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Author Topic: New guy, Saturday's inspection  (Read 3864 times)

Offline Mamm7215

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New guy, Saturday's inspection
« on: June 17, 2019, 12:53:05 am »
Hi all, I'm starting this thread fresh, didn't want to continue my Welcome thread for general stuff.  In any case, Saturday (June 15) I did my first fairly in depth inspection.  I have an 8 frame brooder with a mason jar honey deep above the excluder - more on that later.  I had started with a 4 frame nuc and the install went well.  I fed with syrup (frame feeder) and pollen patties to get them going.  The nuc frame were in good shape anyways but I figured it couldn't hurt.  After 4 days they'd finished the syrup mostly off (1/5 left) and must have been a brood hatch cause there were more bees (lots smaller) and good activity.  I left the pollen patties in.  Forward to Saturday, fired up the smoker and  in I went.
Frame 1 (outside left side) still has almost no activity but bees are crawling on it so good sign.  Frame 2 has a lot more bees and some draw out.  3-6 are the nuc frames.  Outside side of 3 has lots of empty cells that look like maybe they're putting nectar in? Queen is circled in blue on the inside side of frame 4.  Frames 4, 5 and 6 have tons of brood.  The outside of 6 has a bunch of drones on it too.  Inside 7 has honeycomb being drawn but they were building it out unevenly and it looked like it would poke right into frame 6 so I shaved some off.  Tasted good.  Other side of 7 had bunch of bees on it and 8 had some activity but not much.  They had a small bit of white wax going up into the jars as well.  But here's the "more" about the jars:  This kit is obviously for beginners (which I am) and a neat idea.  That said, I've read some posts by folks who've tried it and decided against it.  There's some discussion about if the bees don't take to it they can build back down into the hive, run out of room and swarm.  I think I'm at the point with a big blackberry flow on that I needed to make a decision on whether I feel comfortable about the setup so what I did was got another 8 frame deep super for honey and I'm going to keep the mason jar super as an extra thing to use afterwards.  That way the bees have a "normal" frame to build out for now.  I may even build a combination jar/frame honey super to see if that works.  Anyways I didn't see any queen cells so I think that's good. 
Things I did right:
Didn't roll/kill the queen!
Put some honeycomb on the blank frames to help get them going on them.
Graduated to nitrile gloves from the big leather bee gloves I bought to start.
Modified the screened bottom board to allow the sliding in of a solid bottom board underneath the screen to use as a mite check/cold weather insulator.
Things I can do better:
I've been good with my smoker but the smoke was a bit warm today, I didn't prime it enough after it had burned a while. 
Also probably should have trimmed off the top of the excluder where they're building honeycomb on top and maybe trimmed it off of the frames where they're building it down off the bottoms.

Anyhoo, here's the pics.
« Last Edit: June 17, 2019, 02:08:33 am by Mamm7215 »

Offline Mamm7215

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Re: New guy, Saturday's inspection
« Reply #1 on: June 17, 2019, 01:57:36 am »
Some more...


Offline Mamm7215

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Re: New guy, Saturday's inspection
« Reply #2 on: June 17, 2019, 02:06:30 am »
Last few...

Offline Oldbeavo

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Re: New guy, Saturday's inspection
« Reply #3 on: June 17, 2019, 08:02:25 am »
Why trim anything, the bees put it there for them, not just to give you some thing to do.
If you trim it and they out it back then that just cost you honey in energy to produce more wax.
By the look of the top of your hive through the QX there are not enough bees to give them a super, wait till they have everything full. The super will be too much room to keep warm for that many bees.

Offline Mamm7215

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Re: New guy, Saturday's inspection
« Reply #4 on: June 17, 2019, 09:55:50 am »
Ok thanks.  Good points.

Offline CoolBees

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Re: New guy, Saturday's inspection
« Reply #5 on: June 17, 2019, 12:02:09 pm »
You've got great brood patterns there. As soon as all that brood hatches, you'll have a full box. It won't take long. Keep an eye on them. ... check inside for room, every 2 weeks maybe, right now. They'll need more space pretty quick I'm guessing.
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Offline Mamm7215

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Re: New guy, Saturday's inspection
« Reply #6 on: June 17, 2019, 03:25:09 pm »
Thanks, I liked the way it was looking.  I?m hoping to keep it to one brood box for this year.  They may have other ideas.

Offline Donovan J

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Re: New guy, Saturday's inspection
« Reply #7 on: June 17, 2019, 04:52:00 pm »
Looking good! You should've shaved off the comb because it can become a bigger problem later on. The queen is looking nice and big but i need a better picture to see its color.
3rd year of beekeeping and I still have lots to learn

Offline Bob Wilson

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Re: New guy, Saturday's inspection
« Reply #8 on: June 17, 2019, 05:36:01 pm »
Great pictures Mamm! These sorts of pictures really help me evaluate my own hive.
I also graduated from the bulky, bee crushing leather gloves. I had a friend over to inspect my hive, knowing he wore NO gloves. I went in bare handed also. It scared the mess out of me at first, but now I feel a lot more confident working with the frames. I move purposely, steady, and slow like doing Tai chi.

