Posted: 6/23/2011 4:37:15 AM EDT
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I opened up my hive yesterday and there is only one frame left that they haven't started to fill. I tried to get in contact with the guy who is teaching me about bees, but had no luck. I have only one hive body or box with frames in place, should I go ahead and put another hive box with frames on right now?
BravoCharlie |
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Yes, sir. Add your second hive body before they start to feel crowded and decide to swarm. Watch for supercedure cells. When I added a new hive body, I moved a full brood frame up top to encourage the bees to build up there.
Also, manage your expectations for the new frames. Wax production will slow down in the warmer months and as your spring pollen flow wanes. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
| Yes, go ahead and add another super. Also, I like to encourage mine to fill up all the outside frames by moving the ones they have not completely filled more toward the middle. If the frames they haven't filled are at positions 1 and 10, move them so they're at 3 and 7. |
You aren't going to worry about her right now. 
Usually, you start a hive with one deep super. You then add a second deep super. These two deeps are for brood, for pollen, and for winter supplies for the bees. The queen is free to travel between the two deeps as she pleases. When they finish filling those two deeps, you add something called a queen excluder, and then another shallow or medium super on top of that. When they finish that one, you add another - so you now have four supers, two deep two shallow/medium. The medium/shallow supers are where you are going to get any honey you might harvest. You don't need to worry about the queen on those because your excluder will keep her out. A new hive may or may not build up fast enough to harvest honey the first year. If it does, great you have an unexpected bonus. If it doesn't, that's basically normal and nothing to get bent out of shape over. If they only fill the two deeps, well, that's OK. If they fill one medium/shallow, that's pretty good. If they wind up filling both of your medium/shallow supers, you have a GREAT hive and you should count your blessings. |
I bought the hive body with frames and starter comb. I did what you all suggested, but I didn't use a frame that was completely full of brood. The frame I used had about 1/2 of one side with brood. I was afraid I would hurt the queen if I moved one that was entirely covered. I don't think I lost one bee  . Now, when I got the hive, the guy who is starting me out told me to put a entrance reducer on ( a stick that covers a little over 3/4ths of the entrance) since this was a young small hive. Now that the lower hive body is full, should I take the entrance reducer off? They look really crowded flying in and out. Also, how often can you open up the hive and look in without hurting the hive?
Thanks, BravoCharlie |
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Go ahead and take off the entrance reducer. It's plenty warm and it sounds like your hive is building up decently enough.
You can open a hive every day if you want, although I don't know why you'd want to. It does annoy the bees but as long as it's above 55F, it won't hurt them. I usually do a quick and dirty inspection about every 10 days or so, as long as everything looks OK. If I suspected a problem I would do it more often until I got the problem fixed. |
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I got my first hive last year, about May or June, for the farm. It had two hive bodies with the top body with 1/2 the frames filled. This spring , the guy who is teaching me waited to Memorial Day weekend to check the hive. He looked at it and thought the hive had swarmed. He went on and put two supers on it. One with old comb and one new . I checked it today and I saw no eggs in the cells in the super with old comb and the new super the same. What's going on? My hive here at the house, the one I mentioned in the beginning post, is going great.
BravoCharlie |