The Real Classroom

[NasalSponge]

If you truly wish to learn the art of beekeeping, to learn your bees...a chair in your apiary and lot of time spent in it is a must. There the bees will teach you without opinion and philosophy......pure, unadulterated knowledge.

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[Bush_84]

I love to sit and watch my bees. In previous years I just setup a concrete block and sat next to them. This year I bought three Nucs, which turned out to be very strong but very hot. I get 2-3 bees pinging off my veil once I get within 10 yards of my hives. Inspections are worse. So until I am able to remedy this situation my watching will have to be done suited up. 🙁

[LizzieBee]

I can spend up to an hour a day sitting only about two inches from my beehive. The stand has four cinder blocks with two pieces of wood resting across. I sit on one of the cinderblocks and watch them come in and out. It doesn?t seem to bother them. I?ve seen them coming into the hive with all sorts of colors of pollen (yellow, orange, red, gray, purple, brown) on their legs. Some of them are covered in pollen when they come in. All those colors of pollen get me curious as to what plant they are from, so I went around the property and found where the bees were  foraging and what color pollen they had on their legs. Wild blackberries was gray, carpet roses was orange, wild lilac was pale yellow. I think the other colors are plants that aren?t on my property.

Bush, what type of bees are they? Sorry to hear they?re grumps.

LizzieBee

[Bush_84]

I can spend up to an hour a day sitting only about two inches from my beehive. The stand has four cinder blocks with two pieces of wood resting across. I sit on one of the cinderblocks and watch them come in and out. It doesn?t seem to bother them. I?ve seen them coming into the hive with all sorts of colors of pollen (yellow, orange, red, gray, purple, brown) on their legs. Some of them are covered in pollen when they come in. All those colors of pollen get me curious as to what plant they are from, so I went around the property and found where the bees were  foraging and what color pollen they had on their legs. Wild blackberries was gray, carpet roses was orange, wild lilac was pale yellow. I think the other colors are plants that aren?t on my property.

Bush, what type of bees are they? Sorry to hear they?re grumps.

LizzieBee

They are vsh Italians I bought from a guy north of me. They were Nucs. I have typically gotten packages from Mann lake. I?m pretty sure they get their stock from Olivarez (sp?) from California. Gentle bees but I have had not always had much luck in winter and have had chalkbrood issues. So I figured it was time to change. I?m thinking about getting some carnis from Strachan next.

[BeeMaster2]

Bush,
The next time you do an inspection, try smoking them with 3 or 4 good puffs of smoke, leave them sit for 10 minutes, then smoke them again and wait 30 seconds.
Do you use leather gloves? They can cause the bees to be very aggressive. If so try the blue neoprene gloves.
Jim

[Bush_84]

Bush,
The next time you do an inspection, try smoking them with 3or 4 good pics of smoke, leave them sit for 10 seconds, then smoke them again and wait 30 seconds.
Do you use leather gloves? They can cause the bees to be very aggressive. If so try the blue neoprene gloves.
Jim

I?ve tried them with smoke and without smoke. Inspections on perfect days. At first I thought it was maybe due to all the recent intrusions. Getting stuffed in a cardboard nuc. Jammed in a car. Stuffed into a new hive. Oav treatments. Possibly skunks (constant presence here). Then it hit me as I was inspecting my other three hives of a different pedigree. My other three hives are always extremely tame. I can pull frames and they are calm and quiet. That?s how my bees have always been. Now I can?t get within 10 yards of my hives and they chase me darn near 100 yards and still don?t give up. With these Nucs as soon as I pop the lid bees immediately fill the air. As soon as I pull a comb it nearly empties and the remaining bees run on the comb like they are being chased. Sometime this next week I?ll be rearing a few queens. Maybe I?ll pull the other queens and stick them in a mating nuc for now as an emergency backup. My issue is my only time tested queen gets chalkbrood every single spring no matter what I do. My other two options are untested first year package queens.

[little john]

With regard to the OP, there's a relevant book entitled "At the Hive Entrance" by a guy named Storch, in which he describes how much information can be inferred by just sitting and watching - that is, providing you have no other jobs around the place that are making demands upon your time ...
If you Google for 'At the Hive Entrance, H. STORCH' - this throws up a couple of links for a .pdf download.
LJ
 

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Nasal, LBee, Agreed.  I also sit next to my hives and watch activity.  I also count beetles in the evening.

