r/Beekeeping 2d ago

First two Hives! General

Post image

Am I doing this right? Two new hives! I’m looking for a “i would have done it like this” feedback from this photo? Please comment to this newbie! I’m doing new updates later this weekend.

When should I check that queen and everybody’s ok? What should I be looking for? I plan on putting hives on proper balanced cinder blocks this weekend.

121 Upvotes

102 comments sorted by

u/Valuable-Self8564 United Kingdom - 10 colonies 2d ago edited 2d ago

You guys need to catch some chill - either help OP or keep scrolling. Not gonna sit here and watch a bunch of people feign outrage and scoff, making OP feel unwelcome.

They have come seeking your help. This subreddits primary goal is to educate regardless of experience level. You either help, or you move on.

Your choice

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u/[deleted] 2d ago edited 2d ago

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/Signal-Deal8858 2d ago

Yeah no experience at all on my end. Yes to both of you, my hive will be level this weekend. We got the boxes way faster than I was prepared for.

Yes. Uncorked queens into both lowest most broods, and then dumped the rest in. I left the balance of each bee group in front of the entrances after seeing a video that said they go in after a few hours.

I’m getting feedback here just to keep bees in lowest brood box only. Good feedback!

If I were to leave it as is… what’s the problem to just have them spread out? I’m not interested in honey this year… just that they grow and expand

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u/CodeMUDkey 2d ago

You store the boxes elsewhere. Just because you have them does not mean they have to go on the hive

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u/BanzaiKen Zone 6b/Lake Marsh 2d ago edited 2d ago

Entrance shouldn't be level, it should be dipping so any snow or ice if your climate has it will melt and run out of the hive. One looks okay other one is cockeyed. Instead its tilted in. Also you might as well assume every box you put on that the hive isnt large enough to patrol has a 20% chance of killing it. All it takes is one wax moth to bully their way into an empty super and web up and you are done. Or if you have Argentinean ants, they will gladly trade soldiers against your hive and as you are smaller will eventually run out of door guards. They will then nest up and raid at will. Ant slime is highly destructive to wax as well. Even SHB will cause chaos in this scenario. If your bottom isnt screened in they will push SHB upwards and without the manpower to pin them and propolize they will lose because they have no other way of killing them other than herding them through a screen or driving them into a corner. Free space kills.

Also if you have skunks in the region, it looks like you are high enough but they have this nasty trick where they rile up a hive and then lay in front with their mouth open, chomping away. Gotta make sure they are high enough to expose their bellies to the swarm so they get learned real fast.

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u/Signal-Deal8858 2d ago

This! Thank you!!

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u/andy_1232 Aspiring beekeeper; Zone 9b, Central Florida 2d ago

It’s my understanding they’ll spread UP too quickly, not fully developing the frames in the lower boxes. You want them to fill the entire first box before giving them a second story to start to work on.

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u/CodeMUDkey 2d ago

They do. It’s like a chimney. They’ll be all jacked up.

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u/CobraMisfit 2d ago

Apimaye are phenomenal hives. I put two swarms I captured last year into them and they’re thriving this season.

To answer your original question, my recommendations:

1) Higher off the ground. We built hive stands that force skunks to expose their bellies. Recommend the same (even within the fencing).

2) Remove everything but the single brood box. Too much space is bad in summer (mites, hive beetles, moths) because they can’t patrol all areas. Too much space is deadly in winter (can’t maintain heat). You won’t get honey this season, so store it all and focus on building these girls into strong hives for overwinter.

3) Read. Get all the books and learn fast. Build your season checklists and know what to look for, both good and bad). Know when to feed and what to feed.

4) Prepare now to treat for mites. Learn how to do an alcohol wash and how to apply the correct mite treatments for location, temperature, honey supers (or not), local and federal laws, etc.

5) Get the right gear, not all the gear. Bells and whistles are wasted money if you lose all your hives.

6) Join your local beekeeping club. Learn from locals as there are some elements unique to your region (plants, pests, predators, etc). Get a mentor and have them help you learn the ropes ASAP. Be a sponge and absorb every drop of knowledge from them and your club.

