honey bee management

My advice for new beekeepers

Frame of bees vertical

With April comes the inevitable question, “What advice would you give a new beekeeper?” I seriously hate this question, mostly because it is fraught with undertones of philosophy.

But once again, I will attempt an answer. Please don’t write back and exclaim, “But that’s just your opinion!” Of course, it’s my opinion. If you want someone else’s opinion, you are in the wrong place.

Save the conclusions for later

First, I offer a pair of do nots. Do not spend your first year worrying about hive style (Warré, TBH, Langstroth) and defending your choice. Do not spend your first year worrying about management style (conventional, treatment-free, biodynamic) and defending your choice. You will develop your own thoughts on these issues as you gain experience, and you can always alter those choices later. A writer doesn’t develop style until he knows grammar, punctuation, and spelling. A beekeeper doesn’t develop style until he knows bees.

Begin with the basics

Instead, spend your first year learning everything you can about the two species you will be raising in your hives—honey bees and Varroa mites. By “everything” I mean biology, life cycles, population dynamics, and the interaction between these two housemates. Most new beekeepers make the mistake of underestimating the impact of Varroa on their colonies. You can’t know too much about bees or mites.

Second, learn everything you can about flowers, pollination, and the coevolution of bees and flowering plants. If you don’t understand pollination ecology, blooming cycles, flower morphology, and plant-pollinator mutualisms, you cannot be an effective beekeeper. New beekeepers often have no idea when nectar flows occur in their area nor when to expect a dearth, let alone how to prepare for them.

Learn the language

Whether you are a fashion designer, nuclear physicist, IT geek, or a beekeeper, you have to learn the words—the jargon—that go with it. Beekeepers waste a lot of time miscommunicating with each other. Beekeepers use words without knowing their meaning, they say one thing when they mean another, they use seven different terms for one item. The more they show off, the more their words devolve into mush.

No wonder it appears that ten beekeepers have fifteen answers to the same problem—since no one understands what anyone else is saying, everything sounds like a new idea. You will get better answers if you ask the right questions using the correct words.

Trust yourself

My philosophy of logic-based beekeeping is premised on the idea that you know lots about the world around you because of your own life experiences. In other words, even if you didn’t study science in school, you understand certain physical, chemical, and biological properties because you see them every day. You step out of the shower and shiver. You boil water and the steam goes up, not down. You set a cold beer on the table and it leaves a ring.

But for some strange reason, most of us forget everything we know when we open a beehive. We forget that warm air rises, we forget that living things respire, we forget that more mouths require more food, we forget that mold grows on damp surfaces. Basically, most of the “mysterious” things we see in a beehive can be explained with everyday knowledge. They’re just bees in a box, dude, not extraterrestrials.

If someone gives you a piece of advice and it doesn’t feel right, or it doesn’t makes sense, ask for an explanation. If they can’t explain their reasoning, move on. Beekeeping is not a secret society with chants, handshakes, and passwords. Advice should be transparent and logical. If it’s not, forgetaboutit.

Play with your bees

Watch your bees. Enjoy them. Talk to them. Delight in their being. For most of us, bees are pets. We can learn much by simply observing them in the hive, in the field, in a flower. Feel the tingle as they stroll up your arm. Revel in the power of their sting. I know of no better way to learn about bees than to watch them do what they do.

The beginning is not for perfection

No one expects perfection the first time they bake a cake, write a computer program, or fold into the lotus position. Yet we all expect to harvest gallons of honey our first season and overwinter without a hiccup. Put aside the idea of perfection and concentrate on learning. Beekeeping is a process. You learn as you go. You try and fail or you try and succeed. And then you try something else. Enjoy the process and don’t worry about the end. There is no end.

All beekeeping is local

This is probably the single most misunderstood fact in all of beekeeping. Your microclimate is different than the one across the street or down the road. The plants that grow in your region are different—or bloom at different times—than those in another state or province. Your seasons change at different times, you have different strains of bees, different pesticides in your environment, and different amounts of rain, noise, humidity, habitat, and agriculture. You cannot make rules for beekeeping because beekeeping for you is different than beekeeping for anyone else.

