/r/Beekeeping

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r/Beekeeping - Beekeeping education and help, with kindness.

/r/Beekeeping

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2

Rendered wax

Rendered some wax, mostly cappings and saved burr comb.

I like using half gallon milk cartons for amounts close to a pound.

Used a paint strainer bag but could obviously stand to filter again through something finer. Its fine for adding wax to plastic foundation which is what I intend to use it for.

https://preview.redd.it/baxkr8btvyyd1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ebc64cf1d612342b3e51ab64155e6faeb9ffada3

https://preview.redd.it/nb5ewbbtvyyd1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d228a50e23ebdf1b43a54741cbbd47f04fe10bc3

1 Comment
2024/11/04
23:10 UTC

6

Newbie alert!

Hey everybody!! I'm just now joining the club. I found someone who their was selling a bunch of beekeeping equipment along with their Hive. My partner and I have always spoke about having bees so we hopped on the opportunity!!

We live in North Georgia, and I just got them set up with a base/entrance, a lighter box on the bottom, an incredibly heavy box on top. Then a little feeder section above that. The only guidance I've received so far is that they've had their mite treatment for fall, Make sure the entrance faces South, and to give them two cups of sugar and one cup of water every two days or so.

I'm heading home now to give them their first feeding after joining our ranks on Sunday.

I've been chin deep in YouTube tutorials and knowledge on beekeeping ever since I got them, but I figure I'd say hello to the subreddit and see if y'all had any advice. If you had one or two indispensable tips for a brand new beekeeper going into fall, what would they be?

8 Comments
2024/11/04
21:52 UTC

3

elevated hives?

I'm considering getting a hive. Thinking about where we'd put it, where it wouldn't be bothered by dogs/ pigs/goats/chickens/children. We HAVE acreage, that's not the problem, though it'd be better off in or around the yard, since we have tons a raccoons. We have an old outbuilding that has an upper floor with a barn door on the end of it, where you can open it up and there's a 9 foot drop. It's not REALLY a hayloft, because it's not that tall, but I assume it was for something like that. We barely use it (storage), and the door doesn't close all the way.

I could set up a hive up there, and it'd be mostly on it's own. There's a bit of heat from 2 pigs and 4 goats below. It's blocked from the wind. And if it was next to the door, bees would be able to come and go as they'd please. Here's my question: can you keep bees somewhere like that? Would they be able to find their way BACK? Do bees understand elevations?

5 Comments
2024/11/04
21:09 UTC

1

Any Beekeepers in Richmond VA?

Hi Everyone,

Aspiring beekeeper just looking to see if there are any fellow RVA folks running around!

Would love to see any pics or recommendations for getting started in this area.

Thanks!

1 Comment
2024/11/04
21:08 UTC

2

New beekeeper

Hello Everyone!

I am a new beekeeper in the midcoast area of Maine. I am currently in the process of getting equipment so I can order the nucs and have them ready for pickup in the spring. Below is a list of the equipment I have and stuff I plan to get. I'm hoping someone more experienced could take a look and tell me if there is something else I should get and any advice for starting out would be amazing. Thank you for reading and any responses :)

for hives I have 2 two layer starter beehive kits from the Bee Castle brand. Comes with bottom board, entrance reducer, 1 Deep brood box, queen excluder, 1 Medium box, inner cover, metal covered roof, and 40 frames (20 per kit) with foundations everything is coated in beeswax vs painted.

full body vented bee suit

Standard smoker

Standard hive tool with J hook end

2 "rapid round feeders" for sugar syrup

Honey B healthy feeding stimulant (recommended by a local keeper who said to use this on early spring feeds and new colony)

Queen clips with markers

Queen cages

Stuff I still have to buy

Apivar strips for mite treatment

Beehive wrap (for next winter

Honey processing equipment (strainers, extractors, buckets, uncapping knives etc)

Pollen patties

2 Wood nuc boxes to catch swarms in/apiary expansion

Extra medium boxes for honey production I'm thinking of getting 4 extra (2 per hive)

9 Comments
2024/11/04
20:46 UTC

2

2 hives different attitude

South of France.

Question, it’s my first year as a keeper. Started in June. Have two hives, one produced all 10 frames and supers. The other filled 10 frames and no supers.

After setting up for winter, I give both a pate and syrup.

Today, I popped down to see them and the one that filled the supers had eaten most of everything and seemed active.

Whilst the other looked like they had barely touched the same food, amount etc. but also seemed really slow, as if they could not be bothered.

Is this common? Is there something that can be done? They are only 4-5 feet apart.

Any ideas or advice welcome!

Thanks in advance.