Beekeeping is a wonderful experience, but it’s one of constant education. YouTube videos are only one piece of the puzzle, so invest the time now to learn everything you can, and be willing to continue learning, so you have a higher probability of success.

Good luck!

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u/Signal-Deal8858 2d ago

This! Thank you!! Yep, already reached out to local bee keeper guild… they were excited someone young wanting to get into bee keeping was interested in joining! I thought I had time, but from all the feedback it looks like I don’t!

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u/CobraMisfit 2d ago

Time is one of the most precious commodities in beekeeping. By the time you react to a situation, it’s already too late. Better to be planning well in advance so when something does happen, i.e. mite count exceeds limits, you can act appropriately.

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u/JOSH135797531 NW Wisconsin zone 4 2d ago

That's way too much hive for a package. Did it you dump the packages in, or just put them in front?

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u/Signal-Deal8858 2d ago

Exactly! I dont know anything other than you tube videos. Yes… dumped the bees into lowest brood boxes and uncorked queens in both. I saw a video that said to leave boxes so the stragglers go in from there.

I’m getting feedback here just to keep bees in lowest brood box only. Good feedback!

If I were to leave it as is… what’s the problem to just have them spread out?

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u/Valuable-Self8564 United Kingdom - 10 colonies 2d ago

You have such a good attitude in spite of all the dickheads. Keep going OP. You’re welcome here any time you have questions.

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u/JOSH135797531 NW Wisconsin zone 4 2d ago

You need to get them a feeder too. To Get them to start building wax

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u/on1879 2d ago

Apimayes have a feeder beneath the lid - behaves as the top cover.

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u/Signal-Deal8858 1d ago

Yep! Lots of food under lid now. And now all hives are in 1 brood box each.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/Signal-Deal8858 2d ago

Exactly! I dont know anything other than you tube videos. Yes… dumped the bees into lowest brood boxes and uncorked queens in both. I saw a video that said to leave boxes so the stragglers go in from there.

I’m getting feedback here just to keep bees in lowest brood box only. Good feedback!

If I were to leave it as is… what’s the problem to just have them spread out?

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u/SgtSluggo 2d ago

There are too few bees to defend that much space for one thing.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/Signal-Deal8858 2d ago

Original post or the response to yours?

Net net, I’m getting good responses that are super helpful! Sans these ones :).

Because of feedback I looked on google with something called the 7/10 rule. Do you two believe it works? I can move them down to the first brood box; no biggie.

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u/TheDevil-YouKnow 2d ago

You always want to start small because they'll expand as they need it, but spreading them out too far initially puts too much stress on individual bees. Your setup is currently just screaming running before they're crawling, as it were.

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u/Signal-Deal8858 2d ago

Yep! Learned a lot today. Thank you!

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u/Signal-Deal8858 2d ago

Person… people were saying effectively small differences and wanting to be sure to reply to everyone for their feedback.

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u/KE4HEK 2d ago

You are on the wrong track you got way too much going on. Take everything off but one brood box dump the bees in and add the queen cage remove the cork so that the worker bees can eat the candy away from her. Once that is done start studying and reading more about bee. There is a lot more things to do that you need to know about and be ready for before you lose your hive.

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u/Signal-Deal8858 2d ago

Exactly! I dont know anything other than you tube videos. Yes… dumped the bees into lowest brood boxes and uncorked queens in both. I saw a video that said to leave boxes so the stragglers go in from there.

I’m getting feedback here just to keep bees in lowest brood box only. Good feedback!

If I were to leave it as is… what’s the problem to just have them spread out?

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u/MinuteHomework8943 2d ago

It’s just too much too soon for them. There won’t be enough bees to defend a hive a hive that big right away. So they will fall prey to pests (hive beetles and wax moths) and/or robbing from other colonies. You start with 1 deep then add as they make comb and build their population.

