find the queen in Hive A but did spot her in Hive B.

I have a lot of questions I was hoping I could get some help with:

1. Orientation + Manipulation - I have two foundation frames, two being built out quite a bit (been feeding them sugar water), and two resource frames from the nuc I purchased, and four brood from the nuc I purchased. E = Empty Foundation, D = Being Drawn Out, B = Brood, and R = Resource, and if I remember correctly, this is their order from left to right when I approach the brood box from the back:

E-E-D-R-B-B-B-D-R

I've attached pictures of the drawn out ones. Do I need to do anything at this point or just keep doing what I'm doing? Should I add a super on top without a queen excluder so they can begin drawing out comb on what will become honey supers or is it too early because they first need to fully draw out those bottom ones in the brood box? I'm only planning on keeping one box for brood, by the way.

2. Excess Wax - I saw extra wax clumps (see the attached photograph) on the top and bottom of the inner cover. Should I scrap those off during the next inspection and leave those at the hive entrance for them to reuse elsewhere since it's just a resource-heavy product for them to make or just leave it as is? I also saw a few small clumps between frames.

3. Accidentally Puncturing Resource/Honey Cells - I found myself doing this several times. There's resource/honey cells in the corners, and I'm grabbing frames with my index finger and thumb on the two sides of the top, so I'd end up causing a small stream to flow downwards and getting my gloves sticky. Is this normal or should I be more careful?

4. Weight of Resource/Honey Frames - They were so heavy! I wasn't expecting that weight and during the inspection with my two fingers on each hand supporting them, I was afraid they would fall from my hands. Do you all use only two fingers at the end of the frames? Should I be doing something differently here?

5. Stinging Attempts - I received maybe 5-7 defensive bees come after me per each of the two hives, mostly my gloves, which I realize are half black and half white, so that might have played a role. I just put my gloves over my smoker, and they left. One did leave her stinger in my thick glove, so it didn't get through, and I just flicked the venom sac off. Is that pretty normal or was I upsetting them maybe too much?

6. Smoked Eyes - I smoked my whole suit and clothes underneath in the process, haha, quite a few times during the inspections. Several times, it got into my eyes by accident, which burned. Maybe this was when a few bees came up to my head net. How do y'all avoid that?

7. Killed Bees - I tried so hard not to kill any bees, but they inevitably and unintentionally get crushed between frames or boxes. I even tried to save one bee between two frames I was pushing together. She kind of got stuck, I separated them, but then she just didn't move. I would estimate I killed maybe 5-7 bees per hive. Is that normal? Too much? Should I do anything differently?

8. Drone Cells - I saw what I think are drone cells in Hive A but not Hive B. Hive A has also consumed more sugar water and more quickly than Hive B. It seems slightly more docile as well. I don't think they were queen cells because they were all bunched up over each other, but I was honestly just trying not to get stung this time and get in and out as soon as possible. This is just a statement in case it requires advice or direction. I don't really have any questions, as I'm just sharing my observations.

https://preview.redd.it/erl5wzfafavc1.jpg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a16c8e33ee3daff3de17e33c9e18ba7b210b4d61

https://preview.redd.it/lkg2ia0bfavc1.jpg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=145e2a9a5e316d3c508be23ed6e1d4c358c95adf

The above are two examples of the drawn out frames so far in about two weeks since being installed.

https://preview.redd.it/djqjjvkbfavc1.jpg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6fb677b6e189214941c7656c738d45e99be90fd5

This shows the orientation of the frames I mention in #1 below of E-E-R-D-B-B-B-B-D-

R.

https://preview.redd.it/foefmnecfavc1.jpg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6a7286a4e990419281b8b03550a8d545dae02532

This shows the wax clumps I'm asking about in #2 below one of the inner covers.

Good afternoon beeks. So our hive that just got its new queen back is nectar bound from them not having a queen for two months. We do not have any drawn comb to swap out the nectar full ones. Any suggestions?

We are putting a top box feeder on with a very thin sugar water mixture to hopefully help convince them to start drawing out the super that's on them. Other than that I'm not sure what else to do. Thanks in advance for the help!

Just in time for the Apple bloom!

I agitated the bees as I was installing. I had trouble getting the can out and the queen cage fell in. They were very aggressive and I was stung twice. I shook out a decent amount, wrapped things up with the queen rubber banded to a frame, closed the hive, and left the open package elevated by the entrance.

There are still a decent amount of bees inside the package. Did I not shake enough? How long does it usually take for the remaining bees to enter the hive?

I don’t want to mess with them too much as they settle in but I’m not sure if I should open the hive up to give another shake out of the package. It’s been 3 hours and about 1/4th are clustering in the package not marching to the entrance.

I came across this discussion of using copper strips for mite control and am curious to learn more. Has anyone tried using copper entranceways or strips around the entrance or in the hive?

https://www.beesource.com/threads/copper-for-mite-control.195827/post-94301

Copper is food safe as far as I know, but I'm curious about it's effect on bees.

Any thoughts or links to articles would be much appreciated.

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I've been reading up on how hive design can help with the management of varroa mites and also came across this interesting piece https://www.beeculture.com/chelifers-or-pseudoscorpions-as-varroa-control-agents/

I'm only an apprentice at the moment. I help a retired pro manage 14 hives that a non-profit is hosting on their roof. I can pack and light a smoker pretty quickly, but it also seems to burn through the fuel in a matter of minutes. The fuel she provides is cardboard (not corrugated. kind of like cereal boxes, but not painted, just plain), peanut and pistachio husks, and we light it with newspaper.

What fuel do you use? Do you pack it super tightly? How long does it last? Is it smoking constantly/strongly when not in use? How often do you have to re-light in 2 hours of inspections?

Hi! So I’m not super educated in this realm but I’m house hunting and found a house my partner and I love but the Nextdoor neighbors (yards are not big, there’s a small fence separating them) is a beekeeper. Dozens of boxes of bees in the yard. When we went to visit it was like 60 degrees and I didn’t see any on the property, but I’m nervous about this given we want to spend a lot of time outside and with our dog. Is this a reasonable fear? Are there ways to keep the bees off the yard if we do get this house? Anything in particular that will keep them interested in our yard?

Thanks for the help

I assume everyone is like me and watches alot of bee keepers on youtube. The bees on there are always super calm and usually the beekeeper isn’t wearing gear or very little. How realistic is this. My bees are definitely not that calm. Only my second year so I definitely am not as quick as someone with more experience.

I’m a second year beekeeper in SE Michigan. I have 2 hives that made it through the winter and one of them is bursting with bees already and I’m finding a lot of uncharged queen cups.

I’m running a deep and medium brood configuration so I’m having difficulties applying any directions to my hive for the split so a few questions.

1. As it’s my first spring with an overwintered hive it’s still getting cold occasionally overnight(little less than a month from last frost), is it too early to split?

2. given I have brood in both the deep and medium box should I just take frames from the deep like the medium wasn’t there? Am I overthinking things?

3. Any advantage to splitting into a Nuc box as opposed to just going right into a 10 frame hive body?

4. opinions on which hive the existing queen should end up?

Would appreciate any advice I can get. Thanks!

If so, what were your means of application and your results?

I made a post a while back about USPS leaving bees behind, aren’t you not supposed to stack these?

These have been here two days and these carts stacked. Sorry for the bad photo.