It is this single issue—localness—that makes learning bees more important than learning beekeeping. You have to understand bees so you can look inside your hive and make your management decision. Your situation is unlike any other. You can ask for advice as long as you understand that what works for Sarah might not work for Joe. Ultimately there is no recipe for success. There is no recipe for bees.

Rusty
HoneyBeeSuite

Related Posts:

Seven types of beekeeping advice to avoid

English for beekeepers

Beekeeping and the erosion of English

 

92 Comments

  • Rusty,

    I admit that my knowledge of plant biology as it relates to beekeeping is linked to availability of pollen and nectar at certain times of the year. With similar weather, surrounding plant makeup, and season I sort of expect similar availability of plant materials. I pretty much expect pollen to come in the first week of March, maple nectar first week of April, main flow in the 2nd week of June, and lull before the main flow about mid May through early June.

    Do you recommend learning about other plants for the sake of planting them at home, or even relocating hives when the main flow is over in your locale? Or is it for another reason altogether?

    I know I oversimplified the question and sound like a bumpkin, but can you expand on the reason for your suggestion for studying plant biology and maybe site some resources for knowledge expansion?

    • Aram,

      Since you are an experienced and successful beekeeper, I assume you know more about plants than you think you do.

  • Hi Rusty,

    I’m a beginner and thank you for the advice. “Enjoy the process…..There is no end”. Enjoyment is in the act of doing. Sometimes you don’t need a reason for doing whatever. You just do it because it’s there.

  • Rusty,

    Thank you, for once again sharing your insight and knowledge. Over the last year I have thoroughly enjoyed your site and appreciate the time you invest in it to keep it informative and entertaining.

  • Perfect timing for me. My wife and I just picked up our first hive parts today. Next comes putting them together and getting some bees to put in them. I’ve learned much from this blog, and this post is like the propolis that glues it all together. Thank you!

  • This is the best advice I have ever heard of for new beekeepers and a great reminder for those who have been at it for a while also.

    Thank you

  • I’ve been learning bees for a year. Thank you for your advice for new beekeepers. It made more sense than anything I’ve heard in this wonderful year of beekeeping. Thanks again and have a great day!

  • Rusty,

    This is the most common sense advice for beginning beekeeping that I’ve ever read! I’d like to share it with my beekeeping association, with your permission and acknowledgement of Honey Bee Suite, of course.

  • Really wish I had heard these words when I started beekeeping. Would have saved a lot of grief for me and the bees.

  • Very wonderful advice. I lost my first and only hive last year due to inexperience. I live in South Carolina and was using the first information that I found online and was not paying attention to what region that advice was for. I missed treating for mites when I was supposed to and also put the fall feeder on too late. Unfortunately my hive was weak and starved before Christmas. Trying again this year with two hives.

  • Rusty,

    This essay was very well written full of truth, wisdom and humor for all new beekeepers and my only response to it is Amen!

  • I love this post and second every word. I wish I had had this advice when I was starting out a few years ago. I’m still learning about bees and weather [winter], and varroa, and my style is evolving with every failure. Failure is a powerful tool if you don’t let it get you down. I feel a bit more confident with every new colony and I’m certainly able to ask better questions and get clarification when I need it. Thank you!

  • Hello,

    Couldn’t agree with you more! I’m into my 4th year of beekeeping and I still do not use chemicals of any kind simply because I’m waiting for my bees to show me their problems that they have difficulty with.

    Last year I lost a hive because of excessive humidity, or so I thought. There was a very cold day in late summer and I had left on a queen excluder made of metal. Yep, it absorbed all the heat and caused the condensation to appear and froze my bees. It was such a strong hive.

    So I built a moisture quilt and it works great. The chips were damp about 3/4-inch deep. The hive is very strong and doing well, and is still very heavy.

    What I have been doing is incorporating plants in my hayfield that are compatible for my cattle and horses as well. It seems true that providing healthy diversity for bees works just as well as for us.

    Yours,
    Mike in Canada

  • Thank you for this. I am new and have already proclaimed myself a bad steward of bees! But, I will keep trying to be better.

