miss_thenorth
Frugal Homesteader
Yes, please keep this thread going, for all us who wannabe beeks. Very educational. Glad to hear they are doing better. 
New beek. New pictures and new questions
- Thread starter mandieg4
- Start date
lorihadams
Always doing laundry
I'm late to the party as usual...I agree though, I would keep feeding sugar water and keep an eye on them, if you just got them then they need time to draw out the frames.
I get my 2 new hives friday!
I get my 2 new hives friday!
me&thegals
A Major Squash & Pumpkin Lover
How exciting!
Best of luck to all the beeks
Best of luck to all the beeks
Icu4dzs
Super Self-Sufficient
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- May 7, 2010
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Well folks, my bees are here and in their hives for about a week now. So far so good. I have feeders inside the hives but forgot the name of it. It is a black plastic container about the size of a frame and it is filled with the bee food I got from my supplier...MANN LAKE, LTD. 
Great people, great prices and good company owned by the folks who work there.
Best of all, my bee veil/jacket works although they do seem rather mellow. Yes, I have ordered some tuberculin syringes and epinephrine and benadryl injectable "just in case".
I have heard from keljonma who appears to be a master beek and is full of great tips and advice so listen when she speaks!!!
I actually heard from a guy who recently retired as a federal judge in Alabama. He was a platoon leader in my company in Viet Nam and he just got some bees...so this is happening everywhere.
Why do we think bees are so important, you might ask?
In case you've never heard this, Albert Einstein is quoted as saying that "Man will be extinct within four years of the death of the last bee!" or words to that effect. Imagine how important these little guys are to our existence?
Please keep this string going and maybe make an entire section of the SS Forum just for bee keeping since it is becomming so important now.
Who would ever guess that life on earth for humans is so dependent on such a little critter?
//BT//
Trim sends
Great people, great prices and good company owned by the folks who work there.Best of all, my bee veil/jacket works although they do seem rather mellow. Yes, I have ordered some tuberculin syringes and epinephrine and benadryl injectable "just in case".
I have heard from keljonma who appears to be a master beek and is full of great tips and advice so listen when she speaks!!!
I actually heard from a guy who recently retired as a federal judge in Alabama. He was a platoon leader in my company in Viet Nam and he just got some bees...so this is happening everywhere.
Why do we think bees are so important, you might ask?
In case you've never heard this, Albert Einstein is quoted as saying that "Man will be extinct within four years of the death of the last bee!" or words to that effect. Imagine how important these little guys are to our existence?
Please keep this string going and maybe make an entire section of the SS Forum just for bee keeping since it is becomming so important now.
Who would ever guess that life on earth for humans is so dependent on such a little critter?
//BT//
Trim sends
miss_thenorth
Frugal Homesteader
I watched a documentary a while ago, about some place, I think it was china, where they grow asian pears as theri main export. Bees were totally wiped out of existance there, and the farmers had to get up on ladders with feather type things and manually pollinate all the individual blossoms, one by one, in order to have a crop to sell. When saw that, and saw how cheaply they sell asian pears in the grocery store, it makes you stop and think how much these people are getting paid for their crops.
Yes, bees are important, and one day I would like to get some.
Yes, bees are important, and one day I would like to get some.
- Thread starter
- #26
mandieg4
Lovin' The Homestead
Queen cell, is this bad news? I found this in my hive, do I leave it alone? I didn't see the queen this time, but I did see several cells with eggs and larvae.
Varroa mite? Just right of the middle about an inch down? It was the only one I saw in both hives. Do I just keep an eye on it?
Me holding a frame out of my son's hive. Capped brood, YAY!
Larvae in my son's hive. Things are looking up!
Varroa mite? Just right of the middle about an inch down? It was the only one I saw in both hives. Do I just keep an eye on it?
Me holding a frame out of my son's hive. Capped brood, YAY!
Larvae in my son's hive. Things are looking up!
Quail_Antwerp
Cold is on the Right, Hot is on The Left
Oh this thread is great!!
I'm getting a nuc of bees this weekend!
I'm getting a nuc of bees this weekend!
- Thread starter
- #28
mandieg4
Lovin' The Homestead
One of the things I like about checking the bees is smelling like smoke and wax for the rest of the day. My new favorite perfume! 
keljonma
Epicurean Goddess
Mandie - First off, CONGRATULATIONS on the good news of capped larvae in your son's hive! That is wonderful news!
For the other pics.......
It could be the queen is old and the colony is replacing her to have a healthier queen with stronger pheronome. I've read that a queen can live about 2 years (+-). So if this hive was also a complete colony with hive that you purchased, it could be the case that the queen isn't as strong as she once was.
OR it could be that the colony is getting ready to swarm and so the queen has laid another egg so the colony left behind will have a queen.
This is a capped queen cell, which means it is 12 to 14 days old. The queen emerges from her cell on day 16.
Decisions, decisions.... what you should do depends on the current health of the hive.
How strong is the hive? Are the boxes bulging with bees? Do you see lots of evidence of bees hanging out the front porch and on the sides of the hive? It could be they are crowded and prepping to swarm.
That does look like a varroa mite to me (but I haven't had them, so I'm no expert).
Do you see brown or reddish spots on the white larvae?
Are any of the newly emerged bees badly deformed (stunted abdomens, deformed wings)?
From what I have read about varroa mites, by the time you see them on the adult bees, you have a bad infestation. The mites head for bee larvae first before the larvae are capped. They feed on the larvae, which is why the new bees are deformed. So seeing them on the adult bees is the last stage; meaning heavy infestation. You could do a powdered sugar shake. Here is a link explaining it:
www.vermontagriculture.com/ARMES/plantindustry/apiary/documents/VARR-07revWP_000.pdf
That is wonderful news!For the other pics.......
It could be the queen is old and the colony is replacing her to have a healthier queen with stronger pheronome. I've read that a queen can live about 2 years (+-). So if this hive was also a complete colony with hive that you purchased, it could be the case that the queen isn't as strong as she once was.
OR it could be that the colony is getting ready to swarm and so the queen has laid another egg so the colony left behind will have a queen.
This is a capped queen cell, which means it is 12 to 14 days old. The queen emerges from her cell on day 16.
Decisions, decisions.... what you should do depends on the current health of the hive.
How strong is the hive? Are the boxes bulging with bees? Do you see lots of evidence of bees hanging out the front porch and on the sides of the hive? It could be they are crowded and prepping to swarm.
That does look like a varroa mite to me (but I haven't had them, so I'm no expert).
Do you see brown or reddish spots on the white larvae?
Are any of the newly emerged bees badly deformed (stunted abdomens, deformed wings)?
From what I have read about varroa mites, by the time you see them on the adult bees, you have a bad infestation. The mites head for bee larvae first before the larvae are capped. They feed on the larvae, which is why the new bees are deformed. So seeing them on the adult bees is the last stage; meaning heavy infestation. You could do a powdered sugar shake. Here is a link explaining it:
www.vermontagriculture.com/ARMES/plantindustry/apiary/documents/VARR-07revWP_000.pdf
keljonma
Epicurean Goddess
I have been known to sit by the hives inhaling deeply for hours at a time...... just a bit of heaven.mandieg4 said:One of the things I like about checking the bees is smelling like smoke and wax for the rest of the day. My new favorite perfume!