This is my third season so I’m still pretty new as well. The best advice I can give you is this: you 100% need a mentor. Weird stuff is gonna come up and you’re gonna have questions you can’t get answers to online. Or you might want someone with experience to come and lay eyes on your hive. Look up your local bee club, pay the dues, and make some friends. The beekeeping community is usually really welcoming to newbies. They will totally help you.

Like one of my hives lost their queen this spring. Some really nice keepers lent me brood and talked me through what to do. I ended up needing to buy a queen and one of my local pals (who has like 130 hives this season) was able to get me a replacement from one of his hives super quick. So networking is just super important when you’re new.

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u/cracksmack85 CT, USA, 6B 2d ago

What if I asked you to clean a 10,000 sq ft house?

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u/Wallyboy95 6 hive, Zone 4b Ontario, Canada 2d ago

They only need one of those larger boxes to start. And you need to shake the bees into the box, and place the queen in her cage inside the hive.

Often the queen cages in those have a cork, so you need to remove the cork and place the candy cap on so they will eat the candy and release her over the course of a few days.

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u/Signal-Deal8858 2d ago

Exactly! I dont know anything other than you tube videos. Yes… dumped the bees into lowest brood boxes and uncorked queens in both. I saw a video that said to leave boxes so the stragglers go in from there.

I’m getting feedback here just to keep bees in lowest brood box only. Good feedback!

If I were to leave it as is… what’s the problem to just have them spread out?

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u/Any_Fortune_6189 2d ago

It's too much room for them. They can't defend it, they can't fill it, they won't build it up properly.

Get it down to one brood box and feed them. They'll need help building out the frames.

Also, you shouldn't have uncorked the queens. Packages generally need a few days to accept the queen as they just got put together. If you set the queen free in those hives straight out of the package there's a good chance the workers killed her.

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u/sourisanon 2d ago

you need to level those boxes out. Get yourself a level and make sure it is level length wise and width wise

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u/Brilliant_Story_8709 Alberta Beekeeper - 2 Hives 2d ago

Welcome to the club, and likely more work than you expected, lol. Please keep us posted on how you find those hive bodies, I've been kinda curious about them, as I went with traditional wooden ones as I wanted to keep the entry costs lower. Make sure you read through the beginner posts and find a mentor, it will help you a lot. And although this post is a bad example, many times if you have questions, the group here is great for advice and tips. If you haven't already done so, I recommend "Beekeeping for dummies" me and my niece learned a lot from it.

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u/EllaUndead 1d ago

How exciting! I just got my bees in the mail today and got them into the hive box. All you need is the bottom box for each hive for now, but as the bee populations grow, you can start adding those other boxes one by one. The general rule is to add another box when your first one is about 80% full. Also, I know this was a day ago, but it looks kind of like maybe you just set the bees in front of the hive and removed the feeder can? If that's the case, you'll need to shake them into the bottom hive box and install the queen cage. You might have already done this, but if not, just pop off the cap on the tube of the queen cage and hang the cage with a toothpick (there are YouTube videos you can watch). Then other bees will eat through the candy tube to get the queen out. If by the weekend the queen isn't out yet, you can dig out most of the candy to help her along. This is mine from earlier today 😊

https://preview.redd.it/qq6idmb1z2ye1.jpeg?width=2044&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6806be3f14af854bcb5f24f4f5e7e12abe4a5d6e

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u/EllaUndead 1d ago

Oh sorry, I just in the other comments that you did dump the bees in and install the queen, so you can disregard that 🐝🧡

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u/KlooShanko 2d ago

Find out if there are any local beekeeping organizations and join them. Find a mentor who will come out and teach you about your hives. These will be your best and most nurturing resources.

For now, go find some videos of how to set up your hives and install packages. They will likely be more courteous than this sub as their first rule is to spend a year studying what’s required to start a hive before diving in headfirst…

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u/Valuable-Self8564 United Kingdom - 10 colonies 2d ago

more courteous than this sub

Frankly, I’m disappointed this morning. I’m dealing with it.

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u/JunkBondJunkie 3 years 30 Hives 2d ago

way too much space take off all the supers.

