# If at first you don't succeed.........



## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

try, try again? Well I took a year off from getting bees last year. Two years before I bought my first hive but lost it and a couple more. Needless to say I was pretty dejected, disgusted even. Not with the bees but of my lack of success in keeping them. But I got the urge to try again. I have spent my spare time trying to learn as much as possible and feel that I am now a little better prepped to be a beekeeper I ordered two NUCS from a guy in north Florida who delivered them a week ago. I think I have learned where I went wrong the last time, after having had shb problems in my first hive I placed my next hives in a full sun spot, and think they might have absconded due to getting far too hot where they were Positioned 
This time I have made a nice apiary area under a large pecan tree in my backyard. As I mentioned earlier I ordered and received two nucs last week and hives them in two 10 frame set ups adjacent one another with doors facing different directions. I also purchased a nurse bee nuc that he said should raise a queen from the frames that it has. So if that one is successful in raising a queen that would be three hives. I am intrigued by the possibility of raising new queens in this way, if it works. The guy said the best thing to do is leave them alone for about a month. I was thinking I would leave that nuc alone for 5 more weeks. Thinking that in total that nurse bee nuc would be here for six weeks and that would be enough time to raise/get queen mated and begin to lay. Would I see capped brood after this time? I have trouble seeing eggs in any frames, my eyesight is not the best and my reading glasses are difficult to work with in my vail s my regular vision is fine and my readers make that blurry, lol. Anyway I am excited to have some bees, I am learning I think also I forgot to mention these bees were raised foundationless and plan to continue on with this more natural method Wish me luck and hopefully I will have much to post in the future.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Buy a Magnfying glass to look for eggs.

 Al


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## ed/La (Feb 26, 2009)

I would check in week to 10 days. If no queen cells you have to add more brood. I would add brood even if queen cell is present if your other hives have plenty. If it takes a month for queen to mate and start laying and 3 weeks for those eggs to mature you have 7 weeks with no new bees.


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

Thanks for the tip ed. I will pop em open todAy and see and see if I have a brood frame to get em through


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

So I opened up all 3 hives. Good news I think I saw some eggs in the new nuc. im thinking that since I've had the nuc for about 11 days that those are newly laid right? I didn't see a queen but I didn't want to stay in too long after seeing eggs I figured that's a good sign. Looked in the two queenrite hives and it was filling out so I moved the feeder up into a new box and put some empty frames in their as well. 96 oz frame feeder was empty in both hives. I need to make more syrup. Last batch was 2:1 should I keep this or drop down to 1:1 I don't plan on feedings indefinitely just trying to get them on solid footing


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Drop to 1:1 In the spring and go to 2:1 in the fall.

 Al


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

Thanks Al. I spoke to the man who I got the bees from he said that queenless nuc was made up on may 5 without a queen cell in it. I'm wondering if it had a virgin queen in it as an unseen stowaway cause I'm 90% sure I saw cells with single eggs in it in that hive.


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

From egg to capped brood would be how many days?


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## ed/La (Feb 26, 2009)

From egg to capped brood is 9 days. You can see the larva easily at 4 or 5 days. A little white maggot looking thing. They will be in every cell in that area of comb. Not one here or there. Put a frame of new or clean comb in the middle of brood in strong box. Mark it with something for easy retrieval. I put a penny on it. Come back in three days and move to queen less hive. There will be eggs of the correct age to make queen.


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## ed/La (Feb 26, 2009)

RonTgottagoat said:


> Thanks Al. I spoke to the man who I got the bees from he said that queenless nuc was made up on may 5 without a queen cell in it. I'm wondering if it had a virgin queen in it as an unseen stowaway cause I'm 90% sure I saw cells with single eggs in it in that hive.


