# first hive



## Elsbet (Apr 2, 2009)

my husband and I installed our first hive today. It went pretty well, considering we are TOTAL newbs. 
I've got a question, though. We were supposed to feed the bees for 6 weeks, and while feeding, there is supposed to be an entrance reducer. We have that. But when we put the reducer on with the feeder, there was NO WAY for the bees to come in and out of the hive with it. So we took the reducer off, since the bees that wouldn't shake out of the package were having fits trying to get into the hive with the others and couldn't. Is this going to be an issue, with no reducer? 

Also, how long does it take for the bees to calm down after being installed? Ours are fairly agitated, and keep flying at my head and getting tangled in my hair. They aren't in a stinging mood, they are just kind of driving me crazy. If we come within 15 feet of the hive right now, I'll have several bees mob me. I don't use perfume, and I wash my hair with bakingsoda, so there aren't any floral scents that should be attracting them. We have them in a secluded spot, between the peach tree and our mock orange, so they are close to the house, but sheltered and out of their line of sight when you step out of the garage.


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## mare (Aug 31, 2006)

doesnt your reducer have two sides with different holes cut in it?
i would seriously wear a net, i still have some get under there and in my hair and i gotta say i dont like when they are tangles in my hair.


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## Elsbet (Apr 2, 2009)

The reducer does have the two sides with holes cut, but the side for the feeder ONLY has space for the feeder, no room for bees to get in and out through.
I put the net on the last time I went out. It helped a little, but they were all still flying straight at my head. I wasn't even near the hive, either. Some were landing on my arms, and had no inclination to sting.


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## Elsbet (Apr 2, 2009)

My husband said he is just going to stuff some grass or hay in the entrance for now, leaving them a small hole to get in and out through.


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## scrapiron (Jul 23, 2011)

The reducer (if store bought) should be a square wooden board, a little less than a foot long. There is 2 grooves cut in the board on opposite sides. Line up the largest groove with the bottom board of the hive, creating an opening the size of the groove....

Even easier, take your reducer out to the barn. Get a hatchet and whack 2 inches of the length of the reducer. Install on bottom board of hive. Problem solved.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Better yet take that board man feeder with it's ity bity quart jar to the area where you plan to store the extra equpment and use either a gallon jar free from a pizza joint for the asking or a hive top feeder.










1/16 inch holes in this patteren.










Set on the intercover like this.










Looks like this before you place a deep around it.











Filling a gallon jar or a feeder about every two weeks is a lot better than a quart jar every to every other day.

Depending on the breeding they may never settle down till you requeen them. Wear a net to protect your face and keep them out of your hair. A long sleeve shirt and long pants with shoes.



 Al


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## The Tin Mom (Dec 30, 2008)

Why that pattern on the holes?

Thanks, Al!


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## AverageJo (Sep 24, 2010)

The holes will be aligned with the slot in the inner cover. The bees will then come up and suck it out of the jar. The holes only go part way across the lid so that you can leave an area for the bees to go into the upper box. After you have the 'feeder' on the inner cover, place a brood box on top and then the outter cover. This works great. I've done it myself.


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## Elsbet (Apr 2, 2009)

Thank you, Alleyooper! I think we will make our own feeder like you show. We are going through INSANE amounts of feed right now- we are refilling the quart jar thingy that came with the hive 3 times a day or more. It isn't leaking, except once. I've checked. And there is no sign of robbing going on. I'm glad we only got the one hive for this year, because we'd go broke buying sugar at this rate!

