Advice for a new bee keeper.. Any and all advice welcome

[djgriggs]

Hello My name is Don Griggs.. I am / will be a new bee keeper this Mid / late April when my bees arrive.. I currently finished putting together my two cypress hives with a coating of tung oil. I have been reading alot on beekeeping as it has been something I have wanted to do for years. finally I am here. I was wondering if some of you might be able to give me some input or lead me in the right direction I am interested and curious about going with a foundation-less hive.. What I have done is one hive I am planning to go with foundation and the second hive I am planning to go foundationless frames " https://beebuilt.com/?/?/products/foundationless-frames...


 I have 80 frames with plastic / wax foundation. I am planning on only using 40 in one hive that is 20 deeps and 20 mediums. I plan on using no foundation in my second hive, Well at least checkerboarding at first due to boxed bees probably having foundation ( unknown at the moment ). this way not only do I get to understand how the honeybees take to the foundation vs non foundation / natural. I also get to experience both worlds sort of speak. Even though I am getting my bees a bit late "I think" ( mid / late April ) I do not foresee having an issue with swarms . Let me ask this. As I said earlier. I will be getting two deeps of 10 frame single boxes.. Can I just take those frames of bees and insert them into my hives without issue ? Once again thank you

[BeeMaster2]

Welcome to BeeMaster.
Sounds like you are doing your homework. When you get your bees, if the boxes are full, you can just add a super. You do not want to give your bees more space than they can protect. On your foundation less frames, I recommend, if they do not have a center strip, you add the strip and coat it with some melted bees wax. Ask your supplier if he can provide some. Just use a small brush to paint it on the edge.
I do not recommend that you do a full checkboarding. If you have a cold spell, you could kill the hive or at minimum chill the brood and set the hive way back.
Jim

[djgriggs]

"sawdstmakr"

From my understanding when the I pick up the boxes they will be full . Now when I am told full 10-frames I am thinking 8 frames of bees with the outer 2 frames pollen and honey " just my thought".

With the frameless , These are the frames that I just purchased https://beebuilt.com/products/foundationless-frames-deep , I purchased 20 deep and 20 mediums. It appears that they come with a strip, My question is , will the strip be wide enough, "not wide as in thickness as it is rotated " technically :)  how thick / wide do they need to be? . I had planned to transfer the frames full of bees into the new hives, and checkerboard  [ |:||:| ],, the one box of bee frames with foundationless frames in the one frame. . Believe it or not, I did have the foresight to by a 1 pound block of bees wax for the intended purpose of coating the strips " +1 for me :).

Thank you
DJ

[eltalia]

Welcom Don :-)))

Bill - in Ozztrayyellja

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Welcome Mr. Griggs.  I see you are in Alabama, please study {Varroa mite} and to me a worse parasite {small hive beetle} these pest are in your area and will destroy a hive if you are not educated.  Notice I did not advise to how to deal with each parasite.  I will leave that up to you for you to determine.

Bees are awesome, super organisms, prepare to be amazed.  May your bees prosper.

OK, one piece of advice: stay away from those other so call bee blogs with there advertising: Beemaster is the apex, the summit, the real Mc Coy with knowledgeable, friendly folks.  You are at the top so don?t roll downhill.  Stated with humor:)
Blessings

[jtcmedic]

Welcome.
The one piece I keep telling my self all the time is beekeeping is local.  And as some one here told me ,,
Let  the bees be bees. Being my 3 rd season i am still completely amazed how much I am enamored with  the bees and how much calm and stress relief they bring. Enjoy them

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Yes, Medic, you are so correct: honey bees are a good stress reliever.  They are fascinating creatures, and the folks on this site are fascinating as well,,,,,, folks that are neighbors, folks from across the pond (Atlantic) to folks on the other side of this planet.
Blessings

[Waveeater]

Good luck Don. Bees are like a box of chocolates. Let the fun begin.

[cao]

Welcome.

Can I just take those frames of bees and insert them into my hives without issue ?

Yes.

