newbee mistakes; (1) requeen? and (2) beekeeping calendar?

[Kerimae]

1st year I got 2 qts of honey.  Last yr (2nd yr) I did not requeen (bad advice?) and got absolutely nothing AND had to feedfeedfeed my bees before winter.  I'm not even sure they're going to make it to spring, but so far....I hear buzzing and I put dry sugar in on one of our milder days (it's in the low 30's now).  Hoping for the best.  I have two questions:

1.  Should I order a new queen for spring???  Thinking of adding a second hive, too.  Advice?

2.  Is there a beekeeping calendar that a newbee like me might use in helping to know what to do when/what month?  I just need something plain and simple.  Where would I get one?

Thank you for your time.
Keri

[Michael Bush]

Requeening is probably not a bad plan under the circumstances, but it may have just been a bad year for the bees there.  When it rains, how much it rains, when it frosts, etc. has a huge effect on the outcome.  As does the queen.  :)  All beekeeping is local.  Talk to local beekeepers about when.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslocality.htm

[AllenF]

Are you treating for mite?   Did they swarm in the spring?   A lot of variables.

[Kerimae]

We had a horrible summer (read:  no "summer" at all).  I don't know if they swarmed; it never looked like the hive was lighter.  Would a swarming be more obvious?  Also, yes, treated for mites:  I powder-sugared them all up (one frame at a time, both sides) and also replaced my solid bottom board with a screened one.  I'm hoping I still have bees this spring.  Wish I could skip all this slow learning stuff and have more wisdom!

Any suggestions for a calendar of what to do when/what month? 

Thank you
Keri

[AllenF]

http://www.nwdba.org/beekeeping_calendar.html

[SawBee]

Rossman Apiaries has a brief calendar on their web site.

[Kathyp]

in spite of our really crappy spring and no summer, most of the PNW folks i have talked to had a good honey year off the berries and wildflowers.  i am surprised you had to feed so much, although we were pretty dry toward the end of summer. 

do the second hive for sure.  not only does it give you something to compare your other hive to, but it gives you resources if you need to boost one or the other.

did you evaluate the queens performance during summer?  if you were getting to the end of summer...augustish, and were not happy with amount of brood or brood pattern, requeening was still an option.  we have a short season, so if you have doubts, you need to get someone to look or make the call. 

check in spring an see what she's doing.  i'm not a big fan of requeening on a schedule, but if you are not going to raise your own, then you probably want to consider replacing her this year. 

BTW and i'm sure you know this, but the amount of honey you get is not a good way to evaluate your queen.  brood pattern, health of and growth of hives have to do with queen.  honey has more to do with location and conditions.  although....some hives seem to do a better job of collecting than others.

[Kerimae]

Thank you for the calendar, Allen.  What's with the "Register your hives with the Department of Agriculture" ?  :roll:

No, I sheepishly and humbly admit that I never checked the queen's performance late summer (brood "pattern?"  what's that?).  I do have a mentor but sometimes I don't think she's been doing this long enough....she didn't feel that getting into the hive often was necessary.  So when we *did* get into it, everything looked great, laying was good, etc.  It was a sore lesson to find nothing to harvest and to wonder what in the world happened.  I had another person come out and he was much better and in that one meeting really taught me about mite control, and SHOWED me what to look for, got me feeding the bees immediately, etc.  But I feel like I'm still learning by the seat of my pants.  I hope that means that in five years I'll be a wonderful mentor to someone else.

In the meantime, should I wait until I can get into my hive to check on how the queen is doing?  I'm thinking I should just order a new one anyway to make sure I get the kind of bees I want.  I'm afraid if I *wait* until I can check on things it will be too late to order new bees or a queen.  What would you do???

P.S.  Kathyp, "BTW and I'm sure you know this"...I don't know much at all!  Still reading and learning and trying to translate what I read to what I see.  Thank you for any time you give to my questions at all.  Consider me a newnewnewbee  :)

Definitely setting up hive number two this year.
Thanks
Keri

[Tommyt]

Edited to say I guess I was typing while you were posting  :roll:
I type slooooooooooooooow and don't do to good at it either :?

Tommyt

[backyard warrior]

Just relax thats whats fun about beekeeping is learning. I learn something new everyday with the bees its enjoyable.  Just ask the questions you have on the website and they will be answered for you  :)  It wouldnt hurt to join a beekeepers association in your area and read some books about beginning beekeeping. Ill admit there is lots to learn about the bees but its a life long experience that you will always have .

[Brian D. Bray]

I've been beekeeping for over 50 years and I'm still learning something new almost weekly and always monthly.
IMO, to be an effective mentor to a newbie a beekeeper should have 10 yrs or more experience working bees and not be one of those people inclined to preface their instructions with "you gotta.."  There ain't no one right way just as there isn't any one wrong way, I've managed to discover 100s of each over the years. 
If you can't find a mentor fitting the above description then form a mentor by committee, that is ask questions from every beekeeper you know (Club meetings are a good place), evaluate the multitude of answers (no 2 will be the same) and decide on a course of action from there.
Searching and reading postings on this site is often the best source of advice a person can find--lots of opinions, a large range of experience, and tons of sad tales of woe to learn from.