They have settled down now, and are incredibly docile. I'm not having any issues with them flying at me except when we are checking the feeder. Probably because they are so fat with sugar syrup they don't care, lol, unless they think they are losing it. So far *knock on wood* I haven't been stung. I'm being extra careful because bee allergies run in my family. This is one reason we went ahead and asked our doctor for an epi-pen prescription. Just to be safe. We may never need to use the shot, but if we do, we are a long way from the hospital if there's a reaction. I can't take benedryl for stings because it messes with my heart, though I would in an extreme emergency. Andrew said he'd buy me a bee jacket and a veil of my own, though, to be extra safe, though with upstate SC summers... that just looks so hot to wear.
I'm loving having bees, and being an "official beekeeper" instead of just a wannabee. 
whoops, I mean, I'm loving that DH has bees. Yeah. That's it. (My Christmas present to him was the hive and bees, and I'm playing with the stuff as much as he does, LOL.) This has been a dream long in the making for both of us.

And, Scrapiron- used your suggestion and just cut the end off the reducer so it would work with the feeder. We figure reducers are cheap enough it's not an issue if we have to buy a new one for a smaller hole, or could just stick the end into the gap, too.

The bees seem to be pretty happy here. We are happy they are here, too.


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## Elsbet (Apr 2, 2009)

btw- do honey bees like mock orange? Ours is in full bloom, loaded with pollen, and I see zillions of native bees on it, but not one single honey bee. It is directly beside their hive. I thought they would be using it for a pollen source, if nothing else. I haven't seen any on the snowball bush, either, though that is in full bloom, too.


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

Elsbet ,,,,, my girls do not seem to like any thing close to the hive ( some thing in bloom,))) we have 4 fruit trees that are less then 100 ft from the hives ,, the girls stay away from them .... watch for sugar sale and buy ALL you can any time you can


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## scrapiron (Jul 23, 2011)

Honeybees are very clean insects. Cleansing flights through winter are very short distances. Summer, same thing. They will not deficate in their house, that is done out the front door. 
Therefore... The area around the hive is considered "dirty" and they will not forage in the immediate vicinity. 
I have seen an article trying to disprove this theory... but my eyes beg to differ. I work for a huge Greenhouse and have all the Coneflower, Gallardia, Budilia, ect that I can possibly plant. My bees will NOT forage around their hive.


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## scrapiron (Jul 23, 2011)

Mabey it is for reasons other than cleanliness...??? I dont know. Either way the end result is the same.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Go to a fabric shop and buy some wedding veil, find (goodwill store or salvation army store) a sloch hat and sew the veil to the brim. You can sew a few loops at the bottom to run a string thru to hold it shut tight.
Then wear A long sleeve thin light color shirt and long pants with shoes. That's all I have woren for years. In fact I don't know one single person personally that wears a bee suit. Each and even person I know say they are to hot.
But one should try to protect ones self a little bit.

Even the above is really hot in August pulling honey supers, drink lots of water.




























 Al


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## Elsbet (Apr 2, 2009)

we changed out the feeder to a top feeder, like you showed, Alleyooper. I was taking video of the whole thing, and explaining what we were doing for my family members. Found out the whole thing recorded without sound. It ended up being the most BORING video I've ever seen, lol.
The girls were kind of grouchy today when DH was trying to change out the feeders. We couldn't shake one angry girl- she followed DH into the garage, and I didn't realize it. As soon as I opened the door, she flew right into my hair and I had to pick her out. What is it with my hair??? She didn't sting me, but man was she grouchy. Her buzz sounded irritated, even. I'm used to different bee sounds, and she was MAD. A beekeeping friend of ours said that when you get one like that, the best thing is to just kill them, but we couldn't bring ourselves to do that. 

When Andrew removed the cover tonight we could see they are making comb. Things are looking good! We are trying VERY hard to keep things quiet for them, and not disturbing them anymore than necessary, like for feeding purposes.

Last night, around 3 in the morning, I had to take my dog out. I went over to the hive and laid my head down on the top of it. What a beautiful sound they were making. So soothing.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

I don't know what draws the honey beews to our hair. Could be our carbon deoxid breath, could be our big shiny faces with the hair above, (never heard of a bald person complaining about bees on their heads.) or if it just the smells our hair picks up from our surroundings.