Bush, I have dealt with defensive bees and I realize it no fun.  I requeened but not by standard means.  Defensive bees will kill an introduced queen by standard methods.  An experience I learned in the beeyard, not the books with methods that got me queens killed.

In brief requeening a defensive hive:  there must not be any egg or young larva in the hive.  A queen frame cage roughly 16 by 3  by frame width is used for introducing a queen.  The large queen cage allows a new queen to spread her pheromones for the entire length of the frame.

Bush: Consider if your bees are defensive now, just wait until they have a hive full of honey.
Blessings

[gww]

Here is a link to a free copy of at the hive entrance.
https://app.box.com/s/331cea17cbd2e7500bab
Cheers
gww

[iddee]

Here is the frame Van is referring to.....

https://beezneedz.com/product/qrs-queen-intro/

[beepro]

The real learning for me is to get inside the hive for a thorough inspection.   During the process a few prized queens got
killed.   Got my first victim yesterday :(   Now I know what not to do the next time!

Sitting on a chair observing will only make me sleepy.  Once I woke up a few hours later sitting next to the bee hives.  Yep, it was that
relaxing, alright.   Now I have a foam bench a few feet from the hives inside a 10x10 open top tent.   Gotta draw the boundary somehow.  I will go hands on until all the kinks got iron out.   

[Hops Brewster]

If you truly wish to learn the art of beekeeping, to learn your bees...a chair in your apiary and lot of time spent in it is a must. There the bees will teach you without opinion and philosophy......pure, unadulterated knowledge.

Well, this activity is actually tinted with your own opinions and philosophy.  Can't be avoided.  Yes,  I know, "pure science has no opinion."   But beekeeping is not a pure science.  It is an art, as well, and art is chock full of opinion and philosophy.  IMO, anyway  . 
Your observations are of immeasurable value in your own understanding of how and why you manage your colonies.

[Hops Brewster]

I can spend up to an hour a day sitting only about two inches from my beehive. The stand has four cinder blocks with two pieces of wood resting across. I sit on one of the cinderblocks and watch them come in and out. It doesn?t seem to bother them. I?ve seen them coming into the hive with all sorts of colors of pollen (yellow, orange, red, gray, purple, brown) on their legs.

LizzieBee

My hives are set up the same way, and I was doing exactly this early Sat. morning with a hive I had captured in my swarm trap about 2 weeks ago.  A guard bee took exception to my observations, zipped out and tagged me on the edge of my ear.  Yowzer!  She obviously did not realize that I am their kind benefactor, deserving of respect.

[NasalSponge]

If you truly wish to learn the art of beekeeping, to learn your bees...a chair in your apiary and lot of time spent in it is a must. There the bees will teach you without opinion and philosophy......pure, unadulterated knowledge.

Well, this activity is actually tinted with your own opinions and philosophy.  Can't be avoided.  Yes,  I know, "pure science has no opinion."   But beekeeping is not a pure science.  It is an art, as well, and art is chock full of opinion and philosophy.  IMO, anyway  . 
Your observations are of immeasurable value in your own understanding of how and why you manage your colonies.

Well, at least it is the bees forming your opinions and not a bunch of "internet experts"

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[little john]

If you truly wish to learn the art of beekeeping, to learn your bees...a chair in your apiary and lot of time spent in it is a must. There the bees will teach you without opinion and philosophy...... pure, unadulterated knowledge.

Earlier today I opened-up a hive in good heart - everything looked perfectly ok from the outside.  But what I found inside the hive was 3 or 4 combs with four-inch diameter capped-brood, snow-white honey cappings ... and drones being raised - even though the total colony strength was nuc-sized.
When taken together, the above tells me (without even examining the bees themselves) that's an AMM colony which has sneaked-in among my Carnies and Buckfasts, and so the drones were immediately culled, and the colony marked as requiring re-queening asap.

Sometimes - to really learn the art of beekeeping - it's necessary to get off your butt and take a look inside the beehive, as well as watching from the outside.
LJ

[beepro]

LJ, I agree with you.  The real learning for me is inside the hive.  In my 1st year, I inspected the hives 3 times in
a day.   Over kill but I learn a lot in the process.

[NasalSponge]

Really? In 31 years I have never thought of that! (He says with much sarcasm!)

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