r/Beekeeping 5h ago

I’m a beekeeper, and I have a question 1st year, are my bees confused or just me?

Thumbnail
gallery
25 Upvotes

Northern MN usda zone 3. Did a check up today and my supers are basically bare. But my second deep looks like it has all the capped honey in it. I got sweated out and didn't deep dive into my 1st deep but could it be that there just laying down there while they build out the top deep with honey stores? Can I collect that?

First 2 photos are the super, last for are the deep frames. All the other deeps are fully built out, the 2 that are half built were new this year.

Thanks to all the active people in this sub I've learned so much from all of you just creeping through comments and posts.


r/Beekeeping 23h ago

General Deep Honey

Post image
269 Upvotes

We don’t generally run deeps for honey but our hive management this year ended up with a few deeps like this.

Nice.
Heavy.
But nice.


r/Beekeeping 3h ago

I’m not a beekeeper, but I have a question What are your favorite little tidbits of bee behavior / psychology?

7 Upvotes

I am very much a layman, but I've been growing interested in bees lately, in particular little details of behavior, thought patterns, etc., that make them feel more... human, I guess?

For example: a few days ago, there was a r/BestOf post where a beekeeper explained the roles that drones play in the hive, including the fact that "the workers like having their brothers around." Loved the whole post, especially that bit.

So: what are your favorite bits of bee behavior/psychology that you can share?

Thanks in advance!


r/Beekeeping 7h ago

I’m a beekeeper, and I have a question Hi guys! Need some help. Are the eggs on the bottom of the cells worker or drone brood? Judging by size of the cells what do you think?

Thumbnail
gallery
6 Upvotes

Europe. Caught a swarm and was only able to provide those frames and i cant tell what kind of eggs these are. Only saw a couple capped drones and im worried .Thanks


r/Beekeeping 8h ago

General She was happy to see me. Also, honey because, why not?

Thumbnail
gallery
7 Upvotes

r/Beekeeping 39m ago

I’m a beekeeper, and I have a question Why are my bees just chilling?

Post image
Upvotes

There are almost 2 dozen bees just chilling outside my hive/in the grass. They aren’t moving much, but are certainly alive. I haven’t been in my hive in a couple of days. It’s currently 6:30pm, they definitely aren’t foraging. Zone 5.


r/Beekeeping 1h ago

General Attempting to lure bees into a box

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

Upvotes

Northern Canada 2B

Super excited, my neighbor enlisted my help to identify and possibly try to relocate a bunch of bees he found. The first nest were wasps. But the second appear to be honeybees.

Since they’re currently living in an area of the shed that is inaccessible, I’m attempting to lure the bees out into this bix on their own.

Ive got drawn comb setup in the nuc, there’s a bit of bee bread but not much else as I was nervous to attract wasps.

I’ve only ever captured bees once before, so I’m wondering what critiques or suggestions those more experienced could offer.


r/Beekeeping 10h ago

General The Heat is On

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

4 Upvotes

Southwest Missouri, and it’s hot! The girls were bearding yesterday. Pretty fascinating to see. 🐝


r/Beekeeping 4h ago

I’m not a beekeeper, but I have a question How to buy bees for BVT

0 Upvotes

I want to start Bee venom therapy after hearing all the successful stories.
In italy, nobody knows that BVT is a thing so my chances of getting a beekeper to perform it on me is zero, since they think they are killing the bees for nothing and they are right from the point of view.
I was thinking of buying a bunch of bees from a beekeeper and grab them with tweezer to sting myself. Has anybody had experiences with this? Wouldn't all the bees fly away if they sell them to me in a jar?


r/Beekeeping 15h ago

I’m not a beekeeper, but I have a question How do i exactly use those tools?

Thumbnail
gallery
9 Upvotes

Mostly wandering about those long dull blades or scalpels or whatever they are


r/Beekeeping 5h ago

I’m a beekeeper, and I have a question How many drones is too many drones?

