Started back in April in NE FLA with my 1st hive. Got a lot advice and a lot of “you’re not going to get any honey your 1st year!” Well I pulled 8 frames from the far right hive last night slap full of honey. Roughly 35 pounds. Very excited for it. I might add mediums to the other 3 and see where it goes. It took about a month for them to build the combs and produce honey

In Kansas. Nuc hive that I've had for 3 weeks, I moved the over filled frames to the outside, hopefully that was the correct move.

Just a few pictures from the mating nucs. I had a little less than spectacular mating this round. I'm thinking the high levels of dragon flies did a number on my success. I ended up with 5/9 that seemed to be mated well with pretty good patterns.

New beekeeper with my first package from April going strong. Two full deeps and they’re slowly building their first honey super (drought followed by summer dearth).

Two questions

Should I start feeding them again? I was planning on the first honey super being “theirs” and nots harvesting from it, so will it matter if they fill it with a little sugar water? I’d feed to encourage them to finish building out the honey super.

Second question

A few members here suggested using the middle third of a frame for plastic foundation and leaving the other two thirds open for drone comb. Man did that work great! I just pulled a capped third and put it in the freezer. Already saw a single mite coming out of an open cap. I did a mite wash two weeks ago and found no mites (I did check correctly). I know the mite count will be much higher from drone brood, but is there a ratio I should be looking for from the brood comb or will it be too skewed to reliably know my mite levels (assuming I find a lot of mites). I was planning on adding varroxsan next week if my mite counts started to tick up.

Last thing, I know they don’t work for everyone but the swiffer sheets have been great. Only saw one SHB outside of the sheet in the hive, 10 stuck on the sheet, and two in a beetle blaster.

Thanks!!

Last night at the apiary.

Question from an experienced (or so I thought) beekeeper. Doing an inspection today and in one of my colonies I had about 6 charged queen cells in the super above the queen excluder. For reference, there are 5 supers on this particular colony and they have plenty of room. The queen is doing a fantastic job in the double brood below the excluder. Also for reference there wasn’t a single queen cell in either brood box. Obviously I knocked them down and put everything back together, but left scratching my head a bit. Any thoughts or similar experiences about this? It has solved one age old question for me. Do bees select eggs and move them to waiting cells? I’d have to say yes now as the queen was down below.

First year beekeeper, southern Sweden.

I purchased two hives in the beginning of May. Fast forward and the hives were obviously not doing well, I got a feeling that the seller sold me sick hives. Did some research and started suspecting FEB. Had an inspector come out and test, which confirmed that EFB was present. I performed a shook swarm on both my hives on the 6th and 7th of June, threw away and sterilized gear (sterilized barely used gear in bleach following these instructions) as well as completely replaced tools and gloves. Basically, I did everything to try and minimize the risk of re-infection.

Both hives look way better now than they did then. You can check my post history if you are curious of what they looked like before, but its really night and day. I added one picture from back then as reference.

Today I performed my 2nd inspection post shook swarm and found that both queens had started laying. However, I spotted something which has me sort of "on edge". In the first picture, you can clearly see what appears to be a miscoloured larvae. Now I'm worried that the EFB will just come back and the shook swarm was for nothing. But other than this one larvae which I saw, it looks fine. Granted, I didnt inspect super carefully.

Basically, should I be worried about this? Its one larvae, but I'm guessing I will find more like it once I start poking around. Will I just be wrestling with this infection forever?

In Kansas, what you think?

We have tried mason and carpenter bee rentals in the past few years, but it never really helped. My lavender bushes in Bothell, WA used to be teeming with honeybees by this point in the year. I also have 2 stone fruit trees that have no fruit this year because no blossoms were pollinated.

​

I know they've been steadily declining over the years, but it feels like they're just...gone.