    I got my bees on Saturday and got them installed. Both queens have been released, but they will NOT come out of the travel box. We had a cold snap (low 30’s at night), so I decided not to mess with them. It will be considerably warmer Friday, so I was planning on waiting until it was in the mid 50’s and remove the travel box. I will set it outside the hive, right in front of the entrance.

    Any advice?

    Thanks!
    Carrie

    • Carrie,

      I’m not clear if you mean the bees won’t come out or the queen won’t come out. If you put a box full of bees with a free-roaming queen in front of an empty hive, my guess is they will soon leave and you will never see any of them again.

      Instead, put the queen back in her little cage and attach the cage to one of the frames. The rest of the bees will follow. I would leave the queen in her cage until your bees start to build comb, otherwise they may all abscond.

  • A new beekeeping friend shared this link with me and I want to thank you for the encouragement. Sadly, my first hive attempt has failed. Although the bees made it through to mid-February I think that the extended cold was too much for them. Wondering if I could get in touch with “Mike from Canada”. I could use some additional Canadian climate advice. Thanks again.

  • Rusty,

    I am a first year beekeeper. I am so glad I stumbled onto your website. I have learned a lot of valuable information and look forward to reading more of your posts. Thank you

  • Hi, Rusty,

    Your paragraphs on “localness” are especially true for me — a year ago I moved from Colorado to Minnesota, requiring me to learn a totally new ecosystem. At first it seemed problematic because a lot of my experience didn’t apply to beekeeping in the upper Midwest.

    Since my bees died during this past winter (for the first time ever) I’m starting over this spring with a changed attitude, one which is more about curiosity and excitement rather than complaining about the weather. I get to study new plants, pollinators, weather patterns, and habitats. I get to study how bee behavior is different here than in the Rocky Mountains. Every time I approach a hive now I’m reminded that no matter how much I think I know, doing it with beginner’s mind guarantees I’ll learn something new.

  • Morning Rusty,
    I’m a new beekeeper from Victoria Australia where we are entering a cool Autumn. Unfortunately I need to move my singular hive of bees, consisting of three boxes to another area of my garden over the next week and would like your advice on how to do this please. I have read of the ‘one pace a day’ rule and the idea of putting a branch in front of the hive opening after locating the bees on the new site. I am passionate about my bees and causing them more stress than necessary gives me great angst! I would love to hear from you Rusty and also would like to tell you that I enjoy your posts immensely.

    • Hi Julia,

      It depends on how far it is to the other area of your garden. If it is reasonably close, I would move them all at once rather than a little at a time. Every time you move them is another disturbance to their lives. I don’t have a rule, but I’d say if it’s within 25 or 30 feet, just move them. Putting branches outside of the hive will encourage reorienting.

  • Ha ha ha!! Wwell, our first little lovely bees are due to arrive here in just a couple of weeks. So, with all the information-overload and information across the internet and from other local bee keepers giving all kinds of advise, I must say that the greatest thing I have read or heard yet? “They’re just bees in a box, dude, not extraterrestrials.” LOVE IT! and yes, so much can simply be common sense and spending time with your bees. Thank you. I think I have found the one website about bees and keeping them that I will be keeping close at hand. THIS ONE! 😀

  • Rusty,

    Thank you for expressing your opinion. I wish your words had been at my side to replace those told me at the start of my honey bee keeping journey.

  • I haven’t heard from “Mike in Canada” but I’ve been doing some thinking and wanted to run it by you. My hive was doing well at the beginning of February and that’s when I did some dry sugar feeding. I checked them a few days later and there were A LOT of bees on the top. Then the weather got really cold again. In checking my frames after the funeral I noticed that there was still a lot of honey in the frames. Maybe feeding them was a mistake because they broke cluster to come up to the top? Then they got cold and died? Any thoughts? Is winter feeding a mistake?

    • Mary,

      Winter feeding is not a mistake. The bees don’t break their cluster to go up, instead the whole colony goes up in a unit, more or less. Going up seems to be easier than going to the sides. If the honey frames were to the sides of the cluster, but not touching it, the bees may not find it. Bees dying with lots of honey in the hive is a very common occurrence.

