Oh, beehive!

[your_comforting_company]

I went tonight to the club meeting. Met some knowledgable people.
I found out that beekeeping is a lot like tanning. You gotta figure out what works for you and do that. There is not a particular formula for success that works for everybody. I talked a little about microecosystems and got them talking about "bee sanctuaries" and field plots left to wildflowers. It was a pretty interesting conversation.
Some folks swear by excluders and others act like it's a cuss-word. Some prefer plastic frames and others wouldn't take them from you for free.
The whole affair was a bit formal for me, with all the motions and votes and club-stuff that clubs do. It was like a foreign language lol.
The club program was about creating nucs and catching swarms, so that was really informative, since I have a nuc on order and am on a list for swarms.

Tuesdays class was about colony habit and organization and the things that cause them to swarm.

I measured one of the plastic frame/foundation things and I'm going to buy one or two to see if I can make a cast, into which I can pour wax to make my own foundation. The plastic ones are the right size for the frames in my first box... whodathunkit? I bounced the idea around with a few of the members and they said go for it.

It's expensive to get into. Hopefully it'll be something the kids take an interest in too, although my daughter isn't really a bug person lol. I think she'll enjoy the wax projects, and I'm sure she'll enjoy the honey! The boys have been wanting to go to the classes, but they are held too late on a school night. both of them like woodwork so they'll at least enjoy that aspect for sure.

Some of the members said they lost a lot of hives this year. One guy lost 15! No apparent reason. No viruses or other baddies (except mites). The bee deaths are still a mystery and are continuing to grow in both occurrence and percentage. It was said that 30% loss is expected, but some folks there lost 50%. That's kinda hard to take when you have thousands of dollars invested. I see a relationship, tho, of # of hives to # of mysterious losses.. It's kinda like people. The more you have in one area the more likely a disease or affliction is to spread rapidly. Bees are not something you disturb on a daily basis (tho I'll be checking mine frequently), so say you check this week and they show no signs of disease, you might not check for another week and by then the damage is done.
All I can do is try my best at it and take whatever comes of it. If I fail, it won't bee beecause I didn't try!

I went to a bee yard yesterday, to ask the fella if he had a smoker he'd sell me. I was wearing a buckskin of course, and the bees didn't attack me. The teacher at the classes keeps telling me that buckskin isn't the best thing to wear in beekeeping. I told him I was going to find out, since he didn't know firsthand Well, I was surrounded by bees.. the buzzing was louder than my truck idling, and not once did I get stung while wearing buckskin. It's logical to me that a deer isn't a natural predator of bees, and even if it was, buckskin is a light color and smells nothing like animal anymore. Mine smells like smoke and soap.
Anyhow, I didn't get killed by the bees, so there went that theory.

[your_comforting_company]

So my foundation and veil came in yesterday. Been working steady on getting it all together and I'm finally ready for bees, except to rebuild a smoker I got. Need one drill bit to finish it which I'll pick up tomorrow. Thanks for the offer on the suit Crash, but I'm good to go now.

So here goes assembly: If your hive was purchased, you'll use the same steps I'm using here. My hive is (pretty much) identical to store-bought hives and frames.

First step is to remove the wedge with a good sharp knife on a hard surface. Careful not to cut yourself!
Top rail looks like this:
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Add a nail to the sides of the frames to attach your support wire
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give the opposite end a good tight pull as you twist them against each other
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Let gravity do the work as you drop the foundation in. bottom goes in bottom groove first, then it flaps over to the space where you removed your wedge. Nail the wedge back in place.
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Run your wires back through to support the front side of the foundation, then twist around the nail.
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Frame is DONE!
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Brood chamber full of completed frames
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Removable "back door" for a little extra puff of smoke if needed, and sliding bottom drawer for "sticky paper" that helps keep a check on small hive beetles.
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I forgot to take a picture of the screened floor after I put the screen on, but this is a pic of it with drawer in.
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The paint isn't quite cured completely yet, so you notice I used the wax paper from the foundations to put between the boxes for now. The top is covered with PVC trim coil.
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An peek inside from the POV of a bee lol
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And I fabricated it all myself! More updates after I get bees.

[crashdive123]

Looks great. After you get up and comfortable with what you are doing, you might want to call local pest control companies. A lot of them will not do bee removal and are looking for a "bee keeper" to take away swarms. I'll check GA laws - I used to be licensed there to see if there are any restrictions, but if not - that might be a good source of more bees.