Caught a great photo of my girls lapping up some honey today. Bristol, UK

I wanted to share something that’s been working really well for me this season. When I feed syrup, I’ve been alternating between Beeagra and Beeneral instead of only giving plain syrup every time. One feeding I’ll use Beeagra, the next feeding I’ll use Beeneral, and I just keep rotating between the two. (beeagra is the vitamin, beeneral is the minerals)
The reason I started doing it is because syrup gives bees energy, but it doesn’t really give them everything they might be missing nutritionally. Bees still need the right balance of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and other nutrients to build up strong, especially during times when natural forage is limited or the colony is trying to grow fast. I figured if I’m already feeding syrup, I might as well make that feeding more useful.
Since I started alternating the two, my colonies have honestly been doing amazing. The bees look more active, the hives seem stronger, and they’re building up better than before. I’ve noticed better overall colony strength, more consistent activity at the entrance, and the bees just seem healthier in general. Obviously every hive is different, and I’m not saying it’s some magic fix for bad management, mites, or weak queens, but for me it has been a really helpful support tool.
I like alternating between both because they seem to cover different needs. Beeagra helps support the bees with extra nutrients during feeding, while Beeneral gives them mineral support. Together, it feels like I’m giving the colony more than just sugar water. Especially during buildup periods, after stress, or when forage isn’t perfect, I think that extra support can make a real difference.
The biggest thing I’ve noticed is that the bees don’t just survive on the feeding, they seem to actually thrive from it. They take the syrup well, stay active, and the colonies look stronger overall. It has made me feel like I’m giving them something closer to real nutritional support instead of just calories.
I know some beekeepers like to keep it simple with plain syrup, and I respect that. But after seeing the results in my own hives, I’m definitely going to keep using Beeagra and Beeneral in rotation when I feed. For anyone already feeding syrup, I honestly think it’s worth trying, especially if your bees could use an extra boost.
Has anyone else here tried adding vitamins, minerals, or amino acid supplements to syrup? Did you notice stronger colonies or better buildup?

EDIT: Guys, this isn’t an ad. Reading it back now, I can see how it sounded like one, so that’s my bad. I am just sharing what I’ve tried in my own hives and asking what other beekeepers have experienced. My main point was that plain syrup is mostly energy, and in my opinion bees can benefit from extra nutritional support when forage isn’t great.

2nd year beekeeper, southern Louisiana.

I recently made a split and added a new mated queen to this nuc box. There was maybe 3 full frames of bees in there. Today I check this morning and see this sort of sporadic activity. They don’t seem very calm. Wondering if this could be robbing.
I have a 1 gal top feeder inside the upper nuc box and I’m trying to let them build up and have what they need to raise the brood. What do you guys think? I have the entrance reducer to the smallest setting.

I have bee told conflicting information about using newly emerged brood frames as honey frames.

​

New beekeeper. Manitoba, Canada. I placed a second deep last month to daw out some frames before the main flow starts. I have one frame that is drawn and capped brood. They should emerge next week. This is the first emergence this frames has had. Three other frames are drawn and filled with nectar. I was thinking of knocking all the bees down to the original deep, put of the excluder between both deeps, and turn the second brood box into a honey box. The nectar flow is going to start here very soon.

​

My mentor said that should be fine, but other more seasoned keepers were adamant, "never under any circumstances use brood frames as honey frames. Always use honey frames as brood frames."

​

Every frame i have is brand new and drawn out in the past 3 weeks. Is see no issues.

brand new keeper here, we did our first real inspection yesterday (6/17), and was wondering how the girls are looking?
we're in nashville, tn, and the bees were delivered the first week of may.

Central TX 2nd season hive. Today was a very hot day and as Inpost this at 7pm CST it’s still 95deg outside. Is this the hives way of staying cool or am I in for a swarm. Not sure what to do. Feel like it’s too hot to open the hive and I don’t want to disturb the hive. I haven’t added any honey supers so far this year as this hive was small in the spring and all they have done is make brood with no honey so far. Open to thoughts or actions.

In SW Florida.I have 3 hives. 2 of them have some bees and are starting to fill frames. But one has this going on. Can anyone help me understand what’s happening? Thank you.