If hive was made on the fifth it takes 16 days for queen to hatch. That would be 21st at earliest. The timing is off to have laying queen unless the seller had queen in box when he made it. Go to this site and it will help http://www.dummies.com/home-garden/hobby-farming/beekeeping/tracking-the-life-cycle-of-a-honey-bee/


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

Thanks for the reply ed. That's what I was thinking from the timeline I had found about queens. I need to try that with the empty comb and the penny that's a great tip thank you


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

I spent the day with my dad making some wooden nuc boxes. We made 4 5 nucs frames from a sheet of plywoodi from plans I had found on the internet. I got em with two coats of primer on the outsides and plan to paint them tomorrow. I figure an extra box to raise a backup queen may be handy as well as using em for swarm boxes we also assembled another 10 frames I need to string em with monofilament. I'll take some pics and post em


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

Got my nuc boxes painted and finished set one up as a swarm box with starter frames a piece of burr comb. I took a sandwich bag and cut slits into it. Rolled up a paper towel soaked in lemon grass oil and placed it in the box. It may be too late for swarms but I got the box done. Also I made one of the boxes with two entrances and made a moveable divider. I had read about this guy starting new queens in two frame nuc boxes, so down the road I'd like to try that and since I bought a whole sheet of plywood I figured now would be the time to make a box set up that way


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

If nothing else it was a good day working on a fun project with my dad. We even branded the lids with a B our last name is Bonnette


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)




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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

Also I opened em up filled the feeders and filled out the missing frames with frames with wax starter strips. Good thing I did as they were making comb on the top of the lower frames where there were no frames so that's fixed on both hives. I had got caught short frames Sunday. Also I opened up that 'queenless nuc' and I'm 99% sure I'm seeing eggs in adjacent cells and singles. There is also larva and capped drone brood and some flatter capped brood that looks like worker brood, fingers crossed I'm seeing what I think I'm seeing. Maybe I got a nuc with a queen after all. There were 3 queen cups on a frame but nothing in them so I'm not sure what that means.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

A laying workers cells are capped like drone cells. 
Also the bees from time to time will make little bowl shaped cells like starting queen cells. I have found normally they are empty.

 Al


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## ed/La (Feb 26, 2009)

Two frame boxes are small. You want 2 good frames of bees and a frame with pollen and honey. I like 5 frame boxes and often put 4 frames in so I have some space to move frames with out damage to comb or me if I get bees upset. My frames often get wide and take up a lot of space. Your nucs are perfect for raising queens . I agree with alleyyooper that you might have laying worker. If you have a queen there should be a lot of brood by now. You could take frame from that hive and put in other hive brood for couple days to play it safe.


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

Ok so after thinking about it I decided to order another queen for that hive you thought might have laying workers. Just to be safe. It will be here next week. I didn’t want to take brood from the other hives yet as they are doing good but still new. Sometimes I’m not sure why’s best but.........


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

So the queen I ordered is one of this Saskatraz queens thAt are supposed to be mite resistant etc. so we will see if that hive will accept her.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Not sure what kind of cage she will be in a Benton 3 hole or a JZBZ cage. Either one just remove the cork and place in the hive between a couple frames. Let the workers open the cage and release the queen.
Can take up to 5 days and maybe even 6 days.

Benton 3 hole cage.

JZBZ cage. All I use as it is far easier to get the queen in with out damageing her.


 Al


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

Thanks al. That’s my best option now wouldt u think? Thanks for the advise


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## ed/La (Feb 26, 2009)

If you put a frame in you would not be taking brood. You would be taking eggs. A hours time for the queen. The hive has little effort or time into that. Would not hurt at all. The problem is the time line it takes before you get any new bees. Even buying queen I would give them some eggs or brood. You are still looking at a month before you get bees


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

Ok I'd be ok taking one frame with eggs and trading it with that nuc? I am going out of town Saturday I will be back on Friday I was thinking by the time I'm back that woulbe 12 days since I added that box and hopefully I'd have an extra drawn comb or two and some fresh eggs from the other hives to use to trade round into the brood boxes to get the eggs etc. I ordered that queen earlier today she will ship on wendsday I should receive her by Friday or Saturday of next week at the latest. When I got back I was gonna look at all 3 and go from there maybe add brood and caged queen to that nuc to keep em going, hopefully my logistical timeline is ok.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

All worker brood.











