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Got the bees yesterday and put them in the hives. It was an easier process than I thought. I walked down to check on the hives this morning and the bees are still there doing what bees do.

I need to do a full hive inspection. I'm thinking Sunday. It may be time for second deep. The sugar water will not be refilled.

My mentor said to add some livestock salt lick to their water so that they can bring the smell back to hive and the others will know where to find water. But, not too much.
 
I need to do a full hive inspection. I'm thinking Sunday. It may be time for second deep. The sugar water will not be refilled.

My mentor said to add some livestock salt lick to their water so that they can bring the smell back to hive and the others will know where to find water. But, not too much.
The bee guy told me to add the second brood box next week. That will be the first time I'll open the hive. I don't think I'll need to refill the sugar water.
I put a frost free hydrant and water trough about 50 feet from the hives. I put board in the water so the bees could land on it and drink without drowning. Me and the mutt just walked down and watched several bees drinking.
 
The bee guy told me to add the second brood box next week. That will be the first time I'll open the hive. I don't think I'll need to refill the sugar water.
I put a frost free hydrant and water trough about 50 feet from the hives. I put board in the water so the bees could land on it and drink without drowning. Me and the mutt just walked down and watched several bees drinking.

A quart lasted my hive about 3 days. But, the flow is on here so he said to stop. I hung a chicken waterer, 5 quart, on a nearby tree and added some socks so they have a place to land.
 
A quart lasted my hive about 3 days. But, the flow is on here so he said to stop. I hung a chicken waterer, 5 quart, on a nearby tree and added some socks so they have a place to land.
Also, I was told to add the deep when 8 of the 10 frames were being worked.

TEX needs to weigh in on this. Lol
 
Hi Robin & AD,

Sorry, some unexpected travelling. It sounds like you're both doing well. Listen to your mentors. If they say the flow is on by you and to stop feeding, listen to the advice.

I'm chuckling... 3 days for a quart? It's not uncommon for me to bring home a cutout and they'll suck down a gallon in a day. Another gallon in 1-2 days more. But bees around here know to take an opportunity when it arises, for a drought is just around the corner. But if it's cooler, they'll take it more slowly.

Have extra boxes at the ready. When they are ready, they won't wait for you to order another box, they'll start building comb everywhere you don't want it.
 
I just did an inspection and found both queens. Yay. The big pink dots helped.

The had work 8 frames so I put on the upper deep. Now I have to worry about when to put on the honey super.

I am proud though, I still haven' been stung. I just jinxed myself.
 
I checked on the bees around noon today. The temp was 42 degrees so the bees weren't too active, just a few flying in and out of the hives. I did notice a few dead bees just outside their entrance. Is that normal, are they just cleaning house?

Pic of the bee "yard". Lots of room for expansion. Not much to look at right now. Just need to get a high powered solar fence charger to keep the bears out.

Bees.jpg
 
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I checked on the bees around noon today. The temp was 42 degrees so the bees weren't too active, just a few flying in and out of the hives. I did notice a few dead bees just outside their entrance. Is that normal, are they just cleaning house?

Pic of the bee "yard". Lots of room for expansion. Not much to look at right now. Just need to get a high powered solar fence charger to keep the bears out.

View attachment 8711

That looks great. Mine is nothing that cool
 
Nice job AD.

A couple of notes. you might run 24 or 36" chicken wire around the bottom. If you have skunks, they can decimate a hive.

And why is one hive shorter than the other? Both have 2 deeps, good. One has a migratory top & the other a telescoping. You might want to put a brick on top of each hive (wind will knock them over).

And are they facing opposite directions? That will make working the hives more difficult, you want to work from behind the hive and one will always be aiming at you. This is a region thing, I know up north people cluster hives in winter to conserve some heat, so maybe that arrangement works up there. I like a few feet between my hives, then I don't accidently bump one hive when working another. But then my girls have serious anger issues... seriously serious.

I'm not criticizing, I'm just offering a few little details.

Robin, a few dead bees outside the entrance is no big deal. The workers drag out the dead. Usually they drop them off the ledge, but sometimes they're lazy & let the wind finish the job. If you see dozens and dozens, that's a problem.
 
Nice job AD.

A couple of notes. you might run 24 or 36" chicken wire around the bottom. If you have skunks, they can decimate a hive.

And why is one hive shorter than the other? Both have 2 deeps, good. One has a migratory top & the other a telescoping. You might want to put a brick on top of each hive (wind will knock them over).

And are they facing opposite directions? That will make working the hives more difficult, you want to work from behind the hive and one will always be aiming at you. This is a region thing, I know up north people cluster hives in winter to conserve some heat, so maybe that arrangement works up there. I like a few feet between my hives, then I don't accidently bump one hive when working another. But then my girls have serious anger issues... seriously serious.

I'm not criticizing, I'm just offering a few little details.

Robin, a few dead bees outside the entrance is no big deal. The workers drag out the dead. Usually they drop them off the ledge, but sometimes they're lazy & let the wind finish the job. If you see dozens and dozens, that's a problem.
That's for the input Tex. I bought the hives from two different places. One hive has a different base and one has the telescoping top. I plan to change both to the telescoping top, when I can find one. May have to order it. The one with the flat top doesn't actually fit flat, it has a small gap.
Since I took that photo I've added rocks to the tops. The hives are in a protected spot but can still get strong winds.
Both enterences face to the south. So I'm set up to work the hives from the back, north.
All of the hives that I've seen around here are set up 4 to a pallet. The bee keeper uses a forklift to move their hives around.
The guy I bought the bees from suggested that I put straw bales around the hives for winter, or some other type of insulation.
We don't have skunks at our location, but we do have badgers. Skunks seem to stay down in the valley and closer to water.
Someone I was talking to suggested putting strips of tinfoil smeared with peanut butter on the electric wire. It gives the bear a good jolt when he bites down on the foil.
 
Sounds good AD. Remember that beekeeping is a local activity, always listen to local guys over far-away guys like me.
 
I've only found on dead bee and it was one I smashed with the lid. I may have gotten one or two yesterday because the frames were really full.

I didn't pull all the frames, just until I found the queens. I didn't want to disturb. I saw some egg cells and capped brood and the queens, so I stopped. I added the new deep.
 
OK, Robin, you've found the queen. You're seeing eggs. Good.

Now for the hard part. Stop. You don't need to go into the hive every day, every couple of days, every week. You can check once a week on top & you can remove the outer/inner covers and see how many frames are full, drawn, or empty. You'll see plenty of bees. Good. That's all you need. Close it back up, add a super if needed. No need to regularly (weekly) go into the brood area. If you have varroa or SHB sensitivity, ok check that every few weeks. But the more often you go in deep into the hive, the more likely you are to injure/kill the queen.
 
That's what I did. Looked until I saw the queens them closed up.

I've had them 1 month and inspected twice. First time at the one week mark and yesterday because I needed to see if it was time for the deep. It was.

Now that I'm not giving sugar water, I don't even need to open the top.
 
The wife decided that we should have 8 hives now. And that "we" should build a bee barn just for them. The bee barn may not bee a bad idea because of the amount of snow we get here. Plus it will protect the hives from bears. I'll start on it right after I build the new chicken coop for the 25 meat chickens that will be arriving around the first of June.
 

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