1 Comment
2024/11/04
20:26 UTC

4

Late Fall Formic Pro treatment

New first year beekeeper located in Central TX. Today is our first day under 90 degrees and we got rain, yay! So it’s been a learning curve for sure this year. I did a late Apiguard treatment that finished in September. Both hives are doing great and I’ve been feeding bc we have had a seriously hot and dry fall this year. Today is the first day it’s dropped under 90 degrees and finally moving into the 60-80 range starting later this week. Based on information I have from the beekeeping class I took early this year, October is a good month for a formic treatment if mites are over threshold since December is when hives get closed up for winter. However, it was way too hot in October to treat. I have about 6-8 weeks until I’ll need to close the ladies up for our mild winter. I am inspecting and testing more levels this weekend after the rain passes, my question is, if they are above 3%, do I have enough time to effectively do a formic pro treatment and keep them in good shape for overwintering? I guess I’m just worried that it’ll cause issues with their numbers/brood. Since I’ve never use FP and we are heading into winter. I have my local beekeeping meeting next week so I’ll ask there too but I appreciate the insights from this channel as well. Thanks!

7 Comments
2024/11/04
18:24 UTC

1

Bees near a pool?

Hello! I haven't had bees before but am planning to start next spring. One thing I learned recently is how bees can be attracted to pools as a water source. My plan would be to put a saltwater kiddie pool close to the hives which they would hopefully use, but I'm concerned because my immediate neighbor also has a pool. I don't live in a neighborhood so no worries about an HOA but how much of a concern should this be? I'm wondering if this is such a big concern I shouldn't even start beekeeping now at this location... Appreciate any thoughts or personal experiences with this type of situation!

6 Comments
2024/11/04
15:41 UTC

8

We lost hive, now I want to learn from what happened.

Imgur link: https://imgur.com/a/w4fgFd9

Location: Atlanta Georgia

Experience: New of this year, received this established hive from a local beekeeper downsizing his business in March

So we went out yesterday as we were going to try and replace our bee's brood box before winter (Atlanta Georgia), and we found a very empty hive with a highly infested top feeder full of ants. Pretty upset with how everything came out, but I guess glad they left versus dying given the two options. Our build was:

Telescopic Top

Top feeder ( Specifically this one https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41PQVFE+X5L._AC_SL1000_.jpg )

Medium 10 frame (that was full of honey 1.5 months ago)

Deep 10 frame brood box

We used to have a honey super up until a few days ago, that they never built up the comb during nectar flow. We are realizing we should have removed that way earlier for less defense space. We treated for mites in April and August, and were preparing for oxalic acid here in the next week or so, so I don't think that was the issue.

I've uploaded the pictures we took of the frames but so far we have seen:

  1. Hive beetles (guessing 70-100)
  2. Ants in the top feeder ( but sparingly in the hive)
  3. Wax moths ( maybe 3-5 total)
  4. A surprisingly lack of honey, most was uncapped but some was capped
  5. sporadic brood patterns, but also hardly any brood ( we could be wrong, I still a hard time determining early brood versus uncapped honey)
  6. No dead bees anywhere inside the hive just two stragglers still eating honey
  7. 20-30 dead bees outside the hive

Lessons learned

  1. Check them more ( our schedules got busy and they were operating so well during nectar flow we let this slide)
  2. Bucket feeder inside a deep box instead of top feeder to discourage other insects
  3. Feed them more in general
  4. React quickly to problems and don't sit on them
  5. Go all the way down into the brood chamber when checking, not just checking the top medium
  6. Cultivate the space around them to be less ideal for other insects
  7. Swiffer sheets for SHB

Questions:

  1. Was there a large obvious answer that made them leave? I assume the beetles and moths were more just symptoms. Did they just eat all over their honey and they expected extra from us based off their size?

If there is anything we missed, we would really appreciate the pointers. We are going to give it another swing in the spring with what we learned this go around.

Also we plan on getting a deep freezer and freezing all the frames to give to our NUCs in the spring, if anyone has any better ideas I'm all ears.

17 Comments
2024/11/04
14:18 UTC

151

Christmas is coming to the markets (Germany)

If only the candle moulds weren't so expensive

17 Comments
2024/11/04
07:18 UTC

7

Mass die off in early November/ dead hive.

I'm in the Pacific Northwest and noticed my hive has been really inactive over the last week. When I removed the top cover, I saw no bees below the inner cover. Two weeks ago, it was buzzing. I treated for Varroa mites three times in mid to early October, and everything seemed fine. I also treated in early spring and twice during the summer.

Could there be any other reasons for the mass die-off? The hive is dead, and all the bees are at the bottom. There are many dead bees on the bottom board, with some half out of their comb and their proboscis extended, though not all have their tongues out. There's still a lot of honey left, and the temperature has not dropped below freezing—around 44°F (7°C) all fall.

Can I keep the comb until next year for a new order of bees? Should I check for anything specific on the comb to ensure it's safe?