 Al


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

Al—All worker brood as in layed by a laying worker or by a queen bee and that’s worker cells


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

Here’s a pic of the nuc in question. What do you think. Laying worker? Or not?


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

All worker brood as in eggs having been laid by a queen, so they will hatch as workers.

Looks like you have a tiny bit of normal brood capped but the biggest share is capped with the shape of a bullet.

I would not even attempt to put a queen in there at this point. The workers have made a queen out of them selves and may kill a real queen.


So you don't loose the nuc remove it from where it is, about 50 yards away if you can.

Place a queen rite colony in the place of the nuc, the stronger the queen rite colony is the better.

Go shake every bee from the nuc use a bee brush to get them off the comb if you need to. Make sure you use rubber bands on you pant legs.

A bunch will fly back to the queen right colony, get excepted. Some will remain in the grass for a bit possiably but will go to the queen rite colony by dark.

Now the nuc is empty, no bees no laying worker. Now you can pull frames from your second colony enough to fill your nuc. Take mostly brood from capped to just eggs with a few empty cells and I always do one frame of honey.
Install your new queen and your good to go.


 Al


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

Ok Al I think I'm getting this right. Basically I take the queenless nuc away from where they are and shake them but I need to move my bigger hive to the spot of the nuc? Wouldn't that mess up the beees from the better hive by moving it 3 feet To the spot of the nuc? 

For the queen that I already ordered to fix the laying worker nuc
Then pull how many frames of brood etc? 2? And then honey? And new queen that's ordered? What to do with that comb etc in the queenless nuc? Replace the frames I take from the stronger hive? I just don't want to mess up my queenrite hives trying to fix this other situation that was a gamble from the start--------I would like to get this sask queen off to a good start I'd hate to waste her at this point. Even if I just made her a small hive that she could build. I know I have a million questions and not sure if I'm asking the right ones nut thanks for your help, if nothing else I'm learning from this and at least there are 2 new hives that do seem on track


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

The idea taught to me many years ago by a old country gent with over 40 years of keeping bees is for the laying worker bees to go to a strong queen rite hive and be put in their place. It does work believe me.

The bees from the queen rite hive out forageing will return to their former hive spot and join the new bees you have put in the nuc and placed where the strong hive had been bringing The numbers in it up from what you had put in there.

Trying to deal with laying worker hives has cost me money when I was buying queens and they kept being killed by laying workers.

So glad when Billy taught me how to deal with them.

Benton 3 hole cage.










JZBZ cage.










One of my queens. About 10 years of breeding to get to her.











 Al


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

Thanks Al I will do that on Friday when I get back home. To recap make up a small nuc put to side, take away queenless nuc shake and add frames back into the strong hive replacing the ones taken. Then move good hive to weak ones spot. Put new nuc t the strong box spot requeen in cage and foragers will swell new nuc? I think I got it. Thanks again


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## ed/La (Feb 26, 2009)

I like Al's method. If I have laying worker I divided frames among several several boxes. The comb is valuable and it is being wasted in queen less hive. The way I understand it is adding brood and eggs as soon as you see a hive queen less helps build numbers and helps keeping a hive from getting laying worker. You have to get hives up to speed now. I might add 1 frame a week until they do not need it. When the flow ends or slows the queen will stop laying or the bees will pull brood or use as protein bank. Then it is to late to build numbers. Once you build up your apiary you will have plenty of frames to move things around, building up weak hives and making new ones. With out your help a weak hive takes forever to build numbers. There is not enough bees to take care of brood and forage so it stays small till winter and dies. One strong hive is better than 3 weak hives. Your time would be well spent learning how to catch spring swarms. Easy way to expand at the right time of year.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

When fall comes you can pick the colony of the three that seems to have the best queen as a base. Kill the queens in the other two and use a sheet of news papper and combine them into opne strong colony.