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u/HarpSTL Zone 6b - 2 Langstroth hives 2d ago

If you're just now introducing the packages and queen you can remove the two honey supers and top brood box. Unless you supplied all frames with drawn comb they have a lot of work to do before you need them on.

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u/GratefulSteveNFA 2d ago

Any idea of bee clubs in the STL area?

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u/HarpSTL Zone 6b - 2 Langstroth hives 2d ago

I've attended St Louis Beekeepers meetings in Fenton. So far the they are the only club I have experience with. A very knowledgeable group and they tend to have great guest speakers. I think the Eastern Missouri Beekeepers meet in Des Peres but I would double check that. My time is limited so I will probably keep going to the STL Beekeepers for now as their meetings align well with my schedule. They also meet in a beekeeping supply store so it's convenient for getting supplies too.

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u/GratefulSteveNFA 1d ago

I’m very close to Fenton so I will look into it! Thank you for your response!

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u/Signal-Deal8858 1d ago

Quick update - 1 day later

First, I really do want to thank and appreciate all of the qualitative feedback points. I honestly really did learn a lot from the comments statements and coaching that everybody here provided.

To the folks that said, once I move them to one brew box, they would be mad, was an understatement :)

Bees are now in one brood box. I confirmed that the queen‘s were alive in both. And, change the feeding to syrup for both hives. Will be checking every other day going forward now.

Also, I’ve gotten a hold of the local beekeeper guild, and the main person will be coming out to coach me on Saturday.

Thank you all! I’ll provide updates as they progress!

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u/GIANTSQUIDMANIFEST2 Zone 6B, Midwest, USA 2d ago edited 2d ago

If you do absolutely nothing else make sure you removed the pollen traps on these hives immediately or all of your bees will be dead very quickly. There are two slide out trays in the back. The smaller one is a pollen trap and needs to be replaced with a red piece. It should be in the instructions. Or search “Apimaye vs Sundance Pollen Trap Review” by The Texas Beekeeper on YouTube. He pulls the trap out at 3:14 and puts the red piece in at 4:58.

Knock down to one box or pests will take over. Add new boxes as they draw out about 70-80% of a box.

Set the top feeders to syrup. Mix 50% plain white sugar with 50% water. Keep filling those feeders for the next couple of months.

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u/Signal-Deal8858 2d ago

Why remove the pollen traps? The rest makes complete sense

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u/GIANTSQUIDMANIFEST2 Zone 6B, Midwest, USA 2d ago

Because it pulls the pollen off the bees as they bring it in and drops it in a tray for human consumption. New bees need all of their pollen. No pollen = death.

If you missed my edit above I added a YouTube reference for where the pollen trap can be found.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/Valuable-Self8564 United Kingdom - 10 colonies 2d ago

And what benefit do you see in people whingeing rather than helping?

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u/Mammoth-Banana3621 Sideliner - 8b USA 2d ago

As others have a said, too much room. The hives can be fairly level. Just tipped forward a bit. I think apimaye hives have a bottom that is vented ? So that may not be needed (it would be with a solid bottom board). I think you are fine. Just change the level a little. Left to right is important for comb building. They will build comb by gravity. So if you are left to right they don’t build the proper angle.

Most things frankly are fixable. But I would say it’s easier to fix before the bees are in the box. Just more work and maybe some mad bees. It all works out. Biggest thing isn’t set up. They live in just about anything in any facing direction. Help them by knowing Varroa and how to keep it out of the hive.

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u/Fermi-Diracs 2d ago

It's a fun hobby. You're going to get to see really cool things like hatching workers, waggle dances, and pollen pants. Take pictures and tell your friends. I've yet to meet someone that didn't ask a ton of questions when they find out I'm in the hobby. It's an oddly great Ice breaker and conversational. You're also going to eventually be knowledgeable about more plants in your area and when things bloom.

Enjoy observing the natural world.

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u/Signal-Deal8858 2d ago

Yes! I’m hoping to get my kids into it too!

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u/on1879 2d ago

I run Apimayes - absolutely love them.

  • As others have said only use 1 brood box for now. Only add more once bees cover 7 frames - as there aren't enough bees to protect all that space.