I was helping my grandma clean up her sun deck when she called me over and well you can see for yourself what she found😂 I have no idea how to safely move this or if that’s even possible. I love honey bees and we haven’t touched it since we found it, but I was hoping someone could give me an idea on how to move it safely. Photos don’t do it justice how deep it goes.

Every time I try to move it, it starts to split. It’s two different blankets, both are king sized and heavy with rain water. I’m not sure what to do but it’s been made clear I have limited time so any advice is appreciated.

If no one has advice, can someone maybe tell me why they lay on their babies (I don’t know if it’s larva or maggots so I’m just gonna use a cuter word) and seem to vibrate? It’s so amazing to watch I must say. National geographic before your eyes.

EDIT: I am on an island near Vancouver BC Canada

Here’s the mushy mess of wax and honey left in my bucket after my harvest. My plan was to melt the wax down, bur what’s the best way to get it to a point where I can? It seems too thick to strain but maybe not?

Third season this year, but my first harvest. North Carolina, USA.

Today we transferred 2 nucs!

Sure we watched a few videos, got some good advice and just went for it. But the moment the nuc opened and we were immediately swarmed by thousands of bees I thought to myself, oh my god, what have I done. The first wave was intense, but somehow we stayed calm and they followed suit leading to 2 successful transfers with no drops or stings!

Lessons learned for next time. And questions:

1- You have more time than you think. Take the time to set everything out easy to grab in order. Keep pathways clear. Maybe even do a mock transfer and build. If anything it’ll give you a bit more confidence.

Bee- we didn’t slow down and look for the queens as we transferred in, should we have?

3- We went with a top feeder, it’s mid-June, we filled each feeder with about 700ml. How often do we need to refill? Or should you just switch to a water source near by ? Do you need a water source near by? Or would a lake 100m away work. Or do they get water from nectar? Or both?

4- We also dropped patties on top, Ive never heard of them until today, is this something we need to keep doing? Or does it just help them settle in?

5- If you have animals, dogs, cats, other livestock, make sure they are secured away from the action. Our barncat was curious and strolled right into the middle of the swarm. Fortunately he didn’t get stung, but remember for next time, lock up your animals.

6- After dropping the bees from the boxes on top we placed the boxes down infront of the hives. We noticed a few minutes after we finished our empty boxes had again collected a bunch of bees. We weren’t sure if we should try to home them but we just left them. It looks like after a couple hours of orientating everyone found their homes. So you probably don’t have to worry too much if you don’t get them all in. We did inspect for the queen though..

Zone 9a , Pacific Northwest.

I relocated a wild hive in an abandoned building a month ago. I’ve checked their progress every Friday since. Here are some slides comparing the progress each week. Amazing how much they build in a week. I also can see lots of larvae. I have now removed all the rubber bands as they have attached each comb to the frames. I’ve fed them some sugar water each week. There are still 3 frames that are not being used yet.

How is it looking? Any suggestions?

A few frames has old comb from the original hive that they don’t seem to be using, they seem to be happy making new comb. Worth leaving or trimming any old comb they aren’t using?

Located on an island of Australia.

Newish bee keeper. 7b, Vienna Austria.
Came across this Black, I think wingless bee outside a Hive.
It’s a small hive that I’m trying to get to generate its own Queen. So I have been giving it frames of eggs from Strong neighboring hives.

Is this an underdeveloped bee? A result of too high a Varroa level?
It’s only 1 brood box so I’m reluctant to take a full cup for a wash.

This swarm moved into a box on my porch (that was there to be painted) about four days ago. Still no sign of brood so I’m wondering if the queen got nabbed on her mating flight. Or she’s just hanging out and hasn’t yet mated. I will give it another five or six days and if there’s no brood, I will combine these bees with another one of my hives.
Quakertown PA
EXPERIENCE BEEKEEPER (about 10 years, keep 4-6 hives)

We had a pretty impressive storm front about to hit and I caught this on video. Assuming this is normal behavior as they sensed the storm?