Found my queen

[pokeyjeeper]

Took a peek at my bees this afternoon and we able to locate the queen I attended a bee keeping class yesterday on treatment free bee keeping and other bee keep information had a great time here's a picture of her

[pokeyjeeper]

I lot of the brewed has hatched and they are putting some nectar up all in all I think they are in good shape but I'm a newbee so comment away guys

[swampcat]

I'm new at it myself, but it looks great to me..

I think I should have looked at mine more when the hive was small to get accustomed to finding the queen. Now that there are two brood boxes and 2 honey supers on I can't find the queen most times I look.. so many bees I get distracted or nervous and want to get in and out quick..
I would have liked to become more familiar with the hive and working the bees early on..

[bk]

Jul 3, 2017 7:06:16 GMT -5 swampcat said:

I'm new at it myself, but it looks great to me..

I think I should have looked at mine more when the hive was small to get accustomed to finding the queen. Now that there are two brood boxes and 2 honey supers on I can't find the queen most times I look.. so many bees I get distracted or nervous and want to get in and out quick..
I would have liked to become more familiar with the hive and working the bees early on..

First tip, stay calm.  Oxygen is your friend - breath deliberately.  If you are calm the bees will be calmer.  I found humming tended to keep me calm when I first started, and a calm beek makes for calm bees.  Use your smoker and work carefully and smoothly.  The bees will move if you give them a chance.  They will be pissed if you are smashing and mashing bees.  And they will start homing in on the bee venom and get defensive.

Second, watch the weather.  Storms coming - don't work them.  Nice sunny, day - enjoy and take your time.  You'll quickly learn when they don't mind being messed with as much.  Watch the forecast.

Third don't think you must find the queen on the inspection.  I don't look for her - but find her more often than not because I'm not focusing on her.  Instead I look for eggs or first / second testar larvae.  Should be a much bigger target to find - even with my bifocals and poor light.  If you find this, the queen is there.  Unless I have other reasons for snooping (like reversals, opening up brood chamber, mite checks, etc, etc), I'm comfortable with stopping the inspection there.

Fourth, enjoy the experience.  If you don't enjoy it or find it too stressful... don't do it.  Not everyone can, and there is no judgment in that - but give yourself time to get relaxed and comfortable.  From your posts, you are well on the way. 

Good luck!

[swampcat]

Jul 4, 2017 9:34:54 GMT -5 bk said:

Jul 3, 2017 7:06:16 GMT -5 swampcat said:

I'm new at it myself, but it looks great to me..

I think I should have looked at mine more when the hive was small to get accustomed to finding the queen. Now that there are two brood boxes and 2 honey supers on I can't find the queen most times I look.. so many bees I get distracted or nervous and want to get in and out quick..
I would have liked to become more familiar with the hive and working the bees early on..

First tip, stay calm.  Oxygen is your friend - breath deliberately.  If you are calm the bees will be calmer.  I found humming tended to keep me calm when I first started, and a calm beek makes for calm bees.  Use your smoker and work carefully and smoothly.  The bees will move if you give them a chance.  They will be pissed if you are smashing and mashing bees.  And they will start homing in on the bee venom and get defensive.

Second, watch the weather.  Storms coming - don't work them.  Nice sunny, day - enjoy and take your time.  You'll quickly learn when they don't mind being messed with as much.  Watch the forecast.

Third don't think you must find the queen on the inspection.  I don't look for her - but find her more often than not because I'm not focusing on her.  Instead I look for eggs or first / second testar larvae.  Should be a much bigger target to find - even with my bifocals and poor light.  If you find this, the queen is there.  Unless I have other reasons for snooping (like reversals, opening up brood chamber, mite checks, etc, etc), I'm comfortable with stopping the inspection there.

Fourth, enjoy the experience.  If you don't enjoy it or find it too stressful... don't do it.  Not everyone can, and there is no judgment in that - but give yourself time to get relaxed and comfortable.  From your posts, you are well on the way. 

Good luck!

Thanks BK

I'll try that.
I made a walk away split about mid June and the hive is pretty active today.. I am thinking in a couple more days i will open it up to see if there is a new queen in the hive and if she is busy yet.. All I did with the split was pull a brood box and a honey super off the original hive and set it a few feet from it.. It had two brood boxes and two honey supers.. after the forager bees left wasn't much activity till now..I'm seeing lots of pollen coming in to it now..

[pokeyjeeper]

Thanks for the post guys swampcat the class I took they taught us to be calm and gentle most of the guys didn't have a suit on or gloves and they showed us how to move the bee around by just bumping them with a finger instead of blasting them with smoke when I found my queen on Sunday afternoon I was checking brood and she was just there but my hive is small still so not much place to hide in

[swampcat]

Jul 4, 2017 10:25:53 GMT -5 pokeyjeeper said:

Thanks for the post guys swampcat the class I took they taught us to be calm and gentle most of the guys didn't have a suit on or gloves and they showed us how to move the bee around by just bumping them with a finger instead of blasting them with smoke when I found my queen on Sunday afternoon I was checking brood and she was just there but my hive is small still so not much place to hide in

I'm just getting into like yourself, and I enjoy learning about the bees. I hope to multiply my hives and seeing where this goes..I though I might be able to cover my property taxes here at one point. Not sure if that will work out but it would be nice, to make the property cover its taxes.. I haven't really priced a complete hive here to see what they sell for yet.. but it seems possible to multiply the hives and sell off some.. I think its going to be fun to see what works and what doesn't..

Good Luck

[pokeyjeeper]

Checked on the girls today all is well they fill out another bar looks like they are putting up some nectar in it and there is a ton of capped brood I did remove one drone cell I found as they should not need him and that is what I learned in class last weekend to prevent mites they have 8 bars mostly filled out now my goal is to have 16 before winter

[farmertrappe]

Sounds like you all are off and running with your bees. I agree spending time with your bees makes them less aggressive due to them being use to your intrusion into their home.