Awesome job!!!

Yeah, once they start building a queen, if the old one is still sound, they're leaving and ain't nuthin' you can do about that, usually. (except maybe split the hive yourself)

So glad you caught this swarm!

That's AWESOME!

Really glad they were able to get going.  Sounds like you've got a good hive.

I would check in there to be sure they've not begun preparing to swarm again. Once they fill a box, their minds get on leavin' to get more space.

Sounds like your'e doing great with them!

It is absolutely true and the experience of many beekeepers would agree that local queens are best queens if you can get them.  (Assuming they are viable queens--not saying a bad local queen is better than a good non-local queen.)

And you've got a good one.  That's an amazing brood pattern.  Good get!

You need to join a local beekeeping association (we're talking $15-25 per year) and go to the meetings.

You will learn about bees and beekeeping, and you'll know if it's for you.  You will get opportunities to suit up and watch beekeepers do their thing.

If you just think "wow that would be cool" but have no time or interest to learn, then you are not a beekeeper.  Don't get bees.  It will cost you money and they will die.

If you are serious about getting into beekeeping, then you've got a LOT of learning ahead of you.  

If you are seriously interested, there are several threads here, many forums on the web, a LOT of books, and a whole bunch of people who will help you get started and be glad to do so.

Part of beekeeping is recognizing that you ask ten beekeepers, you get eleven answers.

Neither is wrong in his approach, because it works for him.

The value of these meetings is not to follow every bit of advice you hear. It's to constantly be in a network of learning (which is why once a year at a university bee school for your state is $25 adn a road trip well spent) where people are bringing ideas and methods to the table.  The guys at the universities are actually doing the hard research and writing up findings, then presenting what they find to real-world beekeepers like us.

So the attitude you have to take is to listen to the old guys/girls and take what they say and absorb it, and when you hear something that feels right to you, try it out on a hive or two.  See what you think.

In the same way you try a new variety of petunia and get zero results.  You have the experience to take into account WHY they failed. Is that variety actually not any good? Or did you miss something or was it just a bad year?

If your hives were the same bees, in the same boxes, in the same exact spot on the planet, as my bees, then what I do should work for you.

But that's never gonna happen.  Not even from one side of an apiary to the other.

Bees are not like math.  They are kind of half science, half art.  We can know the science, and we all SHOULD.  But the art part--we have to finesse that for our particular bees and situations.

When I started beekeeping, everybody was yelling SBB, SBB! (screened bottom board).  Well now, I'm seeing more beekeepers going back to the solid boards because they didn't get the results they'd hoped for.  And I'm seeing them go to setups where they can slide a solid board in for some hives, and not for others, because there are times it's a good tool, and times it's not.

For the science of bee genetics and reproduction?  Yeah, there are hard answers.

But for getting bees to thrive--not so much.

You have to take their latest findings as far as studies on varroa, other pests, behavior, etc, with a grain of salt in that it pays to wait a bit, to see what they say two years down the road. Like any research, it's the body of work over a longer period that pays the most dividends.  However the reporting of what they're doing and their preliminary findings is very useful to know what's coming down the pike for all of us.

By "hard science" what I mean is....."how long is the bee life cycle," "how do you diagnose X bee disease in your hive," "How well do bees overwinter in mediums vs deeps in X environment" etc."

While some of that stuff is still subjective, some of it is not.  

I see certain information put out by "old timers" and I think, "that's just flat out wrong"  because we know how bees mate, we know how often, we know how the genetics work, etc.  

The education you can get from those apiarists working in research and teaching full time is invaluable and is truly advancing beekeeping.  

However every new equipment or methodology development is not for every beekeeper.

So knowing the hard science is helpful.  I think it takes experience and sharing with a large network of people to learn what, of the options, works best for each of us.

Hey you!

Long time no see!  

This is what I think too.

The further south you are, the more SBBs make sense.

I think here, in the transition zone where I live, it's the most difficult to make a decision.

What I would REALLY like, is a bottom board that's completely convertible--I mean from an SBB to a full solid bottom--not just a thin piece of board, but a full thickness bottom.  

If I installed these on my hives, if I had a varroa issue in one hive, you better believe I would put the screen in and use that as part of my IPM program to help with the mites.

If I did not, and especially with smaller, weaker hives, I would keep that solid bottom in.

If I were going to treat with OA, I would need the solid board in.

I'm not at all sure the SBB is necessary in my zone for summer heat relief.  I think extra venilation via the top cover raised a bit is a better solution.

After years of beekeeping and observing others who do, I think the SBB is better used as a problem solver than a full-time method here where I live.

I don't have proof of this, but that's my gut feeling.

Seriously???

I thought you had to stop the hive up and vaporize through a tiny hole.

I hope you'll show that setup in the other thread..

I think a tutorial on OA treatment  would be awesome.  I know there was a lot about it earlier in the thread, but you've learned, right?

@Vespid_Wasp

Are these general bee discussions okay in your thread?

Or is it a jack for what you wanted?

We can always take it to the other thread, so tell us your preference.