Author Topic: Getting my first bees tonight. (Read 5550 times)

gww · « **on:** June 22, 2015, 07:56:24 pm »

I am getting my first bees tonight. Forum members gave me the contact info to the clubs around here and I found a helpful individual through there that lives close to me. I am giving $200 for a three medium hive and will eventually give the guy his boxes back but keep the frames. It is late in the year but hopefully I can get by without having to feed to much though I will if needed or to keep them going a little later in fall. We went through his hives and the bees were not aggressive though he did get stung. The biggest worry is we might not live 3 full miles apart. I will probly leave them alone for 3 or 4 weeks. I will add a super of foundationless over his foundation frames. Note to self "move one frame up for bridge." I don't think the third medium is built out yet though it does have some honey in it.

Wish me the best.
gww

iddee · « **Reply #1 on:** June 22, 2015, 08:30:24 pm »

I wish you the best, but if you put 9 foundationless frames in the box and not look at them for 3 weeks, I'm thinking you will receive the worst.

cao · « **Reply #2 on:** June 22, 2015, 10:00:51 pm »

Iddee has a good point. I would check on them once a week to make sure that they are drawing the combs straight. It won't disturb them much if you just pop the top to take a peek.

gww · « **Reply #3 on:** June 22, 2015, 10:52:12 pm »

Id and C
I ment to say I won't be going into the brood boxes. I did know I would have to keep an eye on the top box but thank you very much for reminding me.
gww

BeeMaster2 · « **Reply #4 on:** June 22, 2015, 11:16:26 pm »

Good luck GWW. Let us know how it works out.
Jim

gww · « **Reply #5 on:** June 22, 2015, 11:54:12 pm »

Jim
Thank you, They are now in my back yard and I will let you know next spring if I have to clean out a dead out or can make a split.
Thanks
gww

biggraham610 · « **Reply #6 on:** June 23, 2015, 01:48:01 am »

Good Luck and enjoy gww. You will be making multiple splits. Watch those combs, but once they start em right, they usually do a pretty good job at keeping them right from my experience. I love foundationless. G

gww · « **Reply #7 on:** June 23, 2015, 01:32:13 pm »

biggr...
Thanks. Hoping to get splits next spring so I can get enough going that I never have to pay for bees again. Time will tell. I have read and watched the forums and hope to keep up with strait comb. I like foundationless cause I can build it all and don't have to buy anything.
Fingers crossed that all goes well.
Thanks
gww

Michael Bush · « **Reply #8 on:** June 23, 2015, 02:31:29 pm »

>The biggest worry is we might not live 3 full miles apart.

When foragers were caught, marked and taken various distances away all of them found their way back at 1 1/2 miles. Some found their way back at 2 miles, but not most. Hardly any find their way back when further.

Use google maps and figure out how far you are...

gww · « **Reply #9 on:** June 23, 2015, 03:35:20 pm »

Michael
Not good. I just put the road names in map quest and it was 1.54 miles for walking directions.

I could have took them to dads for a couple of days. I mentioned it but the guy with the bees thought it would be ok. Will the nurse bees leave?

I tried google maps but didn't know how to use them and for some reason they where not coming up on my computer.

I guess it is too late now?
Thanks
gww

BeeMaster2 · « **Reply #10 on:** June 23, 2015, 05:04:24 pm »

All of your nurse bees will orient to their new location. If they had a good flow near their hives, less than a mile and a half, then they will bee OK. It becomes a problem when they are on their way home and they cross an old track that they are familiar with and then take an old route home.
Jim

gww · « **Reply #11 on:** June 23, 2015, 05:42:44 pm »

Jim
I don't know about the flow. My 3.5 acre feild has lots of flowers now. The guy I bought them from was worried cause it had rained so much that the bees were going through thier own stores. He did think that since I have no other hive here that it might turn into a bonanze compared to his with the amount of hive he has together.

He was a bit worried of selling to me but then the sun finaly came out.