Edit: former first year beekeeper. Since I no longer have a hive I can't call myself a bee keeper.

14 Comments
2024/11/03
21:49 UTC

1

Beginner here looking for tips!

Hey guys, I’ve been following along in the beekeeping community and love to see what you do. I was wondering if you have any tips to get started in beekeeping, I’ve been thinking it would be soo nice to have fresh honey!🥰

2 Comments
2024/11/03
18:23 UTC

1

Emergency queen cells late in season

First year beekeeper looking for advice. I have two hives in the midwestern US (IL). Fall has been warmer than average. I see some foraging and my remaining queen is still laying as of yesterday.

Yesterday on inspection, in one hive I saw 5-10 capped queen cells. There were no eggs or uncapped larva. 13 days ago eggs were present. So, I assume the queen died 10-15 days ago, possibly during my previous inspection. I also assume the new queen will not be able to mate, given how late in the year it is.

My queenright hive has about 10 frames of bees. The queenless hive is/was a bit stronger, with 10-15 frames of bees.

What would you do? I was not able to find anyone selling mating queens, which is not a surprise.

  1. Shake the bees into the queenright hive. Donate some stores from the queenless hive. I guess I'd freeze the remaining frames from the queenless hive or something. Split in spring.

  2. Do nothing. Hard to say if any bees would make it through winter.

  3. Donate eggs/brood from the queenright hive. Again hard to say if enough bees would make it. Kill the virgin queen and requeen in spring.

I'm leaning toward (1). The reason I ask is, I don't know at what point adding more bees to a hive is no longer useful.

10 Comments
2024/11/03
20:17 UTC

5

Trying to buy bees in Texas

I live in the DFW area of Texas and I’m looking to start a backyard hive as a hobby. I’m looking to buy Italian bees but not sure where the best place to get them for a decent price without incurring importation fees. Need guidance.

15 Comments
2024/11/03
17:37 UTC

0

Can you make honey in Colorado canyons?

Recently moved to Colorado from the east coast where I kept bees successfully. I see Beekeepers in the valleys where there is more diverse vegetation and wildflowers, and even up in the high plateaus, but here up in the canyons it is pretty dry and it seems like only Pine trees are growing. Anyone has experience keeping bees successfully in this type of environment?

5 Comments
2024/11/03
14:38 UTC

15

Ready for the winter in Friuli Venezia Giulia (Italy)

Due to a large number of varroa in the hive I had to weaken the family a lot, let's hope everything goes well. Actually, the photo is missing a sheet of polystyrene on the right that I added later.

7 Comments
2024/11/03
13:06 UTC

1

Store new wax frames over winter

I was generously given everything I will need to start beekeeping in the spring, and I’m super excited! I live in New England and it’s already getting cold here. Where is the best place to store brand new wax frames? I have a basement with plenty of room that stays relatively warm but can occasionally get humid or a cold garage. Should I enclose them in bags or storage bins to prevent mice? Thanks!!

6 Comments
2024/11/03
12:29 UTC

7

Need help starting a hive

 I don’t have bees or a hive set up right now, but come next spring I will set up my hive. 
 I bought a flow self flowing hive but need bees. And advise. 
 I live in upper Michigan in the farthest north region and am seeking advice on what bees I should get and where to get queens and worker bees. 
 All I want is a personal honey supply as a hobby, nothing crazy. 
15 Comments
2024/11/03
06:23 UTC

1

Has anyone used one of these to melt beeswax? We've got one that melts soy based wax, but I don't think it gets warm enough for beeswax.

3 Comments
2024/11/03
04:54 UTC

17

Is this just drone larvae?

2nd year beekeeper- Victoria, Australia.

Lifting the second brood box and noticed a lot of what appears to be drone larvae.

Didn’t see any other signs of ill health.

1st box is not very full of brood 2nd box is full of honey and brood.

Super is just starting to be waxed up.

Thoughts?

12 Comments
2024/11/03
04:08 UTC

28

Just survived my first swarm.

Very new beekeeper (coming up 1 year). Just experienced my first swarm yesterday. Was wild as I wasn't sure what was happening at first. I am in Melbourne, Australia. Didn't realise my brood bow population had exploded so rapidly. They took up residency on a nearby branch and Jeff, a local beekeeper i contacted came and took them away to a new hive. All in all things went well, but was a fascinating experience first time around. Love this hobby and love that I am always learning.

1 Comment
2024/11/03
04:02 UTC

49

Got them all buttoned up for winter in the condensing hive setup!

Located in the temperate Pacific Northwest, where they are predicting a colder and wetter La Niña winter. The hives are about R7 on the sides and R35 on top. Five wood hives, two poly Hive IQ hives, and one Apimaye.

11 Comments
2024/11/02
23:57 UTC

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