Guilfordbeekeepers.org

I think they released the queen sometime last night as she was not in the cage this morning. All seems well , but not much traffic coming and going.

I just checked on her and they are about 3/4 of the way thru the candy. The cage is rapped up with bees that look like they are trying to feed her, but most of the bees are down in the deep. I will let the bees release her as they most likely will have it done by tomorow anyway. The weak swarm hive ...

I just swapped the hives, did not move the blocks they were on to another place. After the first three days, no more dead bees. I put a new caged queen in there Thursday AM. I will check on her this morning and hopefully she is released, If not I will wait one more day and release her. NOW, I worry ...

I think Wally hit on the key point without me realizing it. After our county bee meeting last night and talking with the other people there. I heard the same thing again and again. My conclusion is, and I hope the bees were listening and agree, is that the bees need to be actively bringing back stor...

I went to goldsboro after work and got another queen. I will put the cage in this morning before work. Then hopefully by Sunday, she will be laying eggs. I don't want to push the issue though. I forgot to mention this after thought that may mean something. The tow hives I switched were only about 12...

Hindsight is 20/20 so they say. I have read about 2 books on beekeeping and both recommended the swap as a good trick to strengthen a weak hive. I also read on the web about how to do it. I have not read in any of the above places that there was a danger of the queen getting killed. If so I would ha...

Well today I went back out to check on the hive and found that they were still carrying out bees, dead or dying. I noticed that most of them were smaller bees just able to fly. I then noticed one flying worker kept circling the corner of the hive in the grass. I looked a little closer and found then...

I will have to see what happens today and hope that it has been resolved. There is plenty of bees in there and I hope they move up to the new super. I thought it MIGHT have been the new box with KILZ paint and the fresh glue and all, but I think this is very unlikely. It was definetly a battle of so...

I have something going on that maybe you can help identify. I swapped places with a weak swarm hive and the strong 5 frame nuc I bought back in June. That was yesterday. I did a pretty good frame-by-frame inspection too.Today I had a medium super ready to put on and I did this and then noticed that ...

I am feeding with two boardman feeders set out on a cement block some 20 feet from the hives. The three hives are taking a gallon each day and would probably do more if I were around during the day to refill the quart jars. I put new jars on in the morning and then two more in the afternoon when I g...

I have a 5 frame nuc that I purchased the last of June. This hive has been working very hard and I noticed yesterday that the bees are crawling across each other to go in and out of the hive. I know this is a normal thing, at least I have seen this in the wild, but I worry about crowding now and swa...

Is there a way to identify the type of bees you catch in a swarm. Maybe by the color and/or the bands?

I went to help a friend extract bees from an old house. They were in the front corner of the house in the wall. We pulled the boards off the house and man what a sight! The bees had comb front the top to the bottom between the studs and had started in the next cavity. We vacumed 3 3lb boxes of bees ...

I understand the how part, just put a funnel over the only entrance and the bees can't get back inside. What else do you have to do? What about the queen? What about the honey comb? I might need to do a trap out but not sure.

Hi all, I have noticed 5 -6 drones out front of the hive in the grass. Is this a case of them being thrown out? Any bees from this hive in the grass seems to crawl around seemingly without a purpose or direction. I looked for mites but none were found on the drones in the grass. This is the colony w...

I opened the hive back up today. What a mess! All the rubberbanded frames all stuck together. Two of the frames were old wood and a plastic and they had broken bottom bars from the rubberbands which then let the bottom bar bend towards the center of the frame. This in turn put a bow in the comb whic...

I went back just at sunset and the bees were coming in for the night. There was still a double handfull down in the corner of the wall just in front of the hive. I lit the smoker and smoked them and waited, smoked and waited, each time a few more bees would go inside and the roar would get loud for ...

Good news, I went back this morning to check things out. I was anticipating finding the bees still in the corner or maybe gone. They were in the box! They were still coming in at the top of the wall and alot had figured out how to use the big open garage door, but they were climbing down the wall an...

I don't have any bee quick, what is the redneck home version? I can make some bee-b-gone( for good). 3 parts gas, one part soapy water. I would hate to have to use it.

Yesterday was my first time trying to get a colony out of a wall in a garage. Only my second time messing with bees ( jump right in !). I had ordered the master pollinator kit from Dadants and it came last week. I already had permission to get this colony out. I called the local Guru for help and we...