New in Indianapolis

[TaoAndThen]

Greetings fellow beekeepers,

This is my first year beekeeping. I have one hive in my backyard in a typical suburban neighborhood in Indianapolis. The neighbors on each side have been very supportive, and the hive faces a large pasture in the back.

A volunteer inspector from one of our state associations came out 2 days ago to give me pointers on handling the frames, smoking, touching the bees, finding the queen, etc. Instead of being intent on not touching them for fear of angering them, I discovered that the bees are very curious and friendly. They even tried to lick propolis from my fingers! It was a wonderful sensation.

Anyway, I am much happier to be moving from the academics of beekeeping to having fun with the bees. The list of topics posted on this site seems overwhelming so I will probably begin with varroa control, especially more natural methods.

Thanks in advance for your support,
Amy

[Brian D. Bray]

Welcome, anyplace in the forum is a good place to start.

[Hi-Tech]

Bee careful....  Beekeeping is addictive. I was going to start one hive this summer so i bought one package of bees. Now i have 7 and it keeps growing...

[Michael Bush]

> I will probably begin with varroa control, especially more natural methods.

Here's a few places for that kind of info:

http://www.bushfarms.com/bees.htm
http://www.bushfarms.com/beespests.htm
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesvarroatreatments.htm
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesnaturalcell.htm
http://www.beesource.com/pov/lusby/index.htm
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Organicbeekeepers

[TaoAndThen]

I was addicted before my package even arrived! Thanks for the great links.

[IndianaBrown]

Welcome Tao/Amy!  

I am from Indianapolis (Irvington area), and am new to beekeeping this year also.  I purchased a nuc from Hunter's in Martinsville, then captured a swarm near Lebanon about 2 weeks later.  So far both hives are doing fine, and I am learing a ton.  (My Varroa strategy is to use Screened Bottom Boards and Drone Comb Swapping.  So far so good.)  

This is a great place to learn and share information.  Enjoy! :)

[TaoAndThen]

l i

[TaoAndThen]

I am on the opposite side of town, near 465 & 67. I think I read that the Hunter's drove somewhere down south to get their nucs. I think my package originated in California. (Long story)

The state apiary inspector has been very accessable. She helped to rule out nosema via email & a digital photo.

I, too, am using screened bottom boards and drone frames. I tried powdered sugar dusting three weeks in a row and was surprised by the results.

With all this rain, there are many bees completely covering the bottom board at night. Since I had already given them more room, I am going with one explanation in At the Hive Entrance: that they can warm the brood by allowing body heat to rise. Because all these bees cover the screen, I am finding more mites on the tray.

I appreciate the warm welcome.

Amy

[IndianaBrown]

So your bees get to hear the airport?  :)

I don't know about the source of the original frames of bees from the nuc from Hunter's, but Tracy told me that the queen was raised locally, (at Perdue University I think,) and was bread for mite/disease resistance from mostly Italian stock.

I have been meaning to call the state apiary inspector but I never get a chance to during the day.  I just looked the contact info in the Hoosierbuzz.com newsletter.  Kathleen Prough, DNR, right?  I have to make that a priority.

I am using styrofoam hives.  I just added a second medium to my nuc hive for a total of 2 deeps and 2 mediums.  It looks like I will get at least one medium full of honey from this hive this year - probably more.  

On the other hand, at the last inspection I noticed that the swarm hive was beginning to make a whole bunch of swarm cups on the bottoms of the frames.  They got off to a great start, and were crowded in the areas that they had drawn out, (in 1 deep and 1 medium,) but they started off building off center and still had about 2 frames per box that they had not even touched, all on the same side.  None of the cups I saw was very far along, but after noticing them I decided to go ahead and add another deep under the first one.  This will probably only add to their 'vertical' nature, but I would rather deal with that than weaken them by losing a swarm at this point.  It is too early to guess if I will take any honey from this hive this year.  If they are this quick to go into swarm mode I will have to watch them very carefully next year.  It is interesting to have hives from very different sources.

Bearding stopped about 2 to 3 weeks ago, the last time I added a box to each hive.  A bit before that I shimmed up the covers to provide top entrances.  Lately both hives tend to block up the most of the top entrances with a wall of bees, especially at night.  I suppose they are trying to conserve heat, but since it has been so wet I was thinking that the if they are having a problem at all, it is not so much with temperature control as it is with humidity control.  Or it could just be that the foragers are waiting for daylight and/or for less rain - and prefer the view from the top.  :)

[Brian D. Bray]

IndianaBrown,

Try removing the two frames they are not working on the off side of the hive, slide the entire set of remaining frames over and then place the two undrawn combs on what had been the drawn out side.  The bees should then drawn those combs out and you have the advantage of not having disturbed the brood area per se.

[TaoAndThen]

The airport is no problem here. Our house is not along one of the flight plaths where they dump fuel.

Here is Kathleen Prough's info:
Telephone (317) 232-4120
Facsimile (317) 232-2649
e-mail: kprough@dnr.IN.gov