      You say lots of bees were up top, but I don’t know what “lots” means. To determine cause of death (which often isn’t possible) you should look at the size of the brood nest, the size of the colony, the presence of a queen, the presence of guanine deposits, dysentery, predators in the hive, moisture, diseases, etc. Also, how did you treat for mites and when?

      If the colony was small and the weather cold, it is possible the bees got chilled and died. Most winter colonies that don’t make it die from mite infestations, so that’s where I would begin looking. If you can eliminate mites as a cause, then look further.

  • Hi, I’ve been a beekeeper for a year. We had a top-bar hive for that year. The next spring it swarmed twice. So I then had three top-bar hives. But the most prolific one (followed by the others) started to die. Lots of bees were on the bottom board, dead, and a few were outside the hive on the ground trying but unable to fly. Quite a few that were dead or dying had their heads in the cells, and the remaining bees were darker than normal (wetness perhaps?). The brood died (because there weren’t enough workers to keep them warm). Some of the larvae was partly eaten and or hanging out of cells. I didn’t smell anything stinky other than all the dead bees on the bottom board (it wasn’t sulfurous smelling) that I scooped out. By the time I thought it might be due to starvation, it was too late to save them by feeding. The queen (in each hive) also died. But was it indeed starvation? Any input would be most appreciated. I’m afraid to have a repeat with our new bees.

    P.S. this happened to All three of the top bar hives.

    • Virginia,

      It sounds like starvation, especially since there were many dead bees in the area. The “partially-eaten” appearance can come when the live bees try to pull the dead brood out of the hive. If they have difficulty, the heads come off and give the appearance of partially eaten. The brood probably died from cold after most of the adults died from starvation and could no longer keep all the brood warm. You didn’t mention honey. Was the honey gone or was it far from the cluster?

  • Today I came across your site. I read some of the articles and can say that I like the simplicity of your style and the way that information is absorbed directly by the human’s brain (like honey in body).

    Sorry if my English is not OK, not mother tongue. Sorry that in Bulgaria (where I come form) there are not good sources of information, but only old-fashioned magazines.

    Good Luck!

  • Hi Rusty,

    I was recently given a robust feral hive that had settled into a super. The donor put the super on top of my brood box which has drawn brood comb from a hive that was robbed last spring. It seems they are just walking through the deep on their way up to their familiar super but they are really crammed up there.

    1. Should I reverse the two boxes by putting the super on the bottom and the deep on top since they naturally like to go up so they will populate the deep?

    2. Or should I leave them alone and let them find the deep later on on their own? I want to help but I don’t want to interfere. Thanks!

  • I need some urgent advice ASAP. Yesterday, just as the sun went down, I found a bee clinging to my window and I new that a very cold night was closing in. I took a small box, cut a hole in is creating a flap and placed the bee on the flap. I placed the box and bee, on the flap, under the front of my car together with a saucer of sugared water. I’ve just noticed that the bee is still alive but unwilling or unable to fly. It is sunny but a cool breeze is blowing. Is there anything more I can do?

    Alan Fairhurst

    • Alan,

      Since I don’t know what kind of bee it is, I can just give you a general answer. In most bee species here in the northern hemisphere, all the bees die at the end of the summer or fall except for mated queens. So it is not at all unusual to see bees dying at this time of year because it is the end of their natural lifespan. There is nothing you can do. See, “Why so many dead bumble bees?

  • Any bee keeping book suggestions or must haves? Prefer something all inclusive from beginner to “expert” level. Thank you.

  • I am a NewBee. 2nd year with bees. I have 4 hives set up and 3 are doing good. One is from H___.
    I work in my garage which is 80 feet from the front of the hives. The bees from the one hive fly straight from the hive to where I am working, and nail me, mostly around the eyes. 9 stings just today, not doing anything to make them mad. My grandkids can’t even come out now.
    Yes they have a Queen, I have checked several times, she is laying, but not very much now for some reason.
    My question””s. Why do the bees go for the eyes so much, I do wear glasses.
    Other main question. How do I calm this hive down some. Replace the Queen or what?
    Thanks

    • I suppose that going for the eyes is hard-wired into their genetics. If you need to scare away a bear or racoon, getting through thick fur is tough, but eyes are easy. I recommend re-queening. It sounds like she’s got mean genes.

