A colony of roughly 10,000 bees was discovered inside a shed slated for demolition at Virginia’s historic Brandy Station battlefield. Local beekeeping families carefully removed the comb and relocated the colony to standard hive boxes on a nearby farm, protecting the bees while restoration work continued.

I think I have a crowding problem. The days lately have been in the 90s so I thought the bearding was normal until tonight. The sun was almost down and there was still a large beard hanging from the entrance and the front face of the hive was covered in bees as well. I checked an hour later when the sun is completely down and its 83 degrees outside and still a beard and bees milling about outside. I have a brood box (deep) that as of last inspection (8 days ago) was partially full, maybe 1/3rd with capped brood, some larva but a good amount of empty cells. (the crescent shape of honey and pollen is there)...I have a second deep that is almost completly full of capped honey and nectar and then a medium super that they won't draw comb on. I did not see any queen cells as of last inspection. I will be going back in on Friday unless you guys think I need to check something sooner or rearrange stuff.

Virginia / first year

I live 60 miles from the Jamestown settlement in Virginia. My bees are from a local swarm. Is it possible my bees have some ancestry from those original bees? Even if it is 1%? Those were said to be what they call "German black bees". Where could I have my bees tested?

I read that the first bees were from 1622 but the first successful apiary didn't happen until 1648. I wonder why it took so long?

North Texas

2 of my 6 hives have a singular frame like this- tons of drone brood at an odd pattern. Both of these hives are very populous and have tons of honey stored and we do have a mild flow of Snow of the Prairie coming in. In each hive, the rest of the frames are normal in regard to brood pattern.

One of the hives with this frame has 8/10 frames being used with the outer two frames completely undrawn but with rolled wax on the frame. It also has a super with drawn comb that they could be using, but are not at all. No QE. So besides a big population and honey stored, they have a good bit of space they aren’t using. Saw Queen and regular brood. No queen/swarm cells seen.

The other hive that has this same frame had 10/10 frames being used. So I pulled two frames of pure honey and put those into a weaker hive, then gave this hive two frames with empty but drawn foundation for extra space to lay/store. Queen is also present. No Queen/swarm cells seen.

Had 6 mites In wash for both, so I will be treating here soon going into fall. Temps are still 100+ so my options are fewer.

Should I be taking any more actions to prevent a late season swarm? Or is this even swarm sign at all? Just pretty bizarre to me given that they should be kicking drones out of the hive here soon anyway.

Thanks for the input! No

Hello, I'm a second year beekeeper in the UK.

Just over a month ago I had some surgery that put me out of action for a number of weeks, so to prepare I took off two completely full supers and popped 3 new ones on, with the hope that my bees will have plenty to do while I was away, and plenty of expansion space.

I wrapped the supers in pallet wrap and popped them behind my kitchen bench until I would be able to get to my BKAs extraction facility.

This last week I've noticed an absolutely insane amount of moths around the house and it today dawned on me that they were wax moths. I pulled the bench out and found a river of honey on the floor with dead moths and a tonne of frass.

Going to unwrap and inspect tomorrow but am I looking at two supers of waste now? My plan is to see if any frames are untouched and wrap them individually, then probably melt down and discard the really messed up ones?

Would love any advice if anyone has any experience or knowledge, it's completely new to me and it's pretty heartbreaking.

It's not a math question and I'm not a beekeper, but I really need the answer (I'm also not stealing beehives). What size of car trailer, without hiring a truck?

Maybe we can share tips for our problems. I'll start: keeping my tools reachable whenever I'm working in a hive.

I removed my honey supers today and now there is a 8 frame deep and two mediums. Bees are pouring out everywhere! Also bearding (it’s hot today). They look so crowded. Is it okay to leave them like this going in to winter. Also I have to treat for mites. Can I use the strips now or is it too late? I am in Michigan. I am a second summer beekeeper. This is my first year harvesting honey

Ahoy folks, I'm located in Nova Scotia, Canada, and am wondering what the 'zone' map looks like for determining what BK Zone you're in?