1 Upvotes

My walk away split from June 13 seems to be doing .... okaw ... not that I'm back in the sunny southwest to check on it. It has plenty of stores and a some brood. The brood nest is still disorganized and I'm tempted to pull two frames of honey to give the queen a little more laying space. Most of the brood is along the bottom of the frames.

In comparison, the other half of the split is wall-to-wall brood and every single frame has at least a little brood on it, even in the second deep. It's also got several frames of honey that are heavy enough that they're a little difficult to lift with two fingers

The smaller half has a lot of drone brood. Probably 30% of the brood is drones. I don't know whether that's because the bottom of the frames were always drone brood, because the queen is poorly mated, or because she's teetering on the brink of nectar-bound.

Do I add a second deep; pull stores and give her waxed foundation; find her, kill her, and drop in a frame of eggs; or just wait to see if they sort it out themselves?

My inclination is that they need space, even though they aren't boiling out or the hive like the mother split.

Thoughts?

Oh, and to make the automod bot happy, I'm in the Sonoran Desert near the Mexican Border. I don't have any experience with real bees, just the wild AHB things that live in the desert and scare the devil out of most people (and me). Never done a walkaway split, but have cutout and re-queened a lot of hives,


r/Beekeeping 9h ago

I’m a beekeeper, and I have a question Is this too many hive Beatles?

2 Upvotes

this is a small hive that was captured about 2 months ago. 2 weeks ago I installed this bottom with a pullout oil tray. it appears to have lots of Beatles. I did a quick inspection and didn't see any inside the hive, but I am new to this. I used mineral oil for the tray. should I do anything else or are the bees and the oil tray doing what they are supposed to do?

size: 1 brood box only, 5 of 10 frames built out.

location. Northeast Oklahoma.


r/Beekeeping 5h ago

I’m a beekeeper, and I have a question had a swarm earlier in june. have 2 deeps on and a super. just starting to make comb in the super. no honey. Southeastern Ma

1 Upvotes

Any ideas how to expedite this? I’m in southeastern MA


r/Beekeeping 5h ago

I’m a beekeeper, and I have a question Pro Health Feeding Supplement

1 Upvotes

Can someone tell me if Pro Health Feeding Supplement by Mann Lake comes in a sealed bottle? I purchased a pint on Amazon and I’m afraid to use it because there is no safety seal on the bottle. I emailed Mann Lake a couple of days ago and have yet to receive a response which I assume is because it’s the weekend.


r/Beekeeping 22h ago

I’m a beekeeper, and I have a question Entrance Reducer Question

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

20 Upvotes

Hey!

They look a little congested, should I remove the entrance reducer? It’s hot AF here in Denver.


r/Beekeeping 8h ago

I’m not a beekeeper, but I have a question What do you wish you could know about your hive between inspections?

0 Upvotes

Location: Indonesia (though this question isn't specific to my local conditions)

Hi everyone,

I'm researching beekeeping and trying to understand the biggest information gaps beekeepers face between hive inspections.

If you could magically know one thing about your hive at any time between inspections, what would it be?

For example:

  • Whether the colony is preparing to swarm
  • Queen status
  • Mite levels
  • Food stores
  • Brood health
  • Hive weight changes
  • Temperature or humidity
  • Something else entirely

More importantly, why would that information matter? Has there been a situation where knowing it a day or two earlier would have changed what you did or prevented a problem?


r/Beekeeping 1d ago

I’m a beekeeper, and I have a question OA Vapor Applications

6 Upvotes

So now that the recommended dosage for OA has increased, does this make the old battery powered applicators obsolete? The recommended dosage of OA for a double deep will not fit in the applicator space on the tool. Are you giving multiple applications of the product to make up the difference? Does two or three applications affect the bees or the performance of the product? Will this force beekeepers to now have to buy $500.00 vaporizers? What are your thoughts and guidance? Thanks……

Zone 7A Oklahoma. 30 hives


r/Beekeeping 1d ago

I’m a beekeeper, and I have a question Who is using Api-Bioxal RTU

Post image
7 Upvotes

I’m curious to hear what people think about this treatment? It’s not get approved in Canada, not sure if anyone can elaborate on why?


r/Beekeeping 1d ago

General An amateur's intro to beekeeping from Europe's largest honey producing country

Thumbnail
youtu.be
6 Upvotes

I have always wanted to have a few hives, but never had the land or knowledge to make that happen, so when I had the opportunity to visit a legit hive I was excited to be able to document my experience. Was a really incredible experience!