  • The moment when I knew I was pointed to my go-to beekeeping blog:

    “They’re just bees in a box, dude, not extraterrestrials.”

    New here, but love what I’ve read so far. Really looking forward to reading the rest!

  • I am a new beekeeper here in Bellevue, NE and received my first package on the 16th. The weather was great to hive them and I did so placing the queen in her cage on the bottom vice hanging it.

    The mistake I made was not looking far enough into the forecast and seeing that there’d be a couple rainy days and the temperature dropping into the low to mid 50s. Should I be concerned for the queen’s well being?

    Thank you in advance for any information.

    • Rob,

      “her cage on the bottom vice hanging it”? I don’t know what you’re trying to say here. But 50s and rain? If honey bees couldn’t handle 50s and rain, there would be no honey bees on the PNW coast. I assume you are feeding your package bees and, if so, you should have no problem.

  • Rusty, Thank you for the response, it gave me a little peace of mind. In explanation to what had confused in my initial query – I had placed her cage on the bottom board with the cork from the candied end taken out vice hanging it from a frame.

    • Rob,

      Okay, I see. As long as the workers are free to get to her, they will keep her warm. Only if they were prohibited from reaching her would it be a problem.

  • Newbie here: Is there a book/reference on bee nutrition that is inclusive for the US? Downloaded Fat Bees, Skinny Bees; but this is based on Australian case studies. I would like to learn more about pollen, protein, etc. Currently adding pure lemon juice and HBH to ss to get the pH closer to 5. Thoughts on this? Thank you. Just hit my 21st day here in Lincoln, NE and all looks well.

    • Janet,

      I used to think adjusting the pH of sugar syrup was important, but now I don’t. The principle source of honey’s acidity results from the oxidation of glucose into gluconic acid. This oxidation is catalyzed by glucose oxidase, which is secreted into the syrup when the bees ingest it, just like they do with nectar. To re-state, the bees make the nectar more acidic when they take it into their honey stomach and the same thing happens to sugar syrup.

      The same applies to inversion from sucrose to glucose and fructose. It happens almost instantly when the bees consume it because they secrete invertase into the syrup (or nectar) and it is immediately inverted. Plain sucrose it really one of the best foods for bees.

  • Thanks Rusty. Is there a book about all this? Seems like you have great insight, so maybe you could be the author? : )

    • Janet,

      In the master beekeeper program I wrote a paper about glucose oxidase, which is why I’m up on that particular subject. A lot has been written about honey bee nutrition but I don’t know what is best. There are many papers, and some of the textbooks like “The Hive and the Honey Bee” (newest edition) have detailed chapters on nutrition.

  • Hi Rusty,

    Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. I for one appreciate it greatly.

    I’m moving back to Washington State (Puget Sound area) later this year and am hoping to get my first hive (or two!) of bees in the spring. I’ve been studying beekeeping for about a year now and still feel like I don’t know anything…

    One thing I do know, the thought of having to move a 10 frame deep hive box is daunting, so I’ve been thinking about using all medium 8 frame hive boxes. However, I can’t find any information to say if this will or won’t work. Do you have an opinion? I’d love to hear from you.

    • Caroline,

      I prefer standard 10-frame equipment because a variety components are more readily available, and I like the insulation factor in winter. I cannot lift a full ten-frame box (up to 100 pounds). However, I also cannot lift a full 8-frame medium (up to 52 pounds). So I just take out some frames until I can move it. But, I’m sure you can make it work either way.

  • Rusty,

    Thank you for your informative information.

    I am writing in regards to your 2011 article on hive blankets and collecting moisture in wood shavings. I was wondering if there is anything new or changes to your methods since then.

