/r/Beekeeping

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r/Beekeeping, everything bees, honey, and hives!

Topics of interest: beekeeping, bee gardens, bee research, bee pictures, and honey appreciation.

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Are you new to Beekeeping? More information can be found in the wiki


Rules for submission:

  1. We know about the flow hive. Click Here instead of posting.
  2. Read the wiki and find a local club or mentor before asking "Starting Out" questions.
  3. Message the mods before posting a thread advertising your business or crowdfunding campaign.
  4. Questions should include location (region, state, or country). Clear pictures help a lot, too.
  5. The majority of posts here concern the common honeybee, Apis mellifera. Clarify when talking about another bee, or if unsure.
  6. No T-shirt spam

Related subreddits:

/r/AntWorld

/r/bees

/r/beeporn

/r/mead

/r/bugkeeping

/r/livingofftheland

/r/farming

/r/gardening

/r/homestead

/r/homesteading

/r/honey

/r/GardenWild/

/r/insects

/r/livestock

/r/seedstock

/r/selfsufficiency

/r/entomology

/r/vermiculture

And Check Out the Big List of Related Reddits


If your submission is not appearing, message the moderator. The spam filter and Automoderator settings may pick up many legitimate submissions and flag new or negative karma users.

Many beginner questions can be answered by reading the wiki.

Subreddit header image and logo created by /u/ShotInTheAct

/r/Beekeeping

162,492 Subscribers

2

Too soon to expand/split?

SE PA Zone B here. First time overwintering. Hive is very strong. 2 full frames of honey in deep and 2 more frames filling up. Plenty of eggs/larvae and capped brood as well. Found the queen etc. Right now I have the hive in a single deep with a quilt box w/ cedar shavings. They are building lots of comb on the bottom of the metal screen of the quilt box. This tells me they are eager to expand and I am concerned that they will try to swarm very early. I found no new queen/swarm cells. The next 10 days is showing night temps hovering around the 40s with a drop next week into the low 30s. I have a feeling if I add another box on top for them to expand they will just freeze to death one night. And if I split it will end up the same way. Am I getting ahead of myself and panicking?

6 Comments
2024/03/13
16:58 UTC

1

Post mortem honey...

Bees didn't make it through the winter (I think I lost the queen going I to the fall) Many of the honey frames are 25-50% capped, with the rest uncapped. Any advice for harvesting this? Also. I plan to put it in the freezer until I can get to it unless someone has a better idea

2 Comments
2024/03/13
16:39 UTC

1

Hive just swarmed - high in a pine tree. Can I urge them back down?

My partner has been making recent posts here but she is not available right now to help me: https://www.reddit.com/user/slimy_salamamber/submitted/

Within the span of about 20 minutes, the hive went from normal activity to swarming. There is a cluster of bees on a pine tree branch way the hell up in the air; it's completely inaccessible.

We have an empty nuc with old comb and lemon grass oil which was in our front yard a couple hundred yards from the hives. I moved it closer to the hives/pine tree. Will this be sufficient for trying to coax the swarm or is there anything else I can do?

Thanks!

6 Comments
2024/03/13
16:28 UTC

11

Girls are getting happy here in southwest PA

1 Comment
2024/03/13
15:15 UTC

1

Harvesting honey or keeping for next round?

Unfortunately only 1/3 hives survived the winter here this year. Thoughts on whether I should save the honey frames to give to the new package bees or harvest some of it?

3 Comments
2024/03/13
13:34 UTC

3

Hive entrance blocked

Hello all. We’ve had a run of warm(ish) days recently coming out of winter. Happy to report it seems my hive (my first winter) made it through. However, I noticed with the warm weather yesterday that the bees were only using the top opening, and not the main lower to enter/exit. Upon investigation, I found that the lower entrance was blocked with a ton of dead bee bodies. I removed the entrance reducer and scooped out the dead bee bodies. Is this normal? Or are my bees just bad at keeping their home clean? Given time, would they have cleaned it up? Do you guys think this could have caused moisture issues since there would likely be a lack of air circulation? Any advice would be appreciated!

7 Comments
2024/03/13
13:14 UTC

3

Keeping bees away from me??

Not bee keeping related but thought it might help- I work at a drink container recycling facility and as a result there’s a hive, hives (?) nearby that have decided the empty cans of soft drink are WONDERFUL and frequently visit. Each night bees will die in the shed and each day the same amount of bees return to the shed. This would be fine- however I’m discovering I’m somewhat allergic to bee stings (stung 3 times in past 5 days and with each sting feelings of nausea and disorientation get worse, no swelling of airways 🤞) all this being said- I need a way to deter bees from me or the whole facility if possible? Don’t get me wrong love bees- don’t love feeling like a wet noodle after being stung.

