Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: BigRog on October 04, 2004, 05:28:25 pm
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I opened up the hive a few minutes ago to put in the apistrips that I forgot to do 3 weeks ago. That was my second solo inspection and I wasn't as comfortable as I was when I did my first with John. I had switched the top and bottom super as the top had the brood and the bottom had the honey and added a thied deep with new frames and foundation.
They have done nothing with the new foundation but it did stop the bearding that was going on so I guess the extra space was useful. The extra super with frames will go into the shed next inspection.
I found the Queen on the first frame I pulled from the middle deep, as soon as I pulled it and went to flip it there she was on the bottom of the frame! This really made me feel good there she was walking around checking on things doing her job. This deep had a lot of honey but about half to one third was uncapped. We have had some putridly humid weather lately but this week is supposed to be very nice so hopefully they will get some of that capped and ready for winter.
The bottom super had a lot of brood some pollen and a little honey. and a lot of bees. This hive still looks very strong to me and I am enjoying the inspections a little more each time. I am still doing them in shorts and a t-shirt, no gloves and no headgear. I did make one change this time, I wore sneakers instead of sandals. Next time I might even wear socks!
John really imparted a calmness with that first inspection that I have mostly been able to retain for my inspections. I am very fortunate in getting my hive from him and having the experience of him showing me how to inspect a hive.
The temps here should be in the 70's all week during the day and down into the low 50's to high 40s at night.
And so far I have been stung once. When John and I were crating up the hive I grabbed a piece of wood and there was a bee under my pinky. She got the last word! But since then no stings. This is a very gentle hive and to me easy to work.
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Did you find the queen on one of the center frames or one of the outside frames? If you found the queen on one of the center frames then you should probably rethink how you inspect your hive. You should always pull the end frame or the frame next to it when getting into your hive. The reason for this is that the queen rarely is found on the end frames and there is less chance that you will roll her and injure her when you pull the end frames first. If you pull one of the center frames first there is the chance that she may be on it or one of the ones next ot it and the chance of injuring her goes up substantially.
Once you pull one of the end frames you then slide the next frame toward the opening you created prior to lifting it out of the hive, thus providing some clearance between the frames before you lift them out.
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It was the forth frame in.
I know better and I dont know why I did that
I was happy that she was there and active.
Yesterday afternoon it was about 68 degress and the girls were flying. I couldn't count the traffic. I now have noticed 2 flight paths they are usingone is WSW the other is SSW. The WSW seems to head north after they clear the tree cover but some go south, I haven't been able to tell where the ones using the other path are going due to tree cover.
I can sit there and watch them for a good long while. There is a small lake about a half mile from me south and there is plenty of varied vegetation all over. The guy behind me is going to be very happy with the yield from his gardem next year with my hive 150 ft from it.
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Well hopefully she won't hold your momentary lapse of intelligence against you.-lol
All summer long my bees have been heading out on a Southeasterly direction towards a couple of nearby farms. Now that my field is full of goldenrod and aster, however they are now heading directly West into my field to reap the closer nectar.
Since we had a killing frost last night it's time for me to pull my honey supers and prep the hives for winter. I had planned on doing this over the weekend but the weather man is calling for some rain and colder temps so I guess I'll take off work Friday afternoon to do it.
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this is what my weather is looking like.
I think I have a few more weeks until we get a killing frost.
Tonight
Oct 06 Clear 44° 0 %
Thu
Oct 07 Sunny 78°/49° 0 %
Fri
Oct 08 Sunny 80°/51° 0 %
Sat
Oct 09 Partly Cloudy 79°/53° 10 %
Sun
Oct 10 Partly Cloudy 75°/50° 20 %
Mon
Oct 11 Partly Cloudy 71°/48° 10 %
Tue
Oct 12 Partly Cloudy 70°/51° 20 %
Wed
Oct 13 Partly Cloudy 75°/52° 10 %
Thu
Oct 14 Partly Cloudy 74°/49° 10 %
Fri
Oct 15 Showers 71°/53°