    In the western PA area it has become very popular to use a screened bottom board as an aid to reducing mite load. A related result is people with a vented inner cover found much less moisture in the hives. Four years ago I quit wrapping my 3 or 4 hives in the winter. A full open screened bottom board. Screened inner cover with vent and reduced entrances the year round. We did not have all the parasites when Dr. L. designed the Langstroth hive. This gives the bees a fighting chance to fight off pests and gives them the ventilation they need. The moisture comes from 20,000 or so bees breathing in a confined space. This set up gets it out of the hive, not trapped inside. I have to add here that I believe cold does not kill bees. Cold wet bees are dead bees. I have a neighbor that inspects bridges for PA DOT. He said there are three colonies of bees in three corners of a local bridge for many years. He has seen others.

    I want my bees to have fresh air and get the moisture out of the hive not trap it in the top. Another justification. Your house has foil backed insulation in the walls. It has perforated or unbacked insulation in the ceilings so the moisture can migrate up into the unheated attic. Your attic is vented along the whole roof line or on both ends. This lets the moisture out, not trapping it under the insulation and risking mold.

    Using the bridge example I don’t believe the hive heats the area. I believe they cluster rotates warm bees from the center out and cold bees in keeping each other warm enough to survive the winter. With no wrapping I think they can be warmed by sunny days and make cleansing flights as needed, not when it warms the insulation and eventually the hive and than the bees. I have seen black spots in front of a hive in the snow and it was 32 degrees outside.

    The screened top is very simple. A 3/4 inch cut out to let out moisture. No popsicle sticks, no twigs, no nickles between the supers. I have a couple pictures, but see no way to attach them.

    Quite simply, you thoughts on all this?

    Robert Thomas

    • Eddie,

      It could be. The problem is that lots of things can make bees crawl on the ground, including diseases, parasites, temperature, pesticides or some other type of poisoning. Tracheal mites are often blamed, and sometimes Nosema, and varroa-mediated viruses. In truth, unless you have a sample of dead and dying bees analyzed, you won’t know what’s causing it. Oftentimes, nothing much happens. If it was a small pesticide incident, some may die but the colony may survive. On the other hand, it could get worse. If the bees are mostly drones, it’s probably nothing more than drone eviction.

    • Charles,

      I deleted your daughter’s personal information because this is not the place for it. Although I’m sure she is exceptional, I have 10,000 readers per day and don’t have time to personally mentor each one. If she has a specific question, I will be happy to answer it.

  • Just want to say thanks.

    I am beginning this summer and of the sites I have come across, yours is very down to earth and straight forward.

    Thanks I look forward to reading what you have to share.

    Donald eyerma.

  • Hi. This is my first attempt at bee keeping. Started with 2 packages. One package released the queen in 3 days. The 2nd, due to the weather and work, was about 2 weeks before I could check if the 2nd released the queen. They didn’t so I released her. It’s been a month since I got the packages. The 2nd hive as of today, no sign of a queen, no eggs, larva. The 1st hive is doing great. Is it to0 late to get another mated queen or take a frame with eggs from hive 1 to put in hive 2.

    Thanks Dan

    • Dan,

      You’re up against two things. First, you’ll soon run out of bees in that colony because individual bees only live 4 to 6 weeks. Secondly, laying workers start to develop after two or three weeks without a queen.

      You will need to first look for signs of laying workers. If there are no signs, you can try adding a frame of eggs and young larvae (to suppress laying worker development) and order a queen. It’s probably too late to let them raise a queen because of the overall age of the colony.

  • Hello. I hope all is well. I have a wild hive, old bees. Rita made a home in an abandoned upside down bee box. I would like to move it … yikes.

  • Hi,

    I am from India and beginner. I have only 3 colony of Apis mellifera and split 1 colony but the queen not mated because of own colony drones, but colony have huge numbers of drones but not mated, after I introduce new mated queen 3 days back colony accept the queen and today queen lays some eggs in cells, but problem is some workers also lays eggs in some cells in four to five eggs in some cells how to save the colony pls reply. Thanks

    • Sathish,

      The large number of drones and multiple eggs in many cells indicate that your colony has laying workers. Usually, such a colony will not accept a new queen but will kill her. You are very lucky if they accepted her. If she stays alive, her pheromones will soon suppress the laying worker ovaries and they will stop laying. Just hope she makes it.