*Screw that learning to catch swarms from your colony. Instead learn how to do splits and make up nucs to increase your colonies, before they swarm.
*
Let agencys call you to go get swarms that are not from your colonies. Isn't very hard to shake therm from a tree limb of vacum them off into a hive. Even. my 12 year old grand daughter knows how.


 Al


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## ed/La (Feb 26, 2009)

I have only raised bees in south Louisiana so not sure about other areas. With swarms boxes I catch around 20 a year. I stop trying when all my boxes are full or around now. June 1st. If I was younger I could double that. I know several bee keepers that do about the same. People that do not know what they are doing or put little effort in catch one or two. Hanging swarms from trees or raised houses I caught 1. For those you have to be Johny on the spot or have people call you. Of course swarm prevention is a must. Al You went to the trouble of changing the font on your previous post Were you yelling at me?


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Nope just making my feelings on catching swarms from *my* colonies knowen.

Prevention is the key, and is easy and you don't loose bees during flows.

 Al


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

So I made it back and my new queen got here perfect timing I opened up the hives ndtook 2 frames of capped brood no two of honey and shook a few bees into one of those nucs I built. Set it up in the apiary opened up the other hives. When I was finished I installed the new queen in my first split! I took the queenless nuc away and shook the bees off of the remaining frames which seemed to only have dronebrood un hatched. I went inside and came out and was looking at the remaining comb. I noticed there was a few bees starting to hatch out. I watched one pop out and then I noticed it a queen cell in middle of the frame! I had missed it, I'm an idiot. I returned the frames to their nuc boxes. I hadn't moved the strong hive into place yet. All the bees were balled up on the face of the cinder block. I returned the box and the bees went back in. Hindsight is 20/20 unfortunately my vision was not. I put a feeder on that nuc and may give them a frame of brood from my other hive tomorrow.


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## ed/La (Feb 26, 2009)

The queen cell should hatch 5 days before the last of the worker brood. 16 days for queen and 21 for worker. No worker brood around queen cell probably means dead queen cell.


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

Ok maybe I didn't mess up then? Add a frame of eggs and capped brood from the strong hive that I hadn't pulled frames from?


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## ed/La (Feb 26, 2009)

You want to make queens when the bees want to. If you're flow is ending like mine I would probably combine weak hive with another hive.If you had several strong hives to get a frame now and then it would be different. You do not have enough bees to move things around that much. A queen with a few bees will not grow fast enough and die this winter. Build up what you have the best you can and cross fingers it is good enough.Thr time to build is when the flow starts. Your flow might be ending soon with the heat.


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

Ok ed how do I identify the flow and when it starts peaks and ends? I am in Bush and I believe your in lacombe which is pretty close. I was watching the hives today and the two bigger hives had a lot of traffic and pollen on legs. How much does planting a garden help extend the flow? I have been trying to plant for bees, watermelon and the squashes cucumbers all buzz early in the day. I also planted a bunch of sunflowers, mints and basil. I think most of those are bee plants. I realize that I may not be able to plant enough to keep flow going but wouldn't melons and pumpkins latter in the year benefit the bees?


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## ed/La (Feb 26, 2009)

I have hives near you in talisheek. They are doing well. To grow for the bees you need a large area. A garden is to small. You could try growing bee bee trees I think they flower late. Would take years to get big but you do not need a lot of land. My hives near you are at hobby farm with fields not being used so might plant for the bees. The owner has the farm equipment to do this but he is very old so we will see. There is little you can do to extend the flow except move hives to different area. You can spring plant to make flow better but with our summer heat the flow stops and fall flow is when it cools down and the weeds flower. I leave the fall honey for the bees You are in good area so you should get good honey yield. When flow ends the brood chamber shrinks and hives get smaller. This is when you want to treat for mites. Also monitor for hive beetles and remove empty comb not being used to protect from insect damage.


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## ed/La (Feb 26, 2009)

RonTgottagoat said:


> Ok maybe I didn't mess up then? Add a frame of eggs and capped brood from the strong hive that I hadn't pulled frames from?