 Al


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

I went over to the hive and laid my head down on the top of it. What a beautiful sound they were making. So soothing.
I do this in the winter ,,, every one in this family says ,,, like it or not from now on I will have bees ( I start like :badmood::grumble: I go watch the girls for just a few mins makes me :bouncy: ) ,, because they relax me so much ,, the first thing I do when we get home is to walk to the hives ...


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## Elsbet (Apr 2, 2009)

We just opened the hive, and the girls were awesome. We took out the frames, and they are building comb on ALL of them, but most thickly in the middle. The queen is out of the cage, but we didn't locate her. We'll be looking for brood, soon. This is so much fun, I wish we'd gone ahead and done this YEARS ago. Years and years and years of reading, visiting beekeepers, and only now we are doing it. Seems like a lot of time wasted. 

I'm not a thrill seeker, but I do like the feeling when we open the hive and get to see how the bees react, how much they are working, and getting to know the hive. Probably sounds silly, but I feel really connected to these girls.


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

Elsbet look on the bottom of the cells ,, look for a little white thing that looks like a ,, l ,, standing on the bottom in the middle of the cell ,, that will be the egg ,, even if the cell is not built completely ,,, she will sometimes lay in a cell that is barely started ,,,, after you see eggs a few times , it will be easy ,,,,,,,,,, """ 
'''' but I do like the feeling when we open the hive and get to see how the bees react, how much they are working, and getting to know the hive. Probably sounds silly, but I feel really connected to these girls.""""" for me its the way I can relax by ,, opening the hive I get so relaxed ,, I know ,, how can digging in 20 or 40 thousand sting insects be relaxing ,,, I like to set and have coffee in front of the hives ,,, the early spring , when they are doing cleansing filet ,, this is not the thing to do ,, as you will get pooped on ,,,, I know i said the girls never go to my fruit trees but this is my post on Al's """ Some thing to think about """ post,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, <<< went out to look at the fruit trees ,, SURPRISE SURPRISE SURPRISE ,,, the bees are on MY fruit trees ,,,, for the second time sense I've had bees ,, now just so the cold temp didn't kill the blooms ,, but there was a 10 to 15 mph wind last night ,that may have saved the blooms ..>>> I can not believe they are on my trees


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## Elsbet (Apr 2, 2009)

Yep- we did brood spotting on a friend's hive a while back, so we know how to look for them, but thank you for the help, Tom!


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## mare (Aug 31, 2006)

scrapiron said:


> Honeybees are very clean insects. Cleansing flights through winter are very short distances. Summer, same thing. They will not deficate in their house, that is done out the front door.
> Therefore... The area around the hive is considered "dirty" and they will not forage in the immediate vicinity.
> I have seen an article trying to disprove this theory... but my eyes beg to differ. I work for a huge Greenhouse and have all the Coneflower, Gallardia, Budilia, ect that I can possibly plant. My bees will NOT forage around their hive.


how far away does it need to be to be not in the immediate vicinity??? i want to start planting but now i want to make sure not to be too close. my bees arent coming until the 21st. cant wait. i was going to put one hive right in the garden but now i dont think i will.


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## scrapiron (Jul 23, 2011)

My hives are on the side of the house, and they will not forage anywhere over there. Mid summer last year I put in a bee garden out back about 100' away from the bee yard and they were all over it. I have no clue what the minimum distance is, but would assume anything over 75' or so would be fine. 

Their most favorite flower in my garden so far is Poppies. The girls LOVE them. Salvia, Echinacea, Gallardia, Scabiosa and Coreopsis are all great as well.


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## mare (Aug 31, 2006)

thank you scrapiron


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Our back yard bees are 10 feet from our bee garden. the entrances faces that garden and the bees do forage in it.
Of course all the plants in it are from two years of research on what bees like during what time of the year. We overloadedit with early spring blooming plantsand late fall plants to give the bees the most help when they need it most.

 Al


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