15 Comments
2024/03/13
11:15 UTC

1

Getting A Bee Suit To Fit Well

I'm very short (5'2"), female (curvy), and heavy (wide). As a result, the bee suits that fit around my hips and chest are designed to fit much taller people (usually by a foot or so). The crotch ends up closer to my knees when I put these suits on.

I am curious if anybody has found good ways to "hack" or customize their suits to fit better vertically?

With the three layer mesh suits, could a seamstress just cut out a portion of the torso and sew it back together or would that be difficult due to the material? If I added some kind of elastic belt to pull the bottom up and blouse out the top, would that create issues with the suit's functionality? Are there companies that will customize a suit for you if you send them the suit and your measurements?

I'm open to and appreciate whatever ideas you might have!

10 Comments
2024/03/13
10:52 UTC

0

Beekeeping with Horses in pastures

I am curious who keeps bees and horses?

What is your experience with this, do the bees bother the horses? Do the bees remain seperate from them or near by them?

3 Comments
2024/03/13
05:19 UTC

99

Southeastern Ohio - Blue Pollen coming in today.

14 Comments
2024/03/12
23:00 UTC

1

Finish on exterior of Flow Hive

I've received some good education to my newbie questions here, so I'm trying again. I acquired some low VOC water based latex wood sealant to finish the exterior of my new (no bees yet) Flow Hive, but it smells chemical hinkey. Wondering about natural bees wax, maybe a couple of coats. But maybe it wears off in the N Texas summer heat and rain faster than latex or oil (like tung or linseed. Wondering if anyone has experience or recommendations about using bees wax.

5 Comments
2024/03/12
22:31 UTC

1

Cleaning an extractor

Hello beekeepers. I have been gifted a manual extractor, but it has quite a bit of crystallized honey in it. As in over the top of the pour spout and into the frame holders. Any tips to get it cleaned out?

10 Comments
2024/03/12
22:42 UTC

4

How long can a new empty hive sit before my package arrives.

I have two packages arriving in early April. I’ve got my deeps painted and ready to go. They’re sitting in my basement.

Are they okay to put outside now with wax foundation frames in them knowing bees are still a month out. Or should I wait until a few days before?

11 Comments
2024/03/12
22:05 UTC

34

And Just Like That - They Were Gone

14 Comments
2024/03/12
21:57 UTC

2

Can you tell me if my spring plan sounds right

Zone B - (central Illinois) This will be my second year of beekeeping (bought packages last spring). I wanted to see if this sounds like a good plan for this month.

This weekend- reverse brood boxes

2-3 weeks from now do a split.

Thoughts? Does everyone reverse the brood boxes?

4 Comments
2024/03/12
20:09 UTC

10

Swarms wait for no one. I was hoping to get to my hives this weekend and split then but one couldn’t wait.

It’s too high for me to get. Im a it disappointed it happened but oh well live and learn amirite. It’s a nice size swarm too.

10 Comments
2024/03/12
19:08 UTC

13

How to have only 2 hives? I'm sure it's simple...

I live in town. A yard of my size is only permitted two hives. I am starting this year. I have two nucs ordered, so I know it's not likely I will deal with swarming this year, but I am trying to think ahead.

If I am sitting here next spring and have a hive ready to swarm, or more likely both hives ready to swarm, and am only allowed 2 hives, then what am I to do? I can't do a split and have 3 or 4 hives. If I can't split, and the hives swarm, then I have no hives, as the small remaining hives that don't swarm are likely to die off or produce almost nothing that year.

If I was able to have 3 or four hives total, then I feel I could keep two hives "in production" as in when a hive wants to swarm, split them, and have 4 hives for a while, then over winter clear out two of the hives and be ready for that same cycle again the next year, but if you are only permitted two hives, then how do you deal with swarming and keeping two active hives going?

Or does being limited to two hive mean you only "really" get one hive, as in one hive, it splits, now you have two, the old one dies, you are down to 1, that one swarms and splits, now you have two again, so on so forth.

43 Comments
2024/03/12
18:50 UTC

6

What are you doing to increase forage for your hives?

We frost seeded a few hundred pounds of sweet clover in a few different honey yards. And have started working with the state nursery to give saplings that have spring nectar to put nuc customers. Just curious what others are doing.

11 Comments
2024/03/12
16:18 UTC

73

Feeding dead bees to chickens

So I just did the spring cleaning of my hives and had this thought “can I feed these to my chickens”?

22 Comments
2024/03/12
16:08 UTC

11

Half a bee still doing it's thing. I saw it fly up and land. I didn't think he was hurt that bad so I left it bee.

I'm in Florida. It looks like he lost his back half.

3 Comments
2024/03/12
14:03 UTC

8

Spring has sprung for me (First Bee) in NEPA

2 Comments
2024/03/12
13:39 UTC

1

Worryingly amount of activity

4 Comments
2024/03/12
01:17 UTC

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