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Author Topic: Addicted  (Read 6379 times)

Offline Mairzy_doats

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Addicted
« on: May 01, 2009, 06:55:27 pm »
I'm wondering how y'all get anything else done once you have bees. I installed my nucs-in not the best weather-and they were pretty gentle, didn't use a smoker or anything. Now I know I'm not supposed to peek, but I find myself walking out there and just staring. I've read posts on here where some talk about sitting in a lawn chair just watching their bees and I thought, Crazy. Well, here I am just watching them.  :-D 

When I walked out there this morning to get the nuc boxes I noticed they were really quiet, eerily so. I panicked and opened them, just the cover and peeked thru the screen to make sure they were still there. They were and doing there thing, I guess. By opening them did I do a bad,bad thing? ;)

Another thing. I didn't know that nuc boxes packaged the queen in a little candy box. When I was pulling out frames, a tiny box that was stuck on one of them fell to the ground. I paid no attention to it till I was all done with that hive and then when I picked it up I noticed that it had the queen in it. I wasn't prepared for that so I pushed the cork in (since I couldn't get it out) and set it on top of the frames. When I looked today, she was out of it. But on the second hive I sort of slid it in between the frames the best way I could. Is that ok?

Well, I'm off now. I haven't got my fix yet in a few hours but this time I'm taking a chair.  8-) :-D

~mary

Offline doak

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Re: Addicted
« Reply #1 on: May 01, 2009, 07:14:43 pm »
I step out and take a look at mine two or three times most every day.
You need to peel in about 3 to 5 days after installing to make sure the queen is released.
You don't have to open very often to enjoy watching them do there thing out side the hive.
On cool mornings, they will most likely not be out so early. After it warms up and temps don't fall below 50 degrees at night they will be out earlier.
Have fun. doak :)

Offline doak

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Re: Addicted
« Reply #2 on: May 01, 2009, 07:15:49 pm »
OOPS! 2nd line. You need to "peek" in.

Offline MustbeeNuts

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Re: Addicted
« Reply #3 on: May 01, 2009, 07:18:54 pm »
I wasn't aware that a nuc had a boxed queen either. but i'm new also. but have never heard of it. I thought that a nuc had a queen already bred and working, such was the advantage of a nuc over a package.
Each new day brings decisions,  these are  new branches on the tree of life.

Offline dragonfly

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Re: Addicted
« Reply #4 on: May 01, 2009, 07:36:58 pm »
Hah! :) That brings back memories. When I first started beekeeping, I also had a new puppy that someone had abandoned on our place, and while I was doing her basic puppy training, the beeyard was conveniently in our training path that we would walk 2-3 times daily. ;)
The addiction subsides with time and becomes a healthy habit. ;)

Offline iddee

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Re: Addicted
« Reply #5 on: May 01, 2009, 07:50:06 pm »
The first thing I would do would be to make a note not to buy from that breeder. A nuc should have a queen released in the box and laying a good pattern.

Did you do a bad, bad thing???? Yes, that was worse than peeking at your presents before Christmas. Now you destroyed all the wonder and anticipation.
 :-*   :-D

Did you bother the bees in any way, NO!
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

*Shel Silverstein*

Offline Kathyp

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Re: Addicted
« Reply #6 on: May 01, 2009, 08:25:57 pm »
Quote
But on the second hive I sort of slid it in between the frames the best way I could. Is that ok?


it's fine as long as the bees have access to the queen through the screen.  if the foundation is push up against it, just slide the frame over a bit.

enjoy your bees.  they are fascinating.  the more you watch, the more you learn.  i call them my outdoor aquarium.   :-D
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline SlickMick

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Re: Addicted
« Reply #7 on: May 01, 2009, 09:16:16 pm »
They are fascinating little creatures aren't they... could watch them for hours  8-)

Oh and yes I would expect that a nuc came with a released and laying queen after all a nuc is not a package.. it has brood and sustenance for the hive.

Offline Natalie

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Re: Addicted
« Reply #8 on: May 01, 2009, 09:27:53 pm »
I love to watch them coming and going as well. I call it Bee TV and I put a couple of big rocks out in front of my hives to sit on and watch the girls flying in and out with all the different colored pollen.
My 6 year old son loves it too, he asks me all the time to come out and watch the bees with him.

