Any Bee keepers in here?

Excellent location. That wind block of a shed? on the north side of box is very important to protect them through the winter. Get to work gals!

 

You could exterminate that queen and put a couple frames and a bunch of bees in there that ought to straighten them out.

 

Looks good Dave

 

Its a beautiful thing isnt Dave?! Take care of them girls and have fun!

 

i havent had great success with queens made from emergency cells. i think its still a bit cold here to be trying that with so few bees to keep the brood warm. was 34* last night. nectar flow is on now, they are really packing it away now. should be able to super next week. if i dont have a queen cell by then i will try moving a frame over. cant hurt much.

 

Sounds like you have a good mentor!

 

Dave sounds like your mentor knows what hes talking about. As you have already learned ask ten beeks one question and youll get twenty different answers I personally use an entrance reducer that has two openings a small and a large. I use the small throughout the winter as its easier to guard and when it starts to warm up I turn it around to the larger entrance. Its all up to you what you want to do and what works best for you. I would recommend using one at least in the winter to help keep drafts out and any critters that might want to come in and warm up.

 

Buddy of mine got his first swarm call of the season.

 

Im hearing about lots of swarms down here I hope mine havent swarmed yet I want to do a couple of splits but Im having a hard time doing anything with the bees here lately what with working seven days a week.

 

here is a pic of my hurtin queen, something up with her. i will super the other hive after all this rain moves through. at that point if i dont have queen cells yet i will bring a frame of eggs from that hive to other in hopes to get a new queen.

 

very small cluster coming out of winter. first clue is not laying many eggs. she lays a good pattern and only one egg per cell but she should be laying a lot more. unless she is holding back bacause a great deal of the population died in winter and there is not enough worker bees to support much larvaes. but, the abdomen dont look good. she is short, like a midget queen bee, barly larger than a worker bee. a good queen will have a body 1.5-2 times longer than a worker bee. mine has a dark color on the tip and a bit of a dent that is hard to see in the photo. she was doing fine in the fall.

 

Hey guys. Sorry if I'm intruding in a conversation. I am just starting and get my bees on Monday night. Glad to hear that there are other woodies that are in the bee hobby too.
I wanted to start this year but didn't realize the time frame for new packages, so I am flying by the seat of my pants here. I have been reading as much as possible to get myself up to speed as quickly as possible. I also know a guy down the road that has bees and I can pick his brain about things too, but this thread is a good thing.
Wish me luck.