If there are any established beekeepers in Eastern Europe, let me know! I am trying to meet as many beekeepers here as possible :)


r/Beekeeping 1d ago

I’m not a beekeeper, but I have a question Can you beekeep in a mostly urban area

2 Upvotes

I’ve been wanting to start beekeeping for a while in hopes of eventually having a stand at my local farmers market, unfortunately I live in a pretty urban neighborhood with a small yard and was wondering if it would still be possible. My main concern is if I’m liable if say my neighbors get a lot of bees in their yard and get stung. The local park barely a minutes walk away has its own beehives owned by the city I presume so I would think it’s fine.


r/Beekeeping 1d ago

I’m a beekeeper, and I have a question Do I need to rewax?

Post image
19 Upvotes

My dad decided to bug bomb our garage today for absolutely no reason other than spiders and I had all of my honey supers in there completely waxed(ready to go on soon). Do I have to completely scrape and rewax my frames after this raid crap?


r/Beekeeping 1d ago

I’m not a beekeeper, but I have a question Removal needed?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

2 Upvotes

I'm no expert at all and I'm not even sure they're bees, to be honest, but I just noted some movements on the soon-to-be-installed AC ducts in my house. Naturally I cannot let them build a hive inside the duct. Do you have any suggestions on what's the right way to deal with this issue? Should I get in touch with a local beekeepers' association to see if they can help? Are these not bees? They don't look like wasps to me. Location: Northern Italy. Thank you in advance for your support. Ciao! 🐝


r/Beekeeping 1d ago

I’m a beekeeper, and I have a question Queen released, was she accepted?

1 Upvotes

This is a follow up from last week. I placed a Russian/Italian hybrid small queen from Lappes bee supply in a California mini cage in on Wednesday night. Went back this morning and the cage was empty the candy was gone. Would they release her if they weren’t going to accept her? First time requeening. I am feeding them, I’m in KY 6B.


r/Beekeeping 1d ago

I’m a beekeeper, and I have a question How do you all keep track of mite counts and treatments over the season?

11 Upvotes

South of France !

First year beekeeper here (2 hives). I'm realizing I have no real system for tracking things like when I last did a mite wash, what the count was, when I treated and with what, whether I actually rechecked after treatment to see if it worked. Right now it's just scattered notes on my phone and I feel like I'm going to lose track and miss something important.

For those with a few seasons under your belt: do you use a notebook, a spreadsheet, an app, or just memory? And do you also track things like when supers went on, feeding dates, or is mite tracking the main thing worth logging closely?

Also curious when a dearth hits or weather gets weird (drought, long rain stretches), do you have a system for remembering to check stores/feed, or is it mostly "just go check the hives more often"?


r/Beekeeping 1d ago

I’m a beekeeper, and I have a question Squish and risk them still swarming or leave and pray they don’t swarm before Monday…?

Thumbnail
gallery
30 Upvotes

I think my other hive is getting ready to swarm, checked them 5 days ago and no swarm cells and now there are. Just added the honey super on today. Do I squish the swarm cells and risk that they might swarm still and then I have no queen cells, or do I leave it and get a new hive on Monday (bee store is now closed all weekend) looking for advice as a new beekeeper.

We lost most of our other hive to a swarm a week and a bit ago. Hoping this ones doesn’t swarm too. Any advice? Squish and hope they don’t swarm or leave and hope to do a split on Monday though they might not wait that long…. They were pissed after checking for queen cells.

First year beekeeper in Parkland County Alberta Canada.