new beekeeper's update

16 years ago

Hello Friends,

I went out last night to check on the bees (I really am fond of the critters) and there was a mess of them hanging outside the hive, thick as thieves near the entrance. My bee-mentor came by tonight, awfully late, but we went to look together. Concluded we needed to remove the top super (empty) and the outside feeder to let in more air. Will also assemble a smaller honey super (do I have that term right)and stick it on top. Think I'll wait for some more experienced help before I smoke them to shift the frames in super #2.

Got my first sting tonight, which was well deserved for bothering bees at 11:30 at night. My bee teacher and I said to one another "only for you and the bees would I be out here at this hour....."

My husband who was initially afraid of the whole idea, is now adept at constructing the kit, and happy to make bee food/syrup. However, I was informed the loosestrife is just about to bloom, and there will be a feeding frenzy ...and the bee syrup will be superfluous. So he's out of job for a while.

I like to just sit there and watch them.

Marie

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Comment (1)

tonybeeguy
16 years ago
Marie, Glad to hear things are going well. So you've been initiated with your first sting. They're not all that bad. Bees can be prety defensive at night and they are all home. I recently heard of someone trying to move a hive at night without screening the entrance. He said the bees came out in force. For better air flow you can make a screened frame as an inner cover or make a large cutout in an existing inner cover and putting screen over it. You can then prop up the back of the outer cover and get good air flow while keeping robbers or other pests from getting in.Be sure to stay on top of the supering. They can fill a shallow super pretty quickly. To do a quick check without really disturbing the hive, just lift inner cover and look down at the frames from the side for evidence of capped off honey. If you use the screened inner cover it's even easier because you can see through it.
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