Had been researching about beekeeping before hopping into it. Recently, monsoon season strikes my country (Malaysia) badly where floods goes as high as to adult chest level. Such erratic weather may last 2-3 months long. Under such circumstance, what are things a beekeeper must do to keep the safety and wellbeings of bee colonies?

Hey all, this afternoon I found these little white balls at the entrance to my bee hive. Any idea what they are? They weren’t there earlier this morning and never seen anything similar. I’m located in Australia. TIA!

EDIT: I decided to do both! I’m going to take the local beginner’s course, but still do the longer online one. Thanks for all your input. 😁

Hello! I am a USMC veteran living in Raleigh, NC, interested in learning more about beekeeping.

I am signed up for Heroes to Hives, a free course for veterans offered through Michigan State University. It’s all online and starts in March.

However, I’ve seen in posts here that it’s best to take a local class because beekeeping is so location-dependent. I’ve joined my county beekeepers association; they offer affordable classes that start next month.

Should I do the local class instead of the online one? Or in addition to it? Or would I be okay with the online class + a local mentor?

Hope the lady’s are enjoying the R45 in the attic. Wondering what tape to use? The zip system flashing tape works the best for holding the foam board together.

I’m new at this, my first hive. This summer the recently bought nuc was thriving in the Arkansas Ozark forest. They filled a deep and a second was added, I just wanted them to thrive so no excluder or super. Treated for mites and beetles and all looked good. Had a few below freezing temps recently,Now this. Where did I go wrong?

Hey all, my Uncle keeps bees and I find it fascinating. I have been considering joining the beekeeper family. I am sure you get these questions a lot but what are some tips that you would have for starting out? Location near house, common hacks that can save headaches, and needed items to start.

Thank you!!!

Hello everyone,

Researching right now in order to set myself up with some honey bees. We already have native Australian bees.

For those who are prohive flohive, are they safe in Australian climate? (Its very hot here).

I'm worried about their insulation.

Thank you!

Hi everyone, I really hope I’m allowed to ask for help here because I’m having a hard time finding the right place to ask. After searching on reddit, I’ve realized there’s similar discourse going on here sometimes. I was gifted some beeswax recently from a friend (Northern California) and since I make homemade soaps I have a lot of butters and oils on hand and would like to make some lip balms with these ingredients. If anyone in this subreddit is familiar with making lip balm (my questions are mainly surrounding oils) please DM me so we can chat. Sorry to intrude in here and be off topic but I’m just looking for someone who can show me the way before I blow money/supplies on failed experiments. Thank you

Hello, I recently went down a bee wikipedia rabbit hole, and learned about Brazilian stingless bees and that people apparently just keep them in their apartments. I couldn't find a lot of information on this, and wanted to know if this was a common thing, or if theres anywhere I can find more information on them.

Her and her 8 roommates were relocated from stored equipment. Mating nucs etc. should be closed up too. Mouse pee can ruin your stuff.

Is it safe to give bees Smucker’s natural honey? I saved this little guy from a pool at work 🍯🐝😇

Connecticut: I’m getting back into beekeeping and this time round am using all mediums. Nuc colonies are always made with deep frames. Are there any suppliers offering medium nucs?

Not directly a beekeeping question, but hopefully someone has advice!

I recently started in honey bee research, and some of it is easy lab work, but I also help with general field beekeeping duties. As a petite woman (both short and light), some of the work feels really hard (physically) because of the weight of stuff. Boxes of bees are heavy! And after helping to build boxes for 1 hour, I thought my arm was going to fall off from using the hammer.

So my question is, does anyone have advice for kinds of workouts I can do to improve my functional strength on the job? I used to lift and was a lot stronger a few years ago but I lost a lot of that muscle since. I do yoga sometimes now, so my flexibility is ok, but I even struggle against my own body weight for certain moves so I know my strength isn’t great. Even if I still was doing consistent weight training, the shape/size of beekeeping equipment makes it different from dumbbells. With that in mind, is there other types of training or specific exercises that you guys think would help me be more comfortable and capable at work?

I purchase this lavender honey from France and have had it for about 5 months. Is it still good to eat? There is an odd crusty layer on top that doesn’t resemble crystallization to me.

