Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: Georgia Boy on April 21, 2013, 12:15:33 pm

Title: It is official, I am a Beek.
Post by: Georgia Boy on April 21, 2013, 12:15:33 pm
Finally got my first pkg and installed it last night at 6:30 pm. All went well. My wife videoed it all but have yet found a way to up load. Still working on that.

The bee are flying around today and seem to be doing some waggle dancing at the entrance. A good sign I hope.

A few questions, since it was in the 40's last put the entrance reducer in place, should I go head and open up the entrance now or wait?

Next, I placed the inner cover on top of the brood chamber and then placed a hive top shallow super feeder on top of the inner cover and then topped that with the telescoping cover on top of that. I lifted the telescoping cover to see if the bees were feeding this morning at 11:00 and saw none feeding. The question is should I have placed the inner cover between the brood chamber and the feeder or not? Since it has a hole in it I thought the bees could access the feeder through the inner cover.

Please tell me if I did this correct.

Thanks

David
Title: Re: It is official, I am a Beek.
Post by: Rob Sandberg on April 21, 2013, 12:28:20 pm
Well I am new , but I placed a mason jar from board man feeder over the hole of the inner cover and they took from there. The hardest thing I had to do was leave them alone that first week. Good luck on your adventure
Rob
Title: Re: It is official, I am a Beek.
Post by: buzzbee on April 21, 2013, 12:33:45 pm
Georgia boy,
leave your entrance reduce on. It will help maintain heat in the hive, lower the opening the bees need to protect from robbers. When the strenghth builds up to where there is a traffic jam at the opening,flip it to the lrger slot on the reducer. When that gets crowded remove it until cold weather.
Now go sit out in the sun and watch em work! :)
Title: Re: It is official, I am a Beek.
Post by: Charles Sen on April 21, 2013, 12:52:32 pm
Congratulations David! I see you have been looking forward to this for a while.
Title: Re: It is official, I am a Beek.
Post by: Georgia Boy on April 21, 2013, 01:11:47 pm
Just watching them last night and this morning I have learned a lot.

Drones are HUGH. Easy to spot with the big eyes. Their buzz in louder than their sisters. Sounds like a huey coming in compared to the biplane sound of the girls. :)

Don't think the girls wanted them in the hive last night. Took the drones forever to get in.

This morning around 8:00 they slowly started coming out and started orientation flights. Once out of the hive they seemed to turn and face the hive and then take off backwards so they could see the hive as they flew around.

Now you can tell the ones who have oriented themselves just fly straight out of the hive without looking back.

I saw what looked like bees coming in and feeding some of the bees that were waiting in the entrance and what looked like some of the bees doing the waggle dance and other bees gathered around watching and listening.  

Still need to know if the inner cover is OK placed between the brood box and the hive top feeder or do I need to move it to the top of the feeder? Since they can get through the hole in the inner cover to get to the feeder I think it will be ok.

This is toooooo cool.

I thought my worrying would stop once I got bees but it seems to have increased. All those little girls to take care of. :)

David

Title: Re: It is official, I am a Beek.
Post by: Georgia Boy on April 21, 2013, 02:29:27 pm
Just went to watch the girls.

A whole lot of flying going on, coming and going. I don't think robbing is an issue there wasn't any fighting at the entrance, just coming and going.

I think all is going good. I can only hope. :)

No real aggression toward me even when I am in front of the hive. Some just come over to check me out.

David
Title: Re: It is official, I am a Beek.
Post by: fshrgy99 on April 21, 2013, 03:47:24 pm
Congrats David,

I knew your bees were expected yesterday and wondered how excited you were. Do yourself a favor and get yourself something to sit on straight off while you watch!

Dennis
Title: Re: It is official, I am a Beek.
Post by: Intheswamp on April 21, 2013, 04:05:25 pm
Tell us, Georgia Boy,..................................................are you excited?   :-D
Title: Re: It is official, I am a Beek.
Post by: Georgia Boy on April 21, 2013, 04:09:25 pm
My wife said if I don't stop watching the girls she might get jealous.  :)

Too exciting and scary at the same time.
Title: Re: It is official, I am a Beek.
Post by: buzzbee on April 21, 2013, 06:31:38 pm
They will likely pay little mind to you while setting up house.
If they get established and there is a dearth of nectar,this could change.
Title: Re: It is official, I am a Beek.
Post by: Moots on April 21, 2013, 06:45:33 pm
GB,
Glad to hear things are going well!  Fairly confident you're not having a robbing issue, really nothing to rob yet!  :-D
Anyway, I can totally relate to your excitement, that was me just a little over three months ago.  In some ways it's hard to believe it hasn't been longer, I feel like I've come a long way.  But I can tell you this, my enthusiasm hasn't faded at all, I'm still loving every minute of it and still find myself doing exactly what you're describing....just standing there watching them, being amazed. 

Keep us posted!
Title: Re: It is official, I am a Beek.
Post by: buzzbee on April 21, 2013, 06:55:09 pm
Talk about enthusiasm, you should have seen Moots tear into the cutout at Bud5.
The fun never really dies. I look forward every spring to watching the buildup from the winter cluster.
Title: Re: It is official, I am a Beek.
Post by: Moots on April 21, 2013, 07:29:15 pm
Thanks buzz, Bud5 was a blast and I really enjoyed doing the cutout. Speaking of my cutout and bees being amazing little creatures...they've started hauling out the rubber bands I used to secure the comb in the frames.  :)
Title: Re: It is official, I am a Beek.
Post by: buzzbee on April 21, 2013, 07:33:32 pm
Awesome Moots. They were ready to go to town it sounds like.
Title: Re: It is official, I am a Beek.
Post by: Georgia Boy on April 21, 2013, 07:55:49 pm
Really missed not getting to Bud5. I would have liked it very much. Looking forward to next year.

As to setting up house, I was just watching the girls hauling the dead bees that had fallen into the hive from the box. It was awesome to watch them in action. It amazes me how far they try to haul them if they can.

Since they are cleaning house I hope that means they will stay. We'll see.

David
Title: Re: It is official, I am a Beek.
Post by: AllenF on April 21, 2013, 08:14:57 pm
I see you have your video up. 
Title: Re: It is official, I am a Beek.
Post by: buzzbee on April 21, 2013, 08:22:11 pm
Georgia Boy. It sounds like we are planning Bud events for the second week of April each year unless Easter comes too close to that weekend.
Title: Re: It is official, I am a Beek.
Post by: Georgia Boy on April 21, 2013, 08:28:36 pm
@ Allen, for what its worth I do. :)

@Buzz Cool I have to pick my next years vacation in November so that gives me a plan.

Thanks

David
Title: Re: It is official, I am a Beek.
Post by: Joe D on April 21, 2013, 08:35:58 pm
Congrats on beecoming a Beek.  As for your questions, like Buzz said leave the entrance reducer in, and the feeder I have used the board man feeder and have placed a  board man feeder jar over the inner cover hole, but haven't ever used the type you have.  It may need to be under inner cover don't know for sure.   Good luck to you and YOUR bees.




Joe
Title: Re: It is official, I am a Beek.
Post by: Georgia Boy on April 21, 2013, 08:58:19 pm
Thanks Joe.

David