I've seen folks referencing "6B" in Northern Ontario, but when I look at a Honey Bee Forage map from NASA, they show that as being either Region 9 or Region 14. I'm theoretically region 13 according to this site:

Honey Bee Forage Map

What map and zone should I actually bee in?

Thanks,

NS

---Update---

Got some feedback - looks like I'm Zone 6b, and the is based on the Plant Hardiness Zones Map.

Thanks!

Hello,

Just wondering for other beekeepers in northern part of zone 6a Ontario or others who have hives in similar/same climates when do you finally take your supers off for the winter?

It's rained quite a bit for the last 2 weeks so there's been only minimal progress done on the most recent super I put on but I'm thinking it's time to pull and harvest.

Western NY, I have built two top bar hives. The first one has three entrance/exit holes horizontally aligned like I have seen on most YouTube videos.

What about two at top of hive and two below? Two heights and two landing platforms. I Am thinking for ventilation but still allowing them to clean out the hive from a bottom hole.

Thoughts?

I also use corks to close holes when necessary.

Would you? How? I don’t have much drawn brood comb so I’m worried they have enough time to get new comb drawn out. I’m also worried about keeping the internal temp warm enough for the brood. Nighttime temps have been dipping down into the upper 50’s. Does this colony have a better chance of surviving the winter by staying put? Or by me managing them? Goldenrod is past peak so they won’t have much to forage on, so I’ll start feeding and probably provide a pollen patty.

Sc, first year. Two hives. Sorry if this was already recently discussed.

This was the outcome that I built this weekend. Forgot to snap som pictures of the isolated top and thermofoil on the inside... unfortunately.

The mistake i think I made was using to thin planks, I used 22×70 mm and the box sides measure about 45 mm. The thermofoil goes out to the edges of the lower side box. Afterwards I should of used 45×70..

I wonder if the sides planks are to thin?

Norrbotten sweden

Small time beekeeper in the Northern California. Just released a swarm queen with brood into a queenless hive. I'm just amazed when I watch the swarm march into the hive to join their queen. Also the teamwork to move the leaf down the ramp and out of the way!

While watching a bee keeper do some hive checks today, he mentioned that one “had a distinct smell” and said that the brood is probably unhealthy (paraphrased I can’t quite remember the way he worded it). This hive definitely has a high mite level and clear cases of bees with DWV.

This got me thinking….
What kind of smells can you identify in your hives? What do they smell like and what do they mean?

Hello Friends…. I just had an unplanned math lesson with my budding little second grader.

I don't really know why i got into beekeeping but i have enjoyed the last two years, the ladies working hard in the hive, the community we have here in Howard county Maryland (and here online) and something that i didn't know would happen-my daughters interest in the hobby. Tonight we were talking about selling our honey for the first time at a community garage sale next weeknd. We only got about 20lbs this year and we’ve given away most of it as gifts to our neighbors and friends/family. We did all the things, bottled, made labels, etc….. We played everything out…her paying for the bottle, for the top, for the label…. And then she sold the bottle to her mom….and came back. She got good practice in adding and subtracting money and learning a bit about how net profit works. I'll wait a few years before we work in the cost of all the work and supplies in the bee yard….

Just glad to be here and constantly surprised at all the little way the bees help me and my daughter grow.

South Central WI (zone 5b)
I appreciate any insights on a situation I have trying to get my bees ready for winter. I’ve got a strong colony (double deep) that bounced back after the original queen swarmed. They were making very little progress in the super and I removed it 12 days ago - began feeding them to up my winter bee numbers. Today they are bursting at the seams with not much room for her to lay. 7 frames almost completely full of capped brood. They have larvae of all ages and eggs - most brood is capped however. They are loaded with honey & nectar- not as much bee bread (3 frames with a lot and there is some scattered throughout the brood frames. I’m wondering: With all the goldenrod blooming now (tons in our area) would you remove food and put super back on for them for the winter)4 frames of capped honey and the rest are partially to mostly filled with nectar). I’m concerned about another swarm (no swarm cells today thank God!). Or would you stick with feeding?

I can't decide which will come first....A letter from city zoning, or rain.