Is this the hive with new queen? If yes I would give a frame if brood if donor hive is strong enough. The new hive needs enough nurse bees to get jump start. Do not take brood if the other hive is not strong. Bait your empty boxes and cross your fingers that a wild hive moves in.


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## ed/La (Feb 26, 2009)

Ron you could plant Red tip photenia. Fast growing bush that flowers early and the bees love it. Makes great privacy fence. Ours were 25ft tall before a fungus killed them. Also I use lacy phacella, sweet white clover. Sometimes they go for muster flowers. Mustard grows and Bolt fast in the heat so you can get a lot of flowers and bulk seeds like about a pound or so is cheap. pak choi also grows and bolts fast and bees will use if you have big enough area of it. You can harvest the seed for later use. Plant when rain is in forecast and replant regularly . 
Hard to find things that flower in July and August here.


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

Ed if you are working your hives and wouldn't mind a tag along I'd like to help you sometime I think it be great to learn. I saw that on the mustard flowers the wild bees were all over those and the turnips. I let them go to flower cause my bees were on order. By the time they got here it had mostly faded I was reading that cowpeas are good because of the protein so I was gonna plant a bunch of those in some spots that I had early spring stuff in also some okra nad cantaloupes Both I think are pollinated by honey bees. I have been planting trees, pears blueberry bushes I plan to plant some southern apples too.


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## catsboy (May 14, 2015)

ed/La said:


> Is this the hive with new queen? If yes I would give a frame if brood if donor hive is strong enough. The new hive needs enough nurse bees to get jump start. Do not take brood if the other hive is not strong. Bait your empty boxes and cross your fingers that a wild hive moves in.


How do you "bait" your boxes?


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

I have a Box out with some frames and starter strips no I soaked a paper towel in lemon grass oil placed it in a sand which big nd cut. Few holes in the bag to slow release. Freind of mine told me that s what he does m


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## ed/La (Feb 26, 2009)

catsboy said:


> How do you "bait" your boxes?


One deep frame of old dark comb on one side the remaing frames with a 1 or 2 inch starter strip so box is mostly open and roomy. If box is to small or cramped it does not work as well. Old used boxes work better then new boxes. Use what you have. If new box you could melt some old comb or wax as scent. I put lemon grass oil on q tip an put in a straw cut to size. This keeps it from evaporating to fast. Sometimes I use swarm lure which is old queen bees crush in alcohol. I have a little better luck hanging in tree 8 feet or so but it cannot swing in wind or be way out of level. No honey or pollen this attracts ants and roaches. Do the best you can and use what you have. I have baited boxes in my truck and sometime bees are very interested so I try to put box in nearest tree. Put as many out as you can at friends houses or where ever. No screen bottom boards or cover it so dark inside. Scout bees find it and few bees will hang out before swarm shows up. It is a sight to see if you are lucky enough to see them moving in. Give them a few days before you retrieve your catch. Staple screen over entrance when they are all there. At dark or day break and bring home and remove screen at entrance. Give a few days and you can transfer to better box with screen bottom board opening up that box to reset. If you have a frame of brood and a frame of comb you can give it for jump start. If I find really good area I put 2 there. At peak season it takes 1 to 10 days to catch. If no bees in 2 weeks or so move box to new location


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## catsboy (May 14, 2015)

ed/La said:


> One deep frame of old dark comb on one side the remaing frames with a 1 or 2 inch starter strip so box is mostly open and roomy. If box is to small or cramped it does not work as well. Old used boxes work better then new boxes. Use what you have. If new box you could melt some old comb or wax as scent. I put lemon grass oil on q tip an put in a straw cut to size. This keeps it from evaporating to fast. Sometimes I use swarm lure which is old queen bees crush in alcohol. I have a little better luck hanging in tree 8 feet or so but it cannot swing in wind or be way out of level. No honey or pollen this attracts ants and roaches. Do the best you can and use what you have. I have baited boxes in my truck and sometime bees are very interested so I try to put box in nearest tree. Put as many out as you can at friends houses or where ever. No screen bottom boards or cover it so dark inside. Scout bees find it and few bees will hang out before swarm shows up. It is a sight to see if you are lucky enough to see them moving in. Give them a few days before you retrieve your catch. Staple screen over entrance when they are all there. At dark or day break and bring home and remove screen at entrance. Give a few days and you can transfer to better box with screen bottom board opening up that box to reset. If you have a frame of brood and a frame of comb you can give it for jump start. If I find really good area I put 2 there. At peak season it takes 1 to 10 days to catch. If no bees in 2 weeks or so move box to new location