Thanks for clueing me in on the nurse bees. I am glad there is still hope.
gww

Dallasbeek · « **Reply #12 on:** June 23, 2015, 05:55:16 pm »

Quote from: sawdstmakr on June 23, 2015, 05:04:24 pm

All of your nurse bees will orient to their new location. If they had a good flow near their hives, less than a mile and a half, then they will bee OK. It becomes a problem when they are on their way home and they cross an old track that they are familiar with and then take an old route home.
Jim

Jim, what is the memory span of a bee? If they crossed an old path far enough back in time, would that make a difference?

rober · « **Reply #13 on:** June 23, 2015, 07:52:08 pm »

what part of mo?

gww · « **Reply #14 on:** June 23, 2015, 08:06:43 pm »

Rober
I am in rosebud mo. I believe I talked to you on the phone about nucs earlier this year. How did that work out for you? I hope it worked out ok.
gww

BeeMaster2 · « **Reply #15 on:** June 23, 2015, 11:24:29 pm »

Quote from: Dallasbeek on June 23, 2015, 05:55:16 pm

Quote from: sawdstmakr on June 23, 2015, 05:04:24 pm
All of your nurse bees will orient to their new location. If they had a good flow near their hives, less than a mile and a half, then they will bee OK. It becomes a problem when they are on their way home and they cross an old track that they are familiar with and then take an old route home.
Jim

Jim, what is the memory span of a bee? If they crossed an old path far enough back in time, would that make a difference?

Dallas,
The real question is how long do field bees live. They live about 3 weeks.
I have moved hives about 5 feet after dark. The next day they re orient to the new location but they still return to the old location. It takes a little bit for them to figure out where the hive is. Then after that, they still return to the old location and make a S pattern return to the new location. It is very funny to see. After a week or so, half of you bees are making the S pattern and half are flying straight to the hive. After about 3 weeks there are very few bees flying to the old location. The new bees fly straight to the hives, the old bees return to the old location that they originally oriented to and then fly to the hive. Even when you move the hive across the yard they do the same.
Jim

Michael Bush · « **Reply #16 on:** June 24, 2015, 08:33:00 am »

>Will the nurse bees leave?

No.

KeyLargoBees · « **Reply #17 on:** June 24, 2015, 10:47:05 am »

Hell even a few inches matters....I swapped bottom boards and the original entrance reducer which had the entrance on the right wouldn't fit between the hive body and the new bottom board....had to use one with the entrance offset to the left....all of the foragers continued to return to the right side of the landing board for at least 2 weeks before they figured out the opening was on the other side and started landing in front of it.

gww · « **Reply #18 on:** July 12, 2015, 03:20:35 pm »

Update
Being a newby I am trying to make as many newby mistakes as posible and kill my new bees. I have had my bees for about 20 days or so. It has rained every other day and I got a little worried and so I put a quart chicken waterer with 1/1 sugar water about 20 feet away from my new hive. I did this maby 5 days ago. I had caned some peaches and had leftover sugar water so decided to use it. It took them a day to find and really hit it and I noticed that lots of bees where not coming from my hive. I then put a extra medium on and put a jar feeder on the top cover. I had taken the intrance reducer off 3 days after getting the hive. It had small steady come and go trafic till 2 days ago. The last two days it has been getting robbed like crazy.

When I got the hive there was eggs and larva. When me and the guy I bought it from looked at it today there is still only eggs and larva but no capped brood. The brood is in the second medium mostly.

We cut down the entrance and I am supposed to feed heavy. Probly have lost quite a few bees. There are flowers everywhere but the bees are doing so much defending that they may not be taking as much advantage as they should of whatever blooms are still out there. As an added bonus I have wax moth.

Oh well, look again in a week and see where I am.
gww

Hi-Tech · « **Reply #19 on:** July 13, 2015, 06:45:45 pm »

I had a similar problem with robbing this year so I put feeders 100 yards away from my hive and stopped all feeding at the hive. Now my bees (and the wild ones) fly away from my hive to get their free juice. Im feeding a lot of wild bees but no more robbing.