First year Beekeeper SE Wy

So I apparently smashed my queen in one of my hives. Panicked when I saw "swarm cells" and smushed those too, along with the newly hatched queen I thought was "extra." Checked yesterday and 0 brood or eggs.

So reddit people, can I just take a frame of new eggs from my one hive with a queen and put in fhe queenless hive and let nature run its course? Or does anyone know someone with queens to purchase in my area?

Traveling across nothern Montana on Amtrak today and notice a fair number bee hives/colonies.
There does not seem to be much out here except for wheat and sage - for the most part.
What are the bees foraging on?
Are these colonies to help pollinate the fields or primarily for honey production?
Thanks for your review and input.

Hello all. First background: Beekeeper in central PA. I have three beehives that started as nucs in April. All alcohol washes reveal very low mite levels at about 1 to 2 mites per 500 bees. Each hive is an all-medium setup and has roughly 8 frames of bee coverage at varying levels. If I had to guess the population size I’d say moderate. Of the three medium boxes that comprise the hives, the bottom two are for brood and the third is mostly honey with some brood. The queen excluder is above the third box. As we are starting to get goldenrod, I added a fourth box of waxed plastic foundation frames. At my last inspection two days ago into the second box I did not note any pest damage. Bees were calm, eggs and all larval stages were observed with at least one frame of capped brood covering the entire frame front and back. I did not inspect the bottom super. All season long, I have observed 1 to 3 wax moths around the bee-yard. For example yesterday and today I observed two and three respectively. I know the general rule that the bees are the best line of defense against beetles and moths, and that you need enough coverage for them to patrol the frames. I have successfully treated with thymol over the past 20-odd days and have seen a population decline slightly, so the bees are not packed to the brim. Questions

1. How do I balance adding a fourth super during a nectar flow with the observations of 2 to 3 wax moths—are they just part and parcel of any bee-yard?
   
2. Would I be better off keeping the hives at 3 mediums for this fall because they came from nucs in the spring and will just fill up the bottom boxes for winter—or does that risk becoming honeybound and restricting winter bee production as a result?

My intuition is telling me that a three-medium set up with eggs, larva and capped brood is healthy and will sufficiently deal with wax moths. They bees will fill out the fourth box and the waxed plastic won’t entice the moths.

Hi all, mid July one hive had a >1% mite rate. Mid August it was 8.67%. I presume they must have gotten into something for it to jump so fast, so I did a Formic Pro treatment on all my hives. 12 days into the 14 days of treatment, I saw this goopy stuff with TONS of [edit: small hive beetle] larvae leaking out the bottom. The hive had (seemingly) healthy bees/brood/eggs/resources mix when I did the mite check in August, with no signs of [edit:small hive beetle infestation, but there were a few like always]. I took off one honey super when I placed FP on, and left the other on top of the two deeps which was 3/4 full of uncapped honey.

For reference: the first four pics are of the goopy stuff and larvae, the fifth is of the same hive before FP was put on, and the sixth is the hive next to it at the same time as the goopy pics, for reference.

Also, in case anyone would wonder, the paint peeled off part of the box over a month ago and I’m planning to replace the boxes in September with newly painted ones.

I’ll wait two more days for FP to finish before I open it, but wanted to see if anyone had something similar happen, or might know how this occurred so quickly.

I’m in New Jersey.

Thanks!

New York, NY urban beekeeper.
One of our hives tried to requeen and failed so we decided to combine using the newspaper method with the weaker of the two remaining hives. However, we left the super that had some residual honey out so the bees could rob it out. Realizing we may have created a problem, we moved the super to the combined hive.

Note the crazy activity. This hive is really strong and booming. Could be orientation flights. Could be some robbing. Any observations or advice?

Thx

Following the standard advice, I've frozen frames to kill the wax moth eggs/larva. I left them in the freezer for more than the recommended time of a few days. They were in there for weeks. I still got wax moths after!

So I'm wondering...how do wax moths survive a winter in a place like zone NJ, zone 7a? And colder zones too?

They are so vile. I couldn't believe what the hell was going on. I was in denial when I saw a few flying in my living room. I told myself they had just come inside b/c someone left the door open. Little did I know what the hell they were doing down in the basement.