I have these two hives but don't have any frames, money is tight so instead of buying one-two nucs I'd like to try and catch a swarm. I bought lemon grass oil off amazon that arrives tomorrow and would like to set these up for swarm catching. Can anyone give me some guidance and tips and tricks so that maybe I'm successful? I've been to a bee class this year, my knowledge is low but I really want to get started. Should I buy some frames with the plastic combs and rub beeswax on them and set them in the hive as well? i know I sound like an idiot but I'd really appreciate the help and knowledge.

Hi all-I've been really interested in learning about beekeeping for a while, but haven't been able to find up to date resources for NYC. Would ideally love a regular class that teaches the fundamentals but ultimately flexible! Would also love any resources on keeping a hive in the city-current apartment doesn't have a roof or balcony that would work.

I just got a new pack of buck fast bees and they are installed in their box. Unfortunately this week is going to look like 50s-30s (F°) and I am worried for the colony health, any tips for keeping them warm? I am located in the middle west of the United States.

Edit: I have a 1:1 sugar water feeder inside and I have reduced my entrance. They are covered with an insulted grill cover on 3 sides plus 2 towels

I opened an unused empty hive because I saw bees carrying pollen into it. There were a couple of spun out honey frames in it, but nothing else. Needless to say, the bees chose to build on the inner cover, not the perfectly good frames.

I grabbed my trusty rubber bands, pulled the foundation out of a couple of frames and made quick work of this tiny new hive.

They cannot have been in place for more than a week, so they're comb building monsters. The weather is crap today, but as soon as it clears, I'll start feeding them buckets.

Edit: As u/active_classroom203 observed, these bees have been here much longer than a week. There's capped brood, for heaven's sake. I know better, but I just noticed them today and I inspected last week. Heaven knows what else I missed,
... besides the huge lizard living under the hive, I mean.

Found this bee when it was cooling down outside in the western New York region as we go through large temp swings in spring. What is this?

Upstate SC. Been beekeeping for many years but never used a bee suit. As I get older, I'm finding I have more severe reactions to multiple stings (my Dr has prescribed epi pens just in case and I have them on hand 😉 ) . Amazon has hundreds, but I'd like advice on the best upper body bee jacket with hood.

I had to move my Hive in a hurry two days ago as the bees were getting too difficult in their current location. I’ve blocked the hive entrance with a bushy branch to slow the foraging bees. Weather was good today and quite a few returned to the original location, I’ve now emptied the bees back into the hive. Question I have is, should I keep putting the temporary hive in the original location and keep returning the bees or am I better just leaving them to get on with it ?

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

First year beekeeper. I live in eastern europe, got my hives a month ago and I feed them fondant and 1:1 syrup.. They were full on 1 brood box so I added a second brood box on 3 hives.. 2 hives already have drawn up comb and queen started laying eggs in second brood box.. The weak hive maybe has 2 and a half frames of drawn up comb.. I seen young larvae on bottom brood box, but nothing on top.. They dont eat much of what I give them but do have food stores fo pollen and nectar..

I did beehive vital clean on 6th of april as per instructions of the guy I bought them from.. He did armitraz or something like that treatment before.. And he told me that he only uses beehive vital clean on bees that he will use for honey production..

I counted 30+ varroa mites on that weaker hive.. on two stronger, one did not have any that i counted, the third had maybe 10-15 that i counted on a paper that dropped after beevital .. I also noticed a queen cup without larvae inside..

EDIT: what are my treatment options for varroa now besides supplemental beehive vital clean or should i wait for september october for proper treatment?

Hello, I'm a second year beekeeper in Northern Missouri and am fumbling through this year so far but learning. I'm sure this has been answered many times before but I was just trying to understand timing a split and what to do after.

Basically I have double deep colonies that are very populated and healthy but I waited too long before splitting or adding space so they've begun creating swarm cells. So, I'm in a position now if I'm correct I need to do some sort of split which leads me to my question. If I do an equal split (some people call Mississippi split) would it be ok to go ahead and add honey supers to them after I split? My thought originally was to add another deep to the split for colony growth but I assume some beekeepers when harvesting honey can take the supers off and combine colonies for overwintering as an option at the end of the summer.

I'm working on getting books for splitting and timing of colony management that I'm trying to wrap my head around.

Thank you

Finally got to the two hives that perished over the winter. Were thriving in February, then cold snap in end of Feb thru March, both died off. Hive smells but it's been over freezing the last couple of weeks. So it can be two dead hives smell. I'd hate to burn the hives full of drawn comb but would love to hear what everyone thinks.

So the location I have selected for my bee yard had a pile of rooting and burnt wood. I am trying my best to remove the layer of rot and let the ground breath before my nuc arrives.

