The Honey Factory

[Sally PB]

@WallyG74, this will be my first season with bees too. I have a mentor as well, thank goodness.

He texted me yesterday and asked if I wanted to help him install bees later this month? Well, I'm on that like white on rice, heck yeah! I need all the experience I can get. He's had bees for many years.

(Gotta tell his standard bee joke...)

He takes hives to schools to teach kids. He says he has Italian and Carniolan bees. Someone invariably asks, "How can you tell the difference?"

"The Italian bees go 'buzzah buzzah buzzah."

 

[SeabassSarmale]

@WallyG74, this will be my first season with bees too. I have a mentor as well, thank goodness.

He texted me yesterday and asked if I wanted to help him install bees later this month? Well, I'm on that like white on rice, heck yeah! I need all the experience I can get. He's had bees for many years.

(Gotta tell his standard bee joke...)

He takes hives to schools to teach kids. He says he has Italian and Carniolan bees. Someone invariably asks, "How can you tell the difference?"

"The Italian bees go 'buzzah buzzah buzzah."

@WallyG74 Good luck to both of y’all! I hope you guys end up enjoying it.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

I will gladly take good advice from any source, but The Adirondacks aren’t exactly local. It’s fairly easy to tell from reading here, who knows what they are talking about. I’m sure I’ll be seeking input and advice from this experienced group.

It's not that he's local to you but that he knows all about treating for varroa mites etc. and is always on top of those big issues.
In the south I'd think your biggest issues besides varroa mites will be small hive beetles (hate those dang things) and Africanized bees.

 

[SeabassSarmale]

It's not that he's local to you but that he knows all about treating for varroa mites etc. and is always on top of those big issues.
In the south I'd think your biggest issues besides varroa mites will be small hive beetles (hate those dang things) and Africanized bees.

Yes, I hate hive beetles with a passion, and they are constantly a nuisance. Each year I lose 5-15 percent of all hives to them. I’m always of the opinion that the best treatment against them is a strong hive

 

[WallyG74]

I’m always of the opinion that the best treatment against them is a strong hive

That’s exactly what my friend says. Don’t try to expand too quickly.

 

[WallyG74]

Thread 'The Wally-Gee Bee Journey '
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/the-wally-gee-bee-journey-🐝.1575400/

 

[5Australorpasaures]

Got it, thanks.

I moved the frames!!
The feeder is inside the top super? (Box)..

I had a guy that goes to our church help me. I bought the boxes and stuff off him.

He told me to open the cover in 5 days and check to see that the Queen is out of her cage And to check the feeder.

He also told me to space the frames more evenly once I get the Queen cage out.

Hopefully they will let me do this without incident.

You have a mentor, you'll be fine. We had 15 hives 30 yrs ago now just 2, switched out the honey supers from deeps to medium just the brood and food supers are deeps because a 90 lb honey filled super is just too heavy for me now. Little tip, don't work with your bees on rainy overcast days. They're all home and they're all miserable.
P.S. You get used to being WHACKED.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

On the 9th my husband and I worked our 2 hives of bees it was 70'F today 30'F pfft... Iowa.
Anyway, we saw eggs, larva and capped worker brood. We even heard/saw some drones. Didn't see the Queen in either one, but we were trying to get it done quickly.
We were going to take out some of the shb damaged honey but the bees were cleaning it up really well and we only replaced a couple foundations.
Dogwoods, cherries, plums and peaches were blooming and now freeze warnings for today and tomorrow.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

As far as we know, neither of us is allergic. I have 3 neighbors who are.

I've been stung on the hand by wasps a couple times in the past couple years. I got a big swollen area, like half an orange stuffed under my skin. It hurt, then it itched. No other issues, thank goodness.

BTW. I use this, and it works immediately. It's really good stuff!
https://mikesremedies.com/stops-the-sting/

I have a tackle box I put my tools in I carry to the bee yard whenever I go.

I also have a journal that I write what day we work bees, temperature of the time we worked bees and what we were doing and saw in the hives. It's super helpful to look back and see things.

 

[Sally PB]

Dogwoods, cherries, plums and peaches were blooming and now freeze warnings for today and tomorrow

Good luck!

I think my blueberries and fruit trees are going to be ok, since they aren't far enough along. 6 nights with temps in the 30s coming up.