Offline sarafina

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Re: Addicted
« Reply #9 on: May 01, 2009, 10:20:12 pm »
I LOVE watching mine!  Right now I can't sit out there in a lawn chair unless I am covered in DEET, so I watch them from my back door with a pair of binoculars until they get the mosquitoes under control.  We've had 18" of rain in the past 3 weeks.

Tomorrow is supposed to be nice weather so I am going to suit up and peek at my girls.  Well, I will be doing more than peeking - probably tick them off real bad, but I need to make sure my yellow hive has a laying queen and put the SBB back with the oil tray.  The plastic tray was stuck so bad I had to set my hive on a solid bottom board and take it to the garage and pry it out.

As for my new hive - just a quick peek to make sure the queen is laying.

Offline annette

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Re: Addicted
« Reply #10 on: May 01, 2009, 10:59:44 pm »
It is like a new baby. You cant get enough of it.  This is my third year and I am way more relaxed than my first year.  First year I would sit for hours and watch, watch watch.  Every little thing they did or did not do would send me into a tizzie. You can ask anyone on this forum if I was nervous my first year.  Very nervous and extreme anxiety if anything seemed out of place.

I am still very happy to visit them and when things look good, I am still so very happy.

Enjoy them and learn lots


Annette

Offline the kid

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Re: Addicted
« Reply #11 on: May 01, 2009, 11:16:08 pm »
 Beekeeping is not a hobby....
Its an addiction .
Now were do I join beekeepers  Anonymous ?????

Offline annette

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Re: Addicted
« Reply #12 on: May 01, 2009, 11:29:35 pm »
I need "Beeforum Anonymous"

Offline Buzzen

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Re: Addicted
« Reply #13 on: May 02, 2009, 12:35:21 am »
I think I'm addicted and I don't even have any bees yet!!   Now thats bad!

Offline Rebel Rose Apiary

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Re: Addicted
« Reply #14 on: May 02, 2009, 10:45:51 pm »
I think I'm addicted and I don't even have any bees yet!!   Now thats bad!

Hey, it has to start somewhere! Yeah, I am addicted too!

Brenda

Offline doak

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Re: Addicted
« Reply #15 on: May 02, 2009, 11:59:06 pm »
Buzzen, and any other New Be's Go ahead and get all the reading done you can.
I was back and forth to the Library for three years before I got my first. doak :)

Offline oldenglish

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Re: Addicted
« Reply #16 on: May 03, 2009, 02:39:49 am »
Am I addicted ?
1. Joined local club and became board member after just two months
2. Became club newsletter editor
3. Became club webmaster
4. Started with 5 hives not the two planned
5. Upto 6 hives right now.
6. Spent a day hiving packages for a local beek, it never gets old
7. Got a table saw so I could make my own equipment
8. Put in a vegtable garden next to the bee yard as an excuse to be outside all the time.
9. Spend more time in front of the hives than I do in front of the TV

Yep  :-D :-D :-D :-D

Offline ITCHI

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Re: Addicted
« Reply #17 on: May 03, 2009, 03:39:11 am »
It's like an aquarium for me, watching them coming and going, doing their thing. I find it very relaxing.
Even though they are being fed sugar water and slurping it up quite well many are still out gathering nectar which I assume are the ones coming back without pollen sacs and as said previously seeing the different color pollen sacs on the legs are quite interesting too.
All this is just from the outside, the inside of the hives is a whole other world to behold.

Offline hankdog1

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Re: Addicted
« Reply #18 on: May 03, 2009, 04:53:23 am »
I must admit i can't resist on a warm day to go out with my folding stool and plop my rear right down beside the hives.  I can spend hours watching those girls work thier magic.  You'll even find yourself actually picking up bees that get caught in a puddle of water and can't get out (we can't have our girls drowning now can we?)  The best part is opening one up for the first time and finding queen cells and freaking out like i did.  Made a frantic call to my buddy for help he came said they were going through supercedure and all was well.  Shew that was a close one.  Also i think i'm gonna invest in one of those laid back foldable lawn chairs for added hours of plesure out in the beeyard.  Dang they really do need to make a Lay Z Boy recliner to go outdoors for us beekeepers.   :-D
Take me to the land of milk and honey!!!

Offline patook

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Re: Addicted
« Reply #19 on: May 03, 2009, 07:24:31 am »
While opening them up does set them back a little, for a new beek, the value of learning far outweighs lost production.

 

anything