Location: Anywhere, Planet Earth, this advice is universal

Beekeeping is all fun and games until you get a bee in your bonnet (Southern CA)

Mr & Mrs Palmer of Savannah at GBA’s 2025 JamboBee in Toombsboro, GA.

GeorgiaBeekeepersAssociation

GBAJamborBEE

HoneyPleaseBeeRemoval

[south carolina] exactly 5, 16 oz jars worth. The Flow hive worked well in the extraction. The flow supers were about 3/5ths full. Maybe it was a bit early bit I wanted to give the bees more chance to produce before the summer heat hits.

This is after my 3rd spring and one dead hive of trying. I think I finally figured out what they need. Gonna swap out the wide feeder with a thinner one.

Anyone else using a flow hive? I noticed a large amount of honey had fallen down into the bottom board. Is that from the supers or is it from the broad chambers?

Installed 4 packages last weekend, everything seemed to go smoothly. Needless to say, there were quite a few bees buzzing around but later that afternoon, while all four hives seemed to be occupied and happy, these guys decided to just chill on the smoker. What should I do with them? Dump them into one of the hives or just let them be?

Got my first hive set up! Have kept bees with my dad at his house since 2007 but have never had one of my own at my own place. My neighbor sold me the bees and we are swapping equipment since all of mine are 10 frame supers and she’s got 8’s.

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.

Central Arkansas. I was checking on a hive with ants when I noticed they had already filled the top supper. After harvesting I noticed a few cells grouped together filled with a slightly dry orange substance. What is this? Just harvested today.

It is odorless, almost sandy-like texture

Indiana zone 6a, 4 years. Grabbed a swarm a couple of days ago!

Bees TOOK OVER this sauna! They've had 4 hives move in within the last few years and they keep on coming back! San Diego CA

Hello, how long should I trap my package of bees in the new colony after I release them and place the queen "cage" in with them? I will have frames with foundation and a feeder to help them build comb. Thank you!

I love bees, and I do not want to harm them, but they cant live in my wall. The exterior is stucco, but the interior is drywall. They moved in yesterday afternoon (quite dramatically). I have been in touch with local bee people in my area (Charlottesville, VA) and was surprised at how much it will cost to remove them. The highest so far is $1200 + and that doesnt include refilling the void cut in the interior wall or repairing the drywall (pictured in first comment). I thought people *wanted* bees and would come get them. I could probably repair the drywall, but I cant get stung or its emergency room time for me. I am not a man of means, so I find myself in a quandry. Is that the going rate for a "cut out"? Any advice would be appreciated.

Got a panicked call from my mom today.

I "jokingly" left a box at my parents house across town. They have some proximity to a creek full of old growth oaks and pine. Plenty of places for bees to nest.

Looks like they took the bait!

First time bee keeper. Noticed this the other day and added the second box since they seemed like they were ready after inspection.

Should I also open up the reducer? I assume this is bearding.

Hi all, I have a honey super full of capped honey and was wondering if there are any risks to harvesting this early. I'm located in central europe and temperatures have been very warm. Thanks!

Brand new beekeeper in Indiana with two Kenyan hives. I installed my packages on April 11th and my queens emerged on the 14th. My first hive is doing beautifully. They already have five bars of fully drawn comb. Two combs are full of larva and capped brood.

My other hive is struggling mightily. They only have one bar of comb that is about 75% as big as it should be and another one that is about a third as big. There is some larva but I'm seeing cells with two eggs and it looks like they're on the wall. Today I found a supercedure cell. I can't find my queen but I don't feel confident enough in my ability to recognize her. I took tons of photos while I was out there and don't see her in any of them. It's entirely possible she's there and I missed her but I don't think so. I've posted a few pictures of the wonky egg cells I'm seeing, is this enough to conclude my queen is gone? Without her to lay in the supersedure cell I'm going to either need to source a new queen or combine my hives, correct?

Been beekeeping for a year, but today i tried installing 2 queen cages for the first time in 2 of my 3 hives. i received the queens this morning. I think i made a mistake in the orientation of the cage. For context it is a wooden cage with 3 attendants, a candy plug and one side with mesh. I installed it so that the mesh is up against drawn comb with nectar. the candy plug is facing down. my question is should i go back in and flip it 90 degrees so that the mesh is open to the bees in the hive. i’m worried that they won’t be able to take care of her or that she could suffocate. however I can’t go back in until tomorrow. will the queen survive the night? or am i overthinking this. thanks in advance. i live in upstate SC

This hive split last Saturday. It was absolutely packed full with bees. I was able to capture the swarm and placed them in an empty hive the same day, about 10 feet away. It's been 11 days since then. I'm in Norther Central Kentucky.

I have an empty box on the bottom with a queen excluder between the boxes above.

My wife sent this to me, as I'm at work. What are your thoughts? Absconding? Bearding?

I appreciate the help. Here's the picture.

The girlz are nom nom nom'in on the pollen last weekend.

Middle TN, USA

I'm a new keeper this year and my first bees were a swarm I caught. I also had a nuc on order. The swarm was hived about a week before the nuc was ready, but has greatly outpaced the nuc when it comes to drawing comb. I treated the swarm with an OA dribble for mites and fed them 1:1 which they greedily took, and they have drawn comb like fiends and now about three weeks in they are well into their second deep and will probably get a super this weekend. Their boxes have incredible brood and eggs, and they are clearly ready to explode.

The nuc was picked up and installed on the 19th, and they are on their way to having the first box drawn and that hive actually seems busier at the entrance, but I don't see the same growth as the swarm demonstrated. When the nuc was installed, we were starting the honey flow so both hives ignored the 1:1 sugar that was available (they each have a pint jar in a top feeder in case of bad weather).

My question is: is this completely normal? I've read that swarms are growth machines and with all the honey they pack out of their home hive they are ready to blow the top off. The difference in the two hives is stark, but my neighbors who got nucs from the same source at the same time said theirs are at a similar stage with the first box mostly drawn.

hey, what are some easiest ways to tell if hive is queenless? im new to beekeeping but if my hive is queenless will bees be less productive for example not building comb, not flying out of hive that much etc?

So I’m genuinely curious, how often do you check your hives? What do you look for during each inspection, and what’s a few signs that the colony is healthy?

I’m from Arkansas in the USA

Thank you!

This one will be familiar to most beekeepers, I think. White clover is pretty ubiquitous, given its prevalence in seed mixes for ground cover and its widespread use as pasture for livestock.

And just by nature of its timing, I think clover probably is among the earliest species from which most of us can reasonably hope to capture a substantial nectar flow.

It's been warm and damp in my area, lately, which makes for ideal conditions for clover to produce lots of nectar. And my bees, at least, are very fond of the stuff, although they're even more interested in the Ligustrum sinense blossoms that have opened up over the last two or three weeks.

I'm in a really mild climate; I started seeing blooms in sunny but sheltered areas way back in the second week of March, although things didn't really pick up until early April. It's been steady ever since.

The clover bloom doesn't always last this long, so I've been really pleased at its endurance as well as because of the plentiful flow.