From my understanding when the I pick up the boxes they will be full . Now when I am told full 10-frames I am thinking 8 frames of bees with the outer 2 frames pollen and honey " just my thought".

With the frameless , These are the frames that I just purchased https://beebuilt.com/products/foundationless-frames-deep , I purchased 20 deep and 20 mediums. It appears that they come with a strip, My question is , will the strip be wide enough, "not wide as in thickness as it is rotated " technically :)  how thick / wide do they need to be? . I had planned to transfer the frames full of bees into the new hives, and checkerboard  [ |:||:| ],, the one box of bee frames with foundationless frames in the one frame. . Believe it or not, I did have the foresight to by a 1 pound block of bees wax for the intended purpose of coating the strips " +1 for me :).

As far as the width of the strip, it just needs to stick down enough so the bees have a place to hang on to when they start building the comb.

The checkerboarding.  If the hives that you are getting are indeed full ten frames, I would just add a couple empty frames(foundationless in one hive, foundation in the other) to the brood nest and pull the outside two frames.  Those two outside frames would go in the middle of the second box.  If they are straight and completely drawn, they will be a good guide for the foundationless frames. 

Later, after they fill out the first couple empty frames in the brood nest, I would add a couple more.  Repeating the process of pulling the outside two frames and moving them up to the second box.  This is a good way to get foundationless frames drawn out straight. 

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Mr. Griggd? Can I just take those frames of bees and insert them into my hives without issue ?

Yes as already stated but go slowly, try not to roll the bees.  The frames with the most bees will most likely be the frame with the queen.  Don?t damage the queen as injuries are permanent.  Pick the first frame with the least number of bees and remove this frame first, slowly, carefully as not to roll the bees.  This now gives you some working room after a frame is removed.  Be very careful not to bump the frame on the hive, lay your hive tool down carefully (see below) bees get excited with vibrations.  Drop a hive tool or bump anything and the bees will immediately take to the air.

A SIMPLE IDEA:  place a strong magnet in your bee coat bottom pocket.  Your hive tool will now stick to this magnet from the outside of your jacket.  So your hive tool is easily reachable.  Dont buy a super strong magnet or you will has to use much force to remove the tool.  I purchased a magnet 4? long, by 1/4 thick, by 1/2 wide.  My tool has never fallen off my jacket, is out of the way and easily reachable.
Blessings

[jalentour]

Don,
You have gotten pretty good advice from the group.  The only thing I could add is to let your new hive settle a few days.  Maybe a couple of you locals can advise.

[BeeMaster2]

?My question is , will the strip be wide enough, "not wide as in thickness as it is rotated " technically :)  how thick / wide do they need to be? . I had planned to transfer the frames full of bees into the new hives, and checkerboard  [ |:||:| ],, the one box of bee frames with foundationless frames in the one frame. . Believe it or not, I did have the foresight to by a 1 pound block of bees wax for the intended purpose of coating the strips " +1 for me :). ?
DJ,
I recommend painting melted wax to the edge of that strip. It gives the bees a line to follow when they start building. It is like the bees think that another bee set the path to follow.
As far as checkerboarding, do it just outside of the brood nest.
If you paint the wood strip, you can just add a foundation less super.
Jim

[GSF]

The 3 biggest killers of bees around here are; Starvation, varroa mites, and small hive beetles. Beekeeping is fascinating and rewarding. Years ago when I only had the internet to learn by this forum board here basically taught me how to keep bees. Another great help was when we all met over in Macon MS at Buds for a field day.

[djgriggs]

Welcome Mr. Griggs.  I see you are in Alabama, please study {Varroa mite} and to me a worse parasite {small hive beetle} these pest are in your area and will destroy a hive if you are not educated.  Notice I did not advise to how to deal with each parasite.  I will leave that up to you for you to determine.

Bees are awesome, super organisms, prepare to be amazed.  May your bees prosper.

