my bee hive

[shaper]

I have just one 8 frame hive operational for now. Brought it through the winter and have been feeding one to one sugar water for a couple of months. I have been putting a new jar out every day now so I decided to take a look inside. First thing that i saw was all of the frames were full of honey. Got out my hive tool and started lifting one of the frames. I got the near side up about an inch, and it fell apart. I hate those wired foundations. Luckily I had my wheel barrow that I lined with plastic sheet. I put all of the parts and honey in the wheel barrow and covered it. Ran to the shop, grabbed another frame and a new super with frames. I put those in the hive, added a sugar cake and a new jar of sugar water and closed it up. Took the frame parts and honey to the house where I used a spoon to put the damaged cone and honey in jars. I hadn't planned to make cone honey but I'll take it. Winter isn't over yet so I left all of the remaining honey for the bees in case the temps do go down again. When the flow comes I'll think about pulling more of the honey. I'm planning to put in 3 more hives.

[3band53]

Wow shaper I wish I could do that, I tried to raise a hive during the big drought here in Texas in 2011. It did not do well and we had a rogue queen come in and kill our queen and the bees then became rather aggressive. We got rid of the hive and now we are planning on moving and when we get out to our acreage I plan on getting a new hive.
3band53

[DIRT Farmer]

I did a walk by my two hives when it warmed up a few days ago. There was a lot of bees going in and out. I will wait to start feeding untill the maple buds get closer to breaking just to kick start the queen into laying more.

[DanishM1Garand]

I have two hives. One a Nuc I bought here out of Alabama and the other a feral hive (the Ohio hive) that absconded from a whisky barrel on my porch. I caught the feral hive in the first week of September. I was worried sick about my Ohio bees and had little worries about my Nuc as they had gathered sixty or seventy pounds of honey.

A few weeks ago it warmed up some and I went to add some candy board I'd made to help them out. The Ohio hive was still there in a ball slightly larger than a softball. The Alabama bees were dead. It had dipped down in December to about 7 degrees F.

I will replace the Alabama hive with a Nuc from http://northernbeenetwork.org/local-.../beekeepers-2/. I've spoken to another Ohio Beekeeper in Ohio about a Nuc.

I guess the Alabama bees were too cold blooded for up here. It's likely too hot down there for Ohio bees as well.

[shaper]

To tell the truth, I am still a beginner. I believe the best thing a newbie can do is find someone that has bees and latch onto them. Ask to be there when he does anything with his hive or bees. Ask questions, read, read, read. There is a book called Bee keeping for Dummies. Not implying anything here. It is broken down into everyday language a normal person can understand. Last year I had 5 functioning hives. I had to leave because my baby sister was terminal in Florida. When I did return I had white moth infection in 4 of the hives. There were no bees in either of them, it was a mess. The only reason I have the one now is it was in another location. Good luck.

[DanishM1Garand]

Wow shaper I wish I could do that, I tried to raise a hive during the big drought here in Texas in 2011. It did not do well and we had a rogue queen come in and kill our queen and the bees then became rather aggressive. We got rid of the hive and now we are planning on moving and when we get out to our acreage I plan on getting a new hive.
3band53

A freind of mine grew up n Bolivia. His parents were missionaries. His father kept bees the whole time they lived there. All bees in Bolivia are Africanized. Your queen was likely too. I've watched a lot of TV and YouTube about bees and the influx of the Africanized bees. Like Buddy's Dad the one guy interviewed on TV said you can work them, just never ever try to work them without the suit and veil.

I'd imagine that sooner rather than later all Texas bees are going to be Africanized. They are less susceptible to mites and disease than the European bees, they are however more defensive than their European cousins. They aren't aggressive according to buddy's dad, just quite defensive.

[rancher1913]

I have found that feeding sugar water makes the hive weaker, they won't forage if there is a free handout close. we do feed pollen patty to help a weak hive. I have 3 feral hives that I need to relocate as well as 2 nucs that my wife got last year that are doing ok.

[MUSTANG]

Two weeks ago ordered a package of bees and queen to start a hive. Will not get them until late march to mid-april (thank goodness as there is more than 2 feet of snow on the ground). Will have to go to Murdochs and pick up a pre-built hive system in another 3-5 weeks. Given the snow level this week, I'm thinking a platform 24" to 30" tall to sit the Hive system on may be a good idea. Been reading up for two years on bees; time to go from academic to practical education (all ready got that consumption education well developed as the wife and I love honey).

[3band53]

I never realized that feeding the bees sugar water would harm them and during that drought there were absolutely no flowers that could survive that amount heat and little amount of water. Literally we would plant things and water them and they would die within a day or two because the heat was so intense. I am hoping to be able to try later next spring getting a beehive set up.
3band53

[camp]

I live in middle tn, i have 1 hive that will be a year old in april, its still going strong

[shaper]

I got into bee keeping because of what we are doing right now. Reading posts from other members of this web site. One evening I was reading about melting wheel weights in prep of molding bullets. The member said he would melt the lead and then drop a chunk of bees wax into the pot. The reason was to clean the lead of any imperatives. The next day I went to town to purchase some bees wax. I went to every place in town that I thought might sell it, nothing. So I went to the next and bigger town. still nothing. Then I read in the local news paper about a bee club. I went to the next meeting and joined. So I didn't do this for the honey, it's sort of a bonus. If you want to find a bee club just google your state or county for bee keeping clubs. Wish I had done this years ago.

[DIRT Farmer]

ieed sugar water early in the year to get the queen to think there is a honey flow and boost egg laying. In drought I feed 50/50 to feed and water the hive. i have heard that to much water in the winter causes problems, bees will not deficate in the hive and may not last a trip outside

[shaper]

We have had a warm winter here in n.w.Georgia. We have had temps in the high 70's and a lot of time in the mid 50's. The bees tend to come out in the low 50's. It will be 60 tomorrow and 72 Sunday. We have trees and flowers in bloom now so the bees are foraging. Last year I noticed the bees shared water with my chickens so I set up a chicken water feeder 30 feet from the hive. I have enough spare parts that I could put out 6 more hives, but I don't need that much bees wax. I haven't sold any of my honey, I found it more enjoyable to just give it away.