First year, located in CT. Bees have been buttoned up for winter for about a month, but sometime in the next month on a warm day I’d like to add some sugar bricks as I think they went into winter low on stores. I plan to use the no-cook method of wetting a bunch of sugar, mixing it up and letting it set. I have a shim from betterbee to create a 1.5” space for the bricks. Based on lots of googling it seems like the preferred approach is putting the spacer & bricks between the hive body & the inner cover, bricks right on top of the frames (as opposed to putting them above the inner cover).

My question/concern is this: the last few times I opened the hive the bees seemed concentrated at the top, which makes sense since that’d be the warmest part of the hive. If I lay a bigass slab of hard sugar across the top of all those frames, haven’t I messed up their ability to form a night tight cluster across multiple frames and move around? Like, currently they have a bunch of hallways leading to a “central” space (the space above the frames), but if I lay a big brick across the top then they have just a bunch of separated hallways, so they’d need to either all be clustered in between the same two frames or else they’re effectively separated, right? Is it better to do a bunch of small bricks and space them out to create spaces between? Thanks in advance!

Hi , I have a question. I wasn't able to extract my honey this year and because of that I'm going in the winter with 2 brood boxes and 2 supers on each hive. I am thinking about putting this insulation on the hive to help the bees warm the big space they have. I live in ireland and I would not expect more than -7°c maybe -10°C. Did anyone use this before ? Is it a good idea? I also have Styrofoam under the kids. Thanks

Was beekeeping the other day and wondered the above question. The Middle is Brood, outside that is Pollen, then Nectar and Honey.

As a Metric, instead of "weight" I am thinking the metric should be "by Cell".

What are the Percentages by Number of Cells?
Replies can contain Studies, hearsay, or personal experience.

*Would these percentages be different in the "Wild" - in a world without beekeepers?*

Just a curious beekeeper! Thanks :) VA/USA located, with a grandad with tons of experience

Edit: different hives will contain different proportions in different climates, species, and times of year.

Assuming that all is Average: your average beehive, in an average climate, with average nectar yields, with an average queen, in

Location: Kanchanaburi, Thailand

I found this queen bee cell today, and not sure what to do with it. Any advise?

additional information

- daytime temps: around 32c

- "cool" season, no rainfall

https://preview.redd.it/zvcv2t261n4e1.jpg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=df4d6ff8eeb3d5f65cef9eb69f07c0df121f3206

With the cold weather arriving, and seeming to stick around in southeast Virginia I’m wrapping up my first year of beekeeping and wonder how my fellow beeks keep themselves occupied until the flurry of work arrived in spring?

Additionally I’m looking at expanding next year, both splitting my hives once they are strong enough, and purchasing a few more nucs. What are your opinions on new hive bodies? I was looking at the unassembled deep body hives from Mann Lake, in bulk for the discount obviously. However building them myself from 2x lumber would cut out several hundred dollars. I know that would increase the weight quite a bit, but I am relatively fit, and not worried about moving the extra couple of pounds even after feeling a deep box completely full of honey. I also have the skills required to build it, but I’m not sure if it’s worth it compared to buying some. Anyone have any insight?

First, I'm new, 1st year, if I'm thinking about something incorrectly...ideally don't be a tool, but I'm VERY open to feedback. I'm well aware I'm not the smartest guy and don't pretend to be.

Why?

I've dove into the deep end and plan to expand quite a bit next year! With that in mind I've started making mini mating nucs with my 3d printer (Anycubic Kobra 3).

The main reason I'm doing this vs just buying the foam ones. I can very easily make it so that there aren't any duplicate hives, visually. Ideally making the return from their mating flights more likely to succeed/not return to the incorrect mating hive. I can also make this somewhere in the realm of a 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of a foam one and I'm hoping these last longer.

As soon as they come back successfully mated I have two frame setups they'll get moved into and then once I know the laying patter doesn't look horrid I'll give them a bigger box to move into for my own expansion or to sell.

If you are interested in the prints

I found the original design on one of the 3d print plan websites, but wanted to maximize my print bed. The `lengthened` STL files stretch this out to nearly 250mm which is what my print bed can handle. I reached out to the original designer to see if he'd be up for building an upper story for added laying area.
Original Plans Download

The Original files + my "lengthened" components