Offline Mamm7215

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Re: New guy, Saturday's inspection
« Reply #9 on: June 17, 2019, 06:19:13 pm »
Looking good! You should've shaved off the comb because it can become a bigger problem later on. The queen is looking nice and big but i need a better picture to see its color.
Thanks, I?m away for a few days but I?ll reevaluate next inspection.  If they go down much more they?ll get into the bottom screen. 

Offline Oldbeavo

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Re: New guy, Saturday's inspection
« Reply #10 on: June 17, 2019, 06:49:41 pm »
The comb on the bottom of your frames is there because there is a gap between the bottom of the frame and the floor. They will just put it back because the gap is there to be filled.
If you have less gap the bees will not build there, we only have about 3/4" gap on the bottom and they don't build on the bottom.
Some BK's are happy with the gap as the bees usually build drone comb in the space and so don't use the frame space for drone brood. But to shift frames in the box quite often you have to trim the bottoms, another job that I don't need.
Our old Paradise hive have a large gap on the bottom and extra comb is a problem when removing frames, especially if they build across the frames.

Offline Mamm7215

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Re: New guy, Saturday's inspection
« Reply #11 on: June 17, 2019, 08:03:21 pm »
The comb on the bottom of your frames is there because there is a gap between the bottom of the frame and the floor. They will just put it back because the gap is there to be filled.
If you have less gap the bees will not build there, we only have about 3/4" gap on the bottom and they don't build on the bottom.
Some BK's are happy with the gap as the bees usually build drone comb in the space and so don't use the frame space for drone brood. But to shift frames in the box quite often you have to trim the bottoms, another job that I don't need.
Our old Paradise hive have a large gap on the bottom and extra comb is a problem when removing frames, especially if they build across the frames.
I?ll keep an eye on it for now, I don?t think it?s excessive.  Thanks again!

Offline Donovan J

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Re: New guy, Saturday's inspection
« Reply #12 on: June 17, 2019, 08:08:56 pm »
You're lucky because your queen has a dot. Mine doesn't and i haven't found it in a few weeks.
3rd year of beekeeping and I still have lots to learn

Offline saltybluegrass

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Re: New guy, Saturday's inspection
« Reply #13 on: June 17, 2019, 11:00:09 pm »
You're lucky because your queen has a dot. Mine doesn't and i haven't found it in a few weeks.

I?ve never seen any of my 3 queens but my hives are very healthy
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Offline CoolBees

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Re: New guy, Saturday's inspection
« Reply #14 on: June 17, 2019, 11:43:06 pm »
...  I?m hoping to keep it to one brood box for this year.  They may have other ideas.

Expansion and contraction of the colony are part of the annual cycle. For me as a beekeeper - I view my job as providing for their needs. As they need space (spring & summer usually), I provide them with more room - or they will feel constrained, and various issues can result. As the colony contracts in the fall & winter, my job is to reduce space so they are not overworked, protecting and heating unused volume. As such, my hives change in outward appearance through the year. Usually several times. Just some thoughts I figured to pass on.
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Online Ben Framed

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Re: New guy, Saturday's inspection
« Reply #15 on: June 18, 2019, 12:19:15 am »
...  I?m hoping to keep it to one brood box for this year.  They may have other ideas.

Expansion and contraction of the colony are part of the annual cycle. For me as a beekeeper - I view my job as providing for their needs. As they need space (spring & summer usually), I provide them with more room - or they will feel constrained, and various issues can result. As the colony contracts in the fall & winter, my job is to reduce space so they are not overworked, protecting and heating unused volume. As such, my hives change in outward appearance through the year. Usually several times. Just some thoughts I figured to pass on.

Same here Alan

Great pictures here. Good job Mamm7215, good comments, keep up the good work.

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Offline Mamm7215

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Re: New guy, Saturday's inspection
« Reply #16 on: June 18, 2019, 01:55:55 pm »
Thanks everyone, I really appreciate the input.  Exciting and daunting at the same time.

Offline Donovan J

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Re: New guy, Saturday's inspection
« Reply #17 on: June 18, 2019, 11:46:10 pm »
Good thing your hive isnt trying to run away like mine  :cry:
3rd year of beekeeping and I still have lots to learn

Offline Mamm7215

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Re: New guy, Saturday's inspection
« Reply #18 on: June 19, 2019, 04:54:30 pm »
So far... :)

Offline The15thMember

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Re: New guy, Saturday's inspection
« Reply #19 on: June 19, 2019, 05:39:57 pm »
Good thing your hive isnt trying to run away like mine  :cry:
Not to be overly particular, but only half your hive is trying to run away.  :wink:  And that?s better than a whole hive running away, which happened to me last year.  :cry:
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