  • Hi Thanks’

    I already done shacking the bees 200 feet away and lots of bees not return to home and dead in that area including lots of drones, and also kill some laying workers with forceps in some frames. I feel sad to kill some bees with forceps but I need to save my colony, I follow your page around 7 months, excellent posts, useful like me beginners but please upload more and more photos if possible.

    Once again, thanks.

  • Hi,

    My laying worker colony still have problem, I placed young larvae frame from other box, but nothing may be suppress workers laying. Newly drawings comb cells also filled with 5 to 8 eggs but still queen looks like healthy with big stomach. Queen is 2 to 3 month old only. Today also plan to place one extra frame with young larvae. Some questions Madam. Local beekeeper told this is mated queen but I think may be virgin queen? Virgin queen laying lots of eggs in one cell? But eggs placed with centre of the cell not side of the cell. New workers changed to laying worker? Please help to save my colony.

    Thanks

    • Sathish,

      First, have you read my posts on laying workers? That would be a good place to start because most of these questions are answered there. It is extremely difficult to salvage a laying worker colony, and sometimes it’s best to just let it go rather than keep feeding it more and more larvae which will end up weakening your other colonies.

      Briefly, you can usually tell a virgin from a mated queen by her size. Generally, the queens get bigger and fatter after they mate. Newly mated queens may lay multiple eggs in a cell, but usually only for the first few days. Usually multiple eggs in a sign of laying workers. Each bee lays only one egg, but lots of workers lay in the cells. Yes, new workers can change to laying workers.

      What does a laying worker hive look like?
      Why save a laying-worker colony?
      How to fix a laying worker hive

  • Hi.

    Good Evening. Two 2 days back I removed dead bodies of 14 death’s head hawkmoth in single colony. It struck inside the entrance, 2 weeks before I removed 1 hawkmoth same colony. Two days back I fixed queen gate in entrance but slightly gape for drone entry. Today removed 2 dead hawkmoth inside same colony, but that small gape not possible to enter in to the colony still confusion. Sugar syrup attract this hawkmoth? Hawkmoths laying and hatching inside the box possible? But another week hive guard bees fight this moths and kill outside of the hive. How to control this moths? this transmit any disease to bees? Rainy season is one of the problem?

    Thanks

    • Sathish,

      I know nothing about this moth except it eats honey and nectar (and probably sugar syrup). According to Wikipedia, “Adults of all three species are commonly observed raiding bee hives of different species of honey bee; A. atropos only invades colonies of the well-known western honey bee, Apis mellifera, and feeds on both nectar and honey. They can move about in hives without being disturbed because they mimic the scent of the bees and are not recognised as intruders.”

  • I’m glad I found you. I have everything ordered and have literally read almost every single one of your posts for advice and guidance.

  • Hi Rusty. I wrote last August (?) telling you about my poor girls. First hive, a tree falling and crushing it, moving them into a new home, etc. Well, they finally started doing well, aside from being robbed twice. All seemed to finally straighten out for them. I used Apiguard and left it in for almost a month, but they didn’t use the whole package. Anyways, I made a blanket with shavings, and a 10 lb. sugar frame with a 3 x 5 piece of pollen patty in it. They only had scattered partial frames with their honey so I left them in too. I also put some insulation boards on the outside, openings cut out at the entrance and front of the sugar board, since the temp kept staying in the 20s. All seemed to be going well until around the 10th of this month. It warmed up for a few days and I saw bees all over my Snow Drops that were blooming. Yea! But when I looked at my girls, no movement…nothing. I took a quick look just to find everyone dead. I went through everyone throughout and never found my queen. Honey was still there, and about 2/3 of the sugar. No idea what happened. It’s like they just froze in place. Maybe the queen left in the fall or died? And the rest just lived out their time? Frustrating, and I know some other beekeepers went through the same thing. Any ideas on what happened?

    I’m expecting a new package end of April so we’ll give it another try. I felt so bad you would think I lost my family pet. Funny how you start to feel about these “bugs”.

    • Margie,

      I remember your story. Just guessing from this distance but to me, it sounds like a queen failure. Since lots of bees remained in the hive, it doesn’t sound like varroa. I suspect the colony just got smaller and smaller until it could no longer keep itself warm.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.