OK, one piece of advice: stay away from those other so call bee blogs with there advertising: Beemaster is the apex, the summit, the real Mc Coy with knowledgeable, friendly folks.  You are at the top so don?t roll downhill.  Stated with humor:)
Blessings

Thank you for the advice , much appreciated.

[djgriggs]

To everyone that has replied and to everyone that will . I want to thank you for your time and your advice it has all been great. I look forward to learning and reading more on this forum.. Believe it or not out of all of the bee forums that I have found and posted, I am getting more feedback and information from the BeeMaster... Once again I would like to thank everyone for your time / experience and advice. I am very anxious to get my bees in April.. I do however wish I had them now with all of the pollen that is about. .. My truck is almost green and I have no bees @#$R#@#. unfortunately I must be patient,, I have the Hives built and coated with Tung Oil.. The one last thing is that I need to build a stand for the two hives. . .. If you do not mind I do have a few more questions.

I have read different input / reviews online so I am not for sure what to follow.

1. Do I need to face the frames North and south for better comb ( foundationless ) ? " I have read that this matters and then I have also read that it does not really matter ".
2. Do I need to face the bee entry way in a certain direction ?  " I have read SoutEast " Is this accurate or does it really matter
3. How high should I build the bee stand off of the ground ? I was thinking 16 / 18 " ...
4. Should I start feeding the bees when I transition them to a new hive in mid / late April or will they be able to feed themselves ?

Thank you

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Mr. Griggs, I face my hives to the south, I am a lot further North (N. Arkansas)than you so the wind is a consideration.

I build my hive stands about 18 inches high.  We receive 12 inches of snow so above the snow line which is not a concern in your area.  Ants are a concern to you so I would go at least 12 inches and if ants invade you can treat the legs of the stand at ground level.

I would advise you to start another thread on feeding a new hive.  There are so many variables: ROBBING, ROBBING, ROBBING, sugar in your honey frames is a problem if you plan to extract Honey, concentration of sugar, 2:1 or 1:1, essential oils, how to offer the sugar solution?????

Note 1:1 sugar is two four pound bags of sugar to a gallon (8.3 pounds) of water.  2:1 is four each four pound bags of sugar to one gallon of water.
Blessings

[cao]

1. Don't know that it really matters.
2. I would face it away from the prevailing winds and/or towards the morning sun.  In my area the really nasty cold winds during winter usually come out of the northwest so most of my hives face southeast to some degree.  South being the important part.
3. That is up to you.  Whatever height is comfortable to you.  My stands vary from 12-18".  The taller ones are for nucs.  The shorter ones are for eight frame hives.  I would suggest you stack your boxes and see what is a good height for your back.
4. Since you are getting a full box of bees, I would say that you will not need to feed.  You can judge this better when you transition them to your boxes.  If they have lots of honey/necter than they don't need to be fed.

[chux]

You have gotten so much good advice. Feed!!!! You need them to draw out comb. Feed them 1 to 1 sugar water. If the flow is not on, they will take that sugar water and use it to build comb. If the flow is on, they will probably ignore the feed and go for the natural stuff, using it to draw comb. Give them feed "just in case." I bet you could find a local beek who would be happy to come over and assist as you get your hive settled and re-homed.

One thought about foundationless frames...You need to be very deliberate in the way you handle those frames. You will have a foundation hive next door, and you will be tempted to be "lazy" about the way you handle frames in that hive. You can flip foundation frames every which way to look at what you've got. Not so in a foundationless frame, especially when it is hot out, it is newer comb, or they haven't attached at least three sides. I have run and do run quite a few of both. I suggest that you form a habit of treating every frame as if it were foundationless. Don't get in the habit of holding combs angled parallel to the ground. Keep them perpendicular to the ground and rotate on the long axis. (You can search for demos of people handling top bar hive combs, to see the best way to rotate foundationless frames of newer comb) Why do I make this suggestion? Because on a hot day this summer you are going to not think about it and flip a foundationless frame sideways and drop the comb on the ground. So, treat every frame like it is foundationless, in order to ingrain that habit in your brain.

Have fun with it.