Your First Month with Bees

Tools needed to work beesYou will find a number of

items in bee catalogs that can be considered tools to use when working bees. However, you will need only two:

A smoker

A hive tool

Reasons for absconding (bees left, not a “dead-out”):

– extra queen shaken in with bees when package made

– robbing/lack of food

– screened bottom boards (too much ventilation, decreased retention of queen pheromone)

– disease

– hive sprayed with pesticides – hive too small – very fresh paint

– any other situation which the bees find untenable

Things to remember about the colony growth of a

swarm or package of bees…

The population of bees in your new hive will decrease steadily until new bees emerge from cells to replace the bees which die. This is the reason to find any problems with your queen quickly.

Smoke is a great help in controlling honey bees. However, don’t use too much.

Good fuel to use in your smoker:

Wood shavings

Burlap

Punk wood (decaying wood easily found in dead trees).

Pine needles

Give a couple puffs of smoke at entrance.

Wait a moment for it to take effect.

What should we be looking for when we begin to work the hive?

First, a beekeeper’s job is to do the least amount of damage to the bees.

A hive should not be open any longer than necessary to do an inspection.

You are looking for things that are not normal.As you gain experience, this will become easier. Hold the frame so that the sun is reaching the frame from over your shoulder.

Things you don't want to see:

Varroa mites that might be on bees.

Queen cells?

Other things in the hive such as mice, yellow jackets, wax moths, SHB, etc.

You should see:

A good population of honey bees.

Eggs, larvae, and capped brood.

Honey and pollen.

This frame from the brood chamber is close to ideal.

Honey is stored at the top of the frame

Capped brood fills much of the rest of the frame.

It's not necessary to find the queen each time we open the hive.

We can tell that she is present if you can see eggs in cells.

A check list: Is the queen present and do you see all stages of brood development for worker bees?

Are the bees bringing in pollen and nectar?

Is the bee population growing?

Are the bees building new comb?

Is it time to add another brood box or put on a honey super?

Is there anything unusual you notice?

Self-spacing frames

Do not allow excessive gaps that will allow burr and bridge comb.

Poor laying

pattern

Good brood pattern

Frames with a spotty brood pattern

If the queen has no empty cells in which to lay eggs, the hive is “honey-bound.”