Thanks


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## ed/La (Feb 26, 2009)

RonTgottagoat said:


> Ed if you are working your hives and wouldn't mind a tag along I'd like to help you sometime I think it be great to learn. I saw that on the mustard flowers the wild bees were all over those and the turnips. I let them go to flower cause my bees were on order. By the time they got here it had mostly faded I was reading that cowpeas are good because of the protein so I was gonna plant a bunch of those in some spots that I had early spring stuff in also some okra nad cantaloupes Both I think are pollinated by honey bees. I have been planting trees, pears blueberry bushes I plan to plant some southern apples too.


Ron you can come to Tallasheek and help work the bees I go about once a week and do something. I am moving more hives there soon. For plants I think early bloom and late bloom. The middle part of flow is taken care of by mother nature.


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

Ed that be really cool to check up your setup! I think I had a bit of good news today in that new split I made and added the Saz queen too, the bees let her out of the cage I didn't spend time looking for her but it did look like the brood frames I added when I made the split hatched out and there were a lot of bees in that new nuc. I will look again Tuesday when I'm off and look for her and eggs. Fingers crossed all is well.

Tuesday I gave a frame to the queenless hive from my other big hive. I also put a new frame with a starter strip in the center of the brood nest of the strong hive so hopefully they will draw it some and the queen will lay some eggs to give to that nuc we will see. I know if it was drawn 3 days in the good hive it should be laid but with an un drawn frame wouldn't Sunday or Monday be better to move it to the queenless hive? I thought I read that somewhere, what ya think?


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

that would be 5-6 days if that's too long I could put one in Sunday and move it Tuesday or wedesnday I just figured it would take a couple days extra to get some comb there.


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## ed/La (Feb 26, 2009)

Ron you will learn a lot doing that but it will take forever to get hatched brood that way. 16 days for new queen to hatch. Depending on weather about 2 weeks to mate and start laying eggs and 21 days for those eggs to emerge. That is almost 2 months. I will give you some queen cells or a queen or a nuc and you can get that box up to speed fast. I will be in talisheek Saturday or Sunday morning. If you come by I will set you up.


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

If you have a queen cell to spare that be great ed? What time you gonna get out there. I’ve got to work but could come early probably


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## ed/La (Feb 26, 2009)

Ron I am going there Sunday. I sent you my number so check your messages on this site.


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

Thanks again ed thT combine went well with lemongrass sugar spray. I opened that otherhive that got the sad queen I saw here alive and well she was marked so that helped me find her. I carefully returned her to the box filled all my feeders. All the hives have good activity this afternoo


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## ed/La (Feb 26, 2009)

That is good to hear. You are probably good to go. Keep us updated with your success


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## rininger85 (Feb 29, 2016)

wow that escalated fast... so you went from failure and taking a couple years off to setting up 4 hives in the course of... 3 weeks? 4 weeks?

I was starting to look in to what it would take to start a hive a couple weeks ago but it looked like I was pretty much out of luck for this year no one had anything left for sale on their websites so figured I would just get the hives ready this year so I could order a nuc next spring.


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

I think best advice when starting is to start at least two hives. So you can learn more and have resources to fix your other hives. I guess it did spiral fast. I had equipment already though and I built some nuc boxes etc and assembled a couple new full size boxes. So the cost outlay wasn’t like buying 4 set ups at once. Ed/la was kind enough to give me a queen and frames to fix the queenless hive. Thanks again ed.