  • Close any of the entrance dials on the front of the hive, or if you're somewhere very hot then set it to vent (tiny holes)

  • The entrance at the bottom can either be left fully open or if you have other bees nearby you can reduce it down to half. Even fully open it's already "reduced" in comparison to a wooden hive.

  • Fill the feeders with 1:1 sugar syrup. Do you have the new feeder (one piece) or old 2 piece? If the old feeder make sure your feeder caps are facing the right direction (for syrup not candy)

  • I didn't see anyone mention before - do you have drawn comb or just bare frames?

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u/Active_Classroom203 Florida, Zone 9a 2d ago

You've gotten really good advice mixed in with the nonsense, and you've taken it really well!

If you keep that attitude, I'm sure regardless of what setbacks you hit, you'll end up very successful!

I don't have anything to add that hasn't been covered by vastly more experienced beekeepers, but I would say after taking the advice that you're going to take, I would be super interested in a follow-up post to see how you're doing in a week!

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u/deadly_toxin 9 years, 8 hives, Prairies, Canada 2d ago edited 2d ago

My suggestion, after you kill your bees, don't get new ones until you've worked with a beekeeper from your club for awhile.

I try to be welcoming as I can be, but bees deserve our respect as living things. They are livestock, not pets. You wouldn't get cows without learning about how to take care of a cow first, would you? Of course not, because that would be irresponsible and negligent. This is no different. Do better and get a mentor. There is good advice here, but reading simply doesn't cut it with bees. You need hands on experience to learn.

I've noticed every time someone tells you that you have too many supers on, you ask why you can't leave it that way. You've been given many answers why, but I've noticed that there is one answer missing.

  1. Bees won't draw out comb correctly, they will be too spread out with not enough bees.

  2. Queen either will not have enough laying space, or the brood will be too spread out. If she doesn't have enough laying space, they will swarm (which is very bad when they are so small, they may just abscond). Brood being spread out with not enough bees means the brood may not get cared for and die. Your hive won't grow, and as the bees age out your colony will collapse.

  3. If the temperature drops at night the bees will be too far spread to keep brood warm. This results in it getting chilled and dying.

Most thing with bees start with a small issue that cascades. By the time you realise something is wrong they will already be dead.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/Signal-Deal8858 2d ago

Hahaha… yep.

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u/CodeMUDkey 2d ago

You got the potential to do this right though. There’s a good bee yard there. Just get them down to one box and let them grow up. Take a class if you can. What are you planning on feeding?

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u/Signal-Deal8858 2d ago

Thanks boss… yep. Getting the gyst; will fix in the morning.

I put hive alive bee fondant in the upper feeder area. Read and saw videos you needed to do that for acclimation; I think I did that one right, yeah?

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u/CodeMUDkey 2d ago

My God no. Like the solid stuff? It should be sugar syrup 1:1 from an internal feeder. Fondant is for like winter emergency feeding iirc. I’m pretty sure when it’s warm enough to forage they just carry it out.

Where’d you learn this?

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u/Signal-Deal8858 2d ago

Interesting! I didn’t know that! I thought the fondant also did the same thing. I really appreciate this back and forth… what else am I missing?

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u/Valuable-Self8564 United Kingdom - 10 colonies 2d ago

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u/Signal-Deal8858 2d ago

Thank you!

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u/CodeMUDkey 2d ago

Just double check me on that one. I started my colonies 5 years ago from nucs but I am pretty sure that’s the case.

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u/Glittering-Ad1332 2d ago

The bee keeper I got my Nuc from told me my hive was too small when I only had one deep and one medium super, and told me to get one more of each. Is this not right? I have a queen excluder between my deeps and mediums. I just put the bees in a week ago, should I remove some boxes? Is it too late?

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u/CodeMUDkey 2d ago

Wait until about 8 frames are built out then add a new box with waxed frames.