[rwc1969]

That looks great YCC, can't wait to see em drippin with honey. Slurp!

[your_comforting_company]

There aren't any restrictions that I'm aware of, and I got on the swarm removal list at the local coop extension office. I talked with the Chief Plant Protection Services fella and we don't even have to register in GA because inspection is not in the budget unless you are raising and selling queens.
Which raises another good point.

If you are going to keep bees, there are several catastrophic diseases and a few pests that have the potential to wipe out your colony, so it is important to ALL bees that we keep ourselves in check. I have made arrangements with the bee club and the extension office in Dothan, to get checked every so often, particularly if I spot a problem.
American Foulbrood is a bacteria that reproduces by spores and basically causes your pupae to rot in the cells. One cell can ruin an entire hive and the only cure is to block all entrances and exits and set the whole hive, colony of bees and all, on FIRE. A trachael mite outbreak will slowly and painfully kill off your bees. Compared to these two ailments, the others are pretty pale, and are considered "part of life". ALL of them are communicable from bee to bee, so drones out mating with queens can transmit them across the whole country in just a short while.
GET INSPECTED. If these ills go unchecked, you are just housing and nursing some serious problems.

I'll be checking on some of the local pest control companies to see if any of them do removal and try to get on their list. If I could catch a swarm or find a feral hive I'll be saving $75, and I'm told that wild colonies usually do better than hive-raised bees. Now that I have ppe, I have no reservations about approaching a feral hive. You'll know pretty quick if they are africanized.

If you don't have much patience, I suggest buying hive kits. If you are like me and prefer to make all your own stuff, it is very rewarding and relatively light on the wallet.

[your_comforting_company]

So another beekeeper here in town gave me one of his old dilapidated smokers, probably because it was in such bad shape that he couldn't justify charging for it. The wood on the bellows looked like termites had a field day with it, the faux leather was stiff and brittle and rotten, so my small project for yesterday after work was to rebuild it.
Glad I saved some of that bark-tan deer. Using what was left of the old bellows, I got some roundabout figures and made it work.
Bellows all tacked together
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showing the leather valve and the blowhole
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So I grabbed a handful of dead grass. It was not completely dry, so it took a few tries to get it to properly smolder, but once I got it stuffed with fuel, there was little chance of anyone in the yard getting stung by a bee.
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I told the old guy that I was "right handy with leather and wood". I don't think I was wrong lol. Homemade bellows works like a charm.

[crashdive123]

Awesome. Smoke em if ya got em.

[your_comforting_company]

After a very pleasant day at Landmark yesterday, learning at the spring festival about moonshining, making cordage, growing gardens, tapping pine trees and a whole bunch of other stuff, We ate supper, and just as I was about to step back outside to see what was developing in the garden, I got a phone call...

My bees are ready, and I'll be picking them up at 2:30 today! Woohoo!!

Gonna till up the rest of the garden today, and have one of the kids trim the grass around my hive stand, so we wont have that to worry about for a while. Clover is in bloom and many of the beekeepers I ran into at the festival yesterday have already had to split hives to prevent swarming, and are adding honey supers atop. Looks like it'll be a good year for bees and honey in general.

Also of note. I wore my buckskin suit to the festival yesterday, and we went into the interpretive center where they have a very cool observation hive. The master beekeeper was there, with a few other teachers from the classes, and I told one of them I wanted to do an experiment, seeing as I had my "animal skins" on that are supposed to be so threatening to bees that they'll attack on sight.
The CEA piped right in and said "I'll go with you" so we proceeded out the back door to the hive entrance. We must have stood 6 feet away from the hole-in-the-wall, thousands of bees zooming by and flying all around, and they acted like they couldn't care less that I was wearing deer skins. I didn't have my veil or gloves with me so I didn't tempt fate by sticking my face all up around them, but I walked up to within about 2 feet of the entrance to see how the bees were carrying pollen in, and getting off-loaded by the "docking" bees. Still no stings. I couldn't help but brag, since I've been warned by several beekeepers that "animal skins are going to make the bees angry". They seemed right happy to have a deer standing there beside them hehe.