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## ed/La (Feb 26, 2009)

rininger85 said:


> wow that escalated fast... so you went from failure and taking a couple years off to setting up 4 hives in the course of... 3 weeks? 4 weeks?
> 
> I was starting to look in to what it would take to start a hive a couple weeks ago but it looked like I was pretty much out of luck for this year no one had anything left for sale on their websites so figured I would just get the hives ready this year so I could order a nuc next spring.


Rininger look on Craigslist in farm and garden. Someone has bees for sale. Go to local bee club and they will help. Get on their email list and find the beekeepers in your area. The apples and fruit trees all needed to be pollinated. There must be plenty of hives around.


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

Just got in from bee yard Things are looking pretty good the hive you helped me fix Ed is looking good we saw first some mixed brood and then the queen, my son spotted her first! Other hives seem to be rolling along. One of the bigger hives made some cross comb. I alternated in some plastic foundation and tried to fix what I could but that hopefully will make them draw straight comb. Then I hope to take it back out. I'm thinking I need to make a couple more boxes soon too. Anybody know if crepe myrtles are good for bees? I see a lot blooming around when driving I did notice my bees bringing in some whitish pollen today some yellow as well.


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## ed/La (Feb 26, 2009)

Ron good to hear your hives are thriving. You are not only raising bees you are raising a beekeeper. many of my hives are laying less brood. The fresh queens seem to still be laying strong. Our flow is almost over. I am pulling honey and making boxes every week. Thinking of pulling queens and making nucs with them to give strong hives brood break to break mite cycle. I will fog them every 10 days or so and do mite counts. Winter losses were to high so trying a few different things.


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

Ed I was reading on another site. I think it might have been Michel Bushs site and one of the teqniques he suggested was doing that giving a brood break. Ed have you ever tried adding in one of those VSH queens to the apiary to increase the mite fighting genetics etc? I was reAding that the workers t the USDA developed them by breeding for the naturally occurring genome that causes them to pull infected brood and leaving healthy brood. Breaking the life cycle of the mites. Ridge top apiaries had those queens for $20 plus shipping That saskatraz queen I added to that first split I made was supposed to be resistant etc to mites

On a side note I opened up one of the two stronger hives they re both in two boxes. One drew pERFECT combs on my strips the other had some crazy COMB that I had to pull out and fix. Although I was trying to keep the foundation out. I checkerboarded some in that box to help combs grow correctly. I figure in a couple weeks I could replace those foundation with empty frames gain In the process I ended up with a couple extra frames. I pulled two frames one with brood one with mixed and put it with the couple I had pulled to fix the other box. That hive had lot of bees brood etc, it may not be perfect timing but I mostly did it to learn. If it doesn't make a queen I could recombine into bigger hive or buy one of those VSH queens


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

Also as side note did you realize thT they were developed by the USDA in Baton Rouge? I thought thAts pretty cool. I'm assuming if they were developed near here they should take to our area. I think I can hit Baton Rouge in about an hour


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

So my dad and I built some full size boxes today. I had bought an unassembled deep and we took some measurements. We used a 3/4 piece of plywood. Ripped the boxes on his table saw We were able to make 5 deeps from 1 sheet of plywood I have some pieces that could be used for entrance reducers extra handles etc. so for $40 with tax that puts em bout $8 each. I did do a bulk order on some frames that made em really cheap as well I'm pretty excited. Granted it's more boxes than I need right now but extras will be handy. I'll post a pic in a bit.


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)




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## ed/La (Feb 26, 2009)

Looks good Ron. You are really moving ahead. I am working on feeders. Not sure what way I am going to go. Going to try 5 gallon feeders 100 yrds. away and see if that works. With ants and other pest I am not sure. I had robbing problems in the past feeding to close and using essential oils.


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

Thanks ed. My dad has gotten into woodworking and used to have bees for awhile when he was a kid so he's been into helping me make boxes. You don't like frame feeders or jars on a cover? Are those prone to robbing etc? That's what I have going on....

Also what are your thoughts on screened bottoms in our winter? Good or bad? My dad was thinking winter they would be bad


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