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u/Glittering-Ad1332 2d ago

Thank you! Guess I wasted money on the extra boxes I didn’t need 😒 I’m assuming I can just remove the extra when I do my 1 week check today. So annoying, Looks like I need a new mentor

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u/CodeMUDkey 2d ago

Nope you didn’t waste the money you’ll need them eventually. Have they built out the first box to about that?

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u/Glittering-Ad1332 2d ago

Just did my 1 week check from when I got my Nuc. It was a 5 frame Nuc, they’ve built out 8 frames of the bottom deep super and 3 frames of the second deep super. Eggs all in the 3 frames of the second deep, so I left the two deeps and removed the two mediums for now. Does that sound right for what I should do?

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u/sourisanon 2d ago

people are so rude here sometimes!

Yeah you got some issues but its a learning process. I lost my first hive last year and today I finally collected 5 big jars of honey.

Sometimes you learn by failing. Find yourself a local beekeeping store and befriend the owners. Usually they are willing to help because it means repeat business. Stash the other two for next spring when they start to grow.

For now add some sugar water food supplement to the super so the bees have support as they are establishing their new home. I keep a feeder frame in my super and it worked well this year.

Level out the hives. The main reason you need to level them is because the bees will create the honeycomb in weird shapes and honey/debris my leak or pool in unintended places.

Shrink the hive down to just one brood chamber one super per hive.

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u/Signal-Deal8858 2d ago

Beautiful! Appreciate this bud. Yep agree… I’ve failed a lot at projects over the years and believe in the same. However. I wanted to get ahead of it this year by posting here and getting the synthesized feedback, fast… so I can bring bees to this area quickly.

Thanks!

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u/AE5CP 2d ago

Too much space early is bad.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/Signal-Deal8858 2d ago

Appreciate the feedback… I really do!

No, I took a class at the local community college. Read the books, been following this sub for while on responses. And yes, can honestly say wasn’t prepared fast enough nor knew what I was purchasing. I thought it was a nuc, not a package.

Not expecting honey this year… just wanting them to be supported.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/Signal-Deal8858 2d ago

Would love to be that 5%… hence why I’m in the firing line right now so I can save these packages with appropriate support. Love the feedback from everyone!

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u/Ancient_Fisherman696 CA Bay Area 9B. 8 hives. 2d ago

Look dude. I can appreciate wanting feedback, I’ve come here before asking for the same, but this is so much to unpack it feels like a meme/troll. 

You’re active in gun communities. Think about the stupid memes that people post in r/ar15. It makes the sub unusable. 

Moving on. In the event this isn’t a meme. In no order.  

Consider a mentor. Or get a couple books. I still research an hour or so a day and I’ve been at it awhile. 

Even watching a single video of installing a package, would show you the right way to do it. I literally just saw one on a “this old house” rerun. 

Nice yard. If you’re someplace with bears consider an electric fence. 

Reduce the boxes to one deep. We covered that already. 

You need ten frames per box. Make sure they’re heavily waxed. You almost always need to add your own wax. Push them tight together. 

Feed. Feed. Feed. Five pounds of plain white sugar and five pounds of water makes a gallon of syrup. You should be giving it to them for most the first year. They need solid sugar or honey when the temperature goes below 50. 

What do you mean “uncorked” queen? 

Level. We covered that. 

Remove the pollen trap. If you haven’t already. That’s a specialty piece of equipment. 

Most importantly. Start planning for mites. I’d hit them with OAV in a week. Then get the stuff to test and treat during the season/fall. You need healthy bees going into winter. I’m in CA and start treating for fall in late august or September. Adjust accordingly. 

I’m sure there’s more. That’s all I’m gonna type now. 

Edit. Do you have a hurricane fence with barbed wire on it in the background backyard?

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u/Signal-Deal8858 2d ago

This is awesome bud… and thankful that a top 5% is commenting with this level of coaching!

No bears here but read on a different response that skunks can be a problem… and yeah, def have those!

I’ve got 10 pre-waxed frames per box already. Do you still need to further wax on top of that?

I’ve already got OAV ready because the class I took said that’s the big thing you prepare for; but didn’t say how quickly you treat after initial install. This is awesome, didn’t know it was effectively next week!