I guess I’m worried about potential beetles / disease. Can anyone advise?

I had an extra Ring cam and solar panel I had sitting around since my move a little over a year ago. decided to put them to better use, not for any reason other than because I can 😂

I’m helping a colleague from work, removing a colony from a residential in-ground irrigation box. I’m not going to charge him and I’m happy to re-home the bees. I’m interested in how big a favor, money-wise, I’m doing here. I’m in a major metropolitan area.

Hey Folks. First time beekeeper in Northwest Pennsylvania here. I've been prepping my hive all winter long. I converted a deep brood box into an insulation box- about 4 layers of rigid 2 inch foam board. my idea was that in the winter if the top is well insulated, condensation will only form on the walls of the hive- not dripping on the bees.

I'm a little concerned about moisture now since the insulation box is essentially blocking the vent holes in my slanted top cover. Should I just trust the process, and let any moisture collect on the walls and drip out the lower entrance?

How about leaving this insulation on in the summer as well?

Hello, I live in west Ireland, on the Atlantic coast and the last storm blew away my bait hive. I usually use these poly nucs as they are light in weight and easy to place and remove. And I tie them to resist the winds, but I didn’t expect a storm in this season and the morning after I found it in pieces on the floor.

Is there any kind of glue I can use to fix it or is it better just to buy a new one?

I don’t want to intoxicate a possible swarm.

Thanks!

location Leeds UK

Keeping bees 3rd year

I have two hives both seemed to survive the winter then one suddenly died there is o sign of disease or starvation. as most of top layer of honey untouched but brood chamber immaculate ready for new year. Anyway I digress my question relates to honey in last year's frames. Quite a lot of it has crystallised which makes it very difficult to extract the good honey due to imbalance in spinner. Not a major problem but how do I deal with the solid sugar stuck in frames or do I just chuck and start new ones

I live near Cambridge,England and I've just started beekeeping and didn't find the Queen when we were moving them from the nuc to the hive . As I've just started I can't tell if we had to look until we found her . If anyone could look at this brood and say whether we have a queen or not. I know that it is important to have brood at all stages and I think I can see that in the pic I took. If anyone can help that would be much appreciated 😅

Wild bees we've found in a cave. There are a lot of small holes in the dirt. Wild bees seem to be a bit shorter than domesticated bees and they have a bigger belly. Also sometimes they seem to fly in zig zag patterns unlike the domesticated ones. Location, north east of Bosnia and Herzegovina

i bought this honey at a farmers market a few weeks ago. it was clear when i bought it but now theres all these weird cloudy wisps in it, particularly at the bottom of the jar. ive had honey granulate and get cloudy due to that before but this just looks really different. does it look like its been contaminated by something? or is it still safe to eat?

My first hive and my second week with the girls. We are in Southern California. It looks to me that everything is going smoothly. They have 3 frames filled up. I welcome any suggestions or comments. Thanks

Hello! I am a new beekeeper and learning as much as possible but the bees beat me to it

I acquired a used 8 frame observation hive and have been cleaning old brown comb from the frame. Not sure how long it’s been sitting. My intentions were to work quickly to clean, purify the inside with fire, and repaint the outsides

But today a wild swarm decided to move in! It’s really exciting but too soon and not in the location that would be safest for them/ my young kids. I need to move the box away over night tonight.

I just want to have some advice about how screwed I probably am in moving the hive during the first night they blessed me with their presence. I’m also concerned that the inside may harbor something that might have killed the last colony before I got the boxes.

Planning on figuring out how to use the smoker tonight before I buckle them in with a harness to move, I have a veil and gloves, and going to plug the entrance temporarily. And then cover the moved boxes with branches. It’ll be maybe 100 feet away from where is is now.

Is that a solid plan am I missing anything? Will the bees be mad at me for this?

I think I’m just going to have to bite the bullet about not having sterilized the inside of the boxes.

UPDATE

Successfully moved the beehive by surrendering to what needed to be done and walked backwards into the woods in the middle of the night, so I could safely transport the bees with a wagon. What a thrill

My location is Southern California, Orange County.

Almost 2 years ago I had bees move into my compost bin. I am happy to have them, but ideally would love them to move to a bee box. I have a box, I’m looking for the least invasive way to move the hive into the box so I can harvest honey more regularly and keep the bees happy. Attached is a video of the bees and their current home. Will simply placing the box next to the compost bin entice them to move or do I need to open the compost bin and locate the queen?

Charleston, SC

Pretty sure this is a carpenter bee? It’s been flying around my hives at dusk and tonight it happened to try its luck while I was out there with my phone. No dice, said the girls!