I did learn that you should not eat any bananas before tending bees, because the "death pheremone" smells like banana and that it would send the bees into a frenzy. I can take their word for it on that one, but I couldn't believe that buckskin, which smells like soap, and in my case smoky lye-soap (because mine has been washed) would provoke an attack.

Anyhow, I have a little work left to do this morning, so as soon as I finish my coffee and get a nice bowl of bacon-grits, I gotta get to work. Accordion to the all-manack, today and tomorrow are good days to plant, so I'm gonna drop in the peas and okra, save a row for squash and a few other things, and get buzzy. We'll know in just a few short months if the bees will benefit my gardening efforts and the efforts of my neighbors. Hopefully we will all have more veggies than we can eat this year.

[your_comforting_company]

My new friends moved in today.
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Friendly bunch. Never did get stung. I think they were very happy to be let out of that little box. I was well prepared and almost felt like I knew what to do. I guess I did, I didn't squish any. Mr Cutts took me through his bee valley, and made me comfortable with them first off.
When I let them out, they kind of buzzed around looking at me, wondering, but almost like they were cool with me disturbing their hive.
I sat and watched them for a while, cleaning up what was left of honey dobs in the old box, moving them over into their sparkling new home. The Mrs was snapping a few pics (from a distance and using ALL the zoom!), she thought it was neat that I was so comfortable. I was committed to say the least and expected with all my heart to get stung. It seemed like it would be scary. I don't know how to describe it, but it was almost like a ballet, or something; graceful, yet chaotic. they seemed like they knew I was going to help them. It was wierd haha. Especially when the hum changed pitch in unison.
The boys were a little nervous at first but after a while they figured out that the bees really weren't interested in them lol.

I did whatever inspection I might be qualified for, 4 out of 5 frames were drawn with one completely full of brood with a few drones, didn't see any mites or beetles, but the bees were kind of busy on the combs so I guess I checked good enough. The queen was a beautiful golden buckskin color that I thought suited us both quite well. Sorry I didn't get any pictures of her, the gloves and headgear are kind of clumsy.
They were all very gentle bees, I really thought it was a cool experience. I'm looking forward to visiting them again in about two weeks. I don't know if I mentioned that I'm using the screen bottom board with the drawer so I can do frequent beetle checks without disturbing the hive.

In contrast to the theme of this forum, Self preservation is not in a bees best interest. Every bee works toward the common goal of survival of it's species, and the survival of it's colony as a whole. There are no slackers, nobody gets special treatment, not even the queen; you either pull with the rest of them, or you get swept out the front door and left for dead, as you can see in the second pic.
What a mindset!
Maybe they will let me play a role in that and we can be good friends. Tomorrow they get their own special birdbath, that might evolve into a nice pool one day. I know some folks who took one up and it might be for sale.. For this evening they get a bucket of water and a screen to walk on LOL.
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Gonna set them up a jar of sugar water tomorrow morning since the clover is just starting to bloom good and see if they take to it or not. It's warm enough for the nectar flow to begin any day now...

Which also adds a whole new dimension to learning wild plants.. knowing the conditions under which they provide nourishment for the bees!

I'm rambling.. My new friends are pretty cool tho.

[Winnie]

You're so lucky! I don't know whether you have the custom over there, but here the Bees have to be told of any hatchin' matchin' or dispatchin' that goes on in the family. Supposed to keep them with you.
I look forward to seeing the fruits of their labour!

[your_comforting_company]

It's a little coolish this morning and the bees were huddled in the center of the hive. I opened the lid and added a medium super to cover my jar of sugar syrup. Did a beetle check and didn't find anything on the tray except poop and a little dirt. There were a few still scavenging the old box they were in and they very cooperatively climbed onto my hand to be transferred to the big hive.
Never met such a friendly and cooperative bunch since I met you guys. Called Mr. Cutts this morning to let him know what I thought and he was as excited for me as I am hehe. Looks like I got a very mild tempered colony and they appear to be very clean. They've already cleaned out the debris that fell on the top bars as I emptied the box yesterday. Beekeepers are a friendly bunch too. This is gonna bee fun!
I watched for a little while this morning and one worker pulled another dying bee out of the front. She wasn't completely dead, but was definately at the point that it was time to go.

It's all really neat and I'm really glad I took the time to build my own hive.