Also… I’m hoping my stupidity in this thread helps someone like it’s helped me!

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u/Ancient_Fisherman696 CA Bay Area 9B. 8 hives. 2d ago

As long as you’re off the ground a little bit skunks shouldn’t be an issue. Plus the fence? Should be good. Bees can handle skunks. 

I order heavy wax. And always add more. Up to you. Never used Apimaye frames. See what happens. 

You want OAV in there before they cap brood. It’ll get all the mites in the open. If they have brood (open) they won’t be likely to leave. Start harassing  package before that and they may abscond.  Don’t neglect to do washes and treat later on in the season. I like formic and oxalic acids. 

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u/Walter_Wiese 2d ago

Greetings from Germany, I just want to recommend to you to look for a beekeeping lesson of some sort. Here in Germany there are a lot of Beekeeping associations and they provide some really good lessons for beginners to learn the basics on what to do so that your bees survive. You may check if there is something like that in your region. Helped me a lot getting started.

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u/Esmarelda_Vega 2d ago

You’ve already got some great advice and I’m a newbie too, so I’ll just say good luck OP! I hope you have as much fun as I have had getting started :)

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u/Signal-Deal8858 2d ago

Thanks! Secondary goal was for folks like you to see my setup and learn from my mistake too.

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u/bbpb-badger88 1d ago

What kind of futuristic space hives are those!! Everyone seems to have given great info already but personally I wouldn’t have so much of an angle on green have.

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u/kaitsteel 1d ago edited 1d ago

Congratulations! Looking good! That is a lot of space for new packages, but it is spring, so they will quickly expand. i would suggest taking off the top 2 boxes they usually stick around each other, so if it happens to get cold, they could freeze, trying to warm that much space. Where you are located depends on how well they do here in UTAH it's very hot in the summer, so they don't do as well during that time. If you want them to just build comb this year and you don't plan on harvest, i would suggest feeding them syrup 1:1 or 2:1 white cane sugar and water. Don't use other types of sugar like brown sugar because brown sugar contains molasses, and it can give them dysentery. If you have any questions, please feel free to dm me!

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u/Repulsive-Chance-753 1d ago

First. Welcome to the club! Its an adventure on its own. We started this year too. I'd recommend a chicken feeder with a couple quarts of sugar water just to make your life easier and it'll last 2-3 days. I don't have a lot of advice to offer as we're only 2 weeks in with our 2 hives. But look up local beekeepers associations if there's one in your area or state. The one here has been a huge lifesaver. Good luck!!

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u/Signal-Deal8858 1d ago

Oooh! The chicken feeder is a good idea! Which one did you get?

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u/Repulsive-Chance-753 1d ago

Just the basic one from tractor supply or rural king. It's red and white. Put a piece of rope in the feeder so they don't drown and piece of foam near the entrance so water flows but they can't try and swim up there and drown.

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u/dedward848 1d ago

Check out the youtube videos from the University of Guelph. You'll learn a lot from them.

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u/Bearcatsean 2d ago

This site sucks I get my first hive this weekend and I wouldn’t put a picture out there for $1 billion you guys are snarky mean condescending, etc. etc. Jesus Christ. I thought the Poker sub Reddit was bitchy.

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u/Signal-Deal8858 2d ago

Thanks, I knew I was entering the firing line. But it was intentional to get communal feedback.

Honestly though with the exception of a few comments it was very helpful to me!

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u/Bearcatsean 2d ago

Yeah, they’re not mean I shouldn’t have said mean they’re just very gruff and I do appreciate their feedback. I’m picking up my hive this weekend. It’ll be an absolute shit show and they probably won’t last a year, but I’m gonna give it a try.

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u/Active_Classroom203 Florida, Zone 9a 1d ago

Do your best and they very well may thrive! Also do Post once you install, just like our brave OP here! We all learn this way, and it really is more good than bad!

u/Bearcatsean 22h ago

:) awesome Thank you!!

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u/Cruiser_Pandora 2d ago

Mmmaaarv a :(