[your_comforting_company]

Oh, and Winnie, the first thing I told them when I opened thier splits box yesterday was "Welcome to your new home" and they seemed like they replied "much obliged!"
Even the guard bees appear very accepting of me.

Sounds crazy for a roofer to be wanting more heat, but around 85F clover starts putting on nectar. I'm sure they'll find our 6 acres of white clover in the next few days.

[gordy]

Hi YCC,

Just a question about your frames. Why do you have vertical wires through your frame, and foundation ? I've never seen that before.

[your_comforting_company]

The vertical wires are bent 90 degrees at the top. The split top bar's wedge is cut out and those hooks are nailed under it to help support the foundation as it hangs. The wires that run side to side help reinforce the centers for centrifugal extractors to keep it from blowing out. The vertical wires are not actually through the frames, only the foundation.

None of this is a problem, nor is necessary for plastic foundation, or plastic frames. Plastic just seems so ... I dunno... unnatural.

You can see the wire hook in this picture (bottom right) of the frame with the wedge removed so the foundation can be put in.
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[gordy]

The vertical wires are bent 90 degrees at the top. The split top bar's wedge is cut out and those hooks are nailed under it to help support the foundation as it hangs. The wires that run side to side help reinforce the centers for centrifugal extractors to keep it from blowing out. The vertical wires are not actually through the frames, only the foundation.

None of this is a problem, nor is necessary for plastic foundation, or plastic frames. Plastic just seems so ... I dunno... unnatural.

You can see the wire hook in this picture (bottom right) of the frame with the wedge removed so the foundation can be put in.
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I ask because I have only ever used frames with the horizontal wires. They are timber frames with wax foundation, and i've never had a problem with just the horizontal wiring.

[your_comforting_company]

Which extraction method do you use? apparently the "face out" centrifugal one is a little rough on the wax foundations.

hopefully I won't need an extractor for at least another year. I'm going to have to build it myself, so I'm taking suggestions on different styles.

Also, I was curious if you ever just sit and watch your bees? I sat out there with them yesterday evening as they were going to bed. It was neat seeing them with collected pollen, landing on that little 2" strip, hurry in, and hurry back out before dark.

These bees are so calm, you can pick one up and pet it. really neat!

[finallyME]

Excellent beehive work. My dad had a few hives when I was a young. He loved it. I have been thinking about it for a while, but I don't think I want to put them in my small yard. I do want to add to what crash said with the perimeter fence. One additional thing it does is block their view. My dad told me they generally don't attack things they can't see. If you put something in front of the hive, then they will only defend up to that point. Anyways, keep the pictures coming. I love to see the bee porn.

[gordy]

Which extraction method do you use? apparently the "face out" centrifugal one is a little rough on the wax foundations.

I use a centrifugal hand crank extractor, and I've only ever used the horizontal wired frames. Four frames at a time.
I just run the steam capping knife down the face, and spin them out.
My extractor was $100, a stainless steal drum, four framer with lid.

Also, I was curious if you ever just sit and watch your bees? I sat out there with them yesterday evening as they were going to bed. It was neat seeing them with collected pollen, landing on that little 2" strip, hurry in, and hurry back out before dark.

I do watch the bees often, they have always facinated me.

hopefully I won't need an extractor for at least another year. I'm going to have to build it myself, so I'm taking suggestions on different styles.

I suggest no more than a four framer if you only have 1 - 10 hives. Also look out for second hand extractors that other bee keepers are selling, as they up grade they sell off their small extractor set ups, some quite cheap.

These bees are so calm, you can pick one up and pet it. really neat!

You have good bees by the sounds of it. Mine are a bit patchy, a little too much African in them, plus they have a sting venom that is four times stronger, oweing to the type of blossom they gather from.

[gordy]

YCC,

Your bees are a nice light color, that's good. The darker they are the more nasty they are.

Some abandoned hives I've left out and a wild hive has moved in that have been really aggressive. Fantastic honey, but you really pay for it.

[your_comforting_company]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll keep an eye open for any deals.

Just looking at them this evening from a distance, I'm seeing population increase in foragers. There were probably 200 swarming in front of the entrance at once (although certainly some were flying in and some out)

Hope to get a shot of the queen on the next hive check. I'm eager to see their progress.

Oh, did I mention I got them their very own birdbath? I'll have to get a shot of them landing on the flint-rocks to get a drink.