# installed two packages



## lostboy (Feb 20, 2016)

Are you kidding , over 120 views, no comments, not even a atta boy, come on Warre guys, give a guy some props. Anybody out there? One of the hives is putting up comb like crazy, the other not so much, will leave them alone other then to replace feeders until this weekend, then will take a peek, cool and damp all week, gotta catch a weather break soon, I hope.


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## Chuck Jachens (Feb 22, 2016)

Good job. Some of us were working to pay for our bee beekeeping addiction. How are they doing so far?

I am a Top Bar Hive guy, hope that's ok?


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## lostboy (Feb 20, 2016)

Thanks, understand the working stuff, gets in the way of everything important, and I'm starting to get the bee addiction part. They were moving like crazy for a couple days but it's been 40 and raining for the last three days and it looks like the same pattern for the next five days. They were taking syrup but now have slowed down a lot and I don't want to open up the hive to take a look until it gets warmer, at least the comb I saw was straight. I have a top bar also but no bees for it yet, I liked both hives so I built a top bar like the Nova Scotia bees design, it came out great. I have some donated comb and swarm commander in it to see if a swarm might take a look, have had some bees poking around it. I spend a fair amount of time reading on the top bar forum and have been reading Sam Comfort from anarchy apiaries, darn guy is a bee guru.


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## Chuck Jachens (Feb 22, 2016)

Sounds like the bees are hunkering down with the bad weather. Pretty normal for the situation I think.

I started as a Phil Chandler fan (biobees.com) and have added Michael Bush to my list. Both have bee philosophies that are adaptable to local conditions because they explain the reasons behind their actions.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Anybody out there? 

Yes. That's the first question you asked... 120 people took an interest and read your story. Good luck. Sounds like you're off and running.


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## lostboy (Feb 20, 2016)

I've been all through both those sites, bushfarms,read most everything there and still go back to reread. I like the warre but have a keen interest in getting my top bar up and running, two of my adult children are interested in putting a top bar up on their rural properties when I get this stuff sorta figured out and can keep my bees alive an thriving. I plan to retire early, in about three years, and hopefully will be able to make a go of this, thanks for your replies and good wishes.


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## MarkB (Feb 5, 2015)

Hello lostboy , great to read your story. new to this, so was I last year at this time had a great year with the bees started 2 hives that so far has come thru the winter , glad it wasn't a harsh one with what I experienced , had the bees on two boxes to start, these were packaged 3lb each , they weren't building comb as good as i thought they should especially with one, had some robbing going on so I removed the one box to give them the fighting ability , which seemed to pay off, so over the summer months just kept an eye on them till they seemed like their numbers were increasing then added box, and left to survive, wintered the one on two boxes , the other I thought was going good, it had two boxes from the beginning added a third box , this spring results no comb in third box left it on didn't seem to be affecting them although when I lifted the 3 boxes they were light but still going strong , lots of activity this past month lots of pollen and such , so the moral of my story , leave them in one box for as long as you can until they get that comb built then add .
best of the best with you Bee's
MarkB


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## lostboy (Feb 20, 2016)

Thanks for the help, I have one hive that is taking food strong the other not so much, the strong one has more comb so I guess they're putting the syrup into stores. I will look into reducing the other hive to one box as soon as the weather warms up, it's been in the 40's the past six days with rain off and on. Really stinks, when I refilled my jar feeders on Wed the first bee that got out went right at me and stung my hand, the time before that it went real easy , no aggression, but with this nasty weather, leave me alone is what I got. Thanks Mark, just winging it here, good to hear from others that are making it work and sharing the magic.


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## divermike (Mar 9, 2016)

well done, I have not been on in a while as I also installed mine a week ago, so far so good!


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## lostboy (Feb 20, 2016)

Thanks Mike, yesterday afternoon the sun broke out after 7 days of cold rainy weather and the bees exploded out of the hives, back and forth traffic all afternoon, you could see all the pollen on their legs. It gave me a chance to look in the windows, I could see nice straight comb on the top bars in both top boxes, on the center bars it hung down to the next box. I think I'll give them a little more time then take a look to see if there is capped brood. Looks like things are going the way they should be going, but what do know.


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## lostboy (Feb 20, 2016)

Did my first real inspection today, cool, bees were docile, smoked them, checked both hives, lots of capped brood, some honey, some drone. One hive had 8 top bars built out the other 6 built out Bees have been real busy coming and going. Now, by next weekend if the bigger hive hasn't started building in the next lower box should I move a bar of comb down to entice them? Just want to keep thing moving but without too much interruption , This, for a newbee , is just soo neat, you old school guys must know what I'm feeling, any ideas welcome.


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## lostboy (Feb 20, 2016)

So inspection this weekend found lots of capped brood cells lots of cells where I could see larva inside, nectar in cells and some capped honey. Really cool experience, on one of my hives they started building comb in the lower box. Seems like the legs on my top bars are keeping the combs straight. Also this weekend I bought a treatment free 4 frame nuc from a guy, his bees have been swarming like crazy, he has 14 hives with his brother who lives next door. So, I will pick up a 4 box 8 frame lang set up tomorrow from a local wooden ware guy, now I have a lang that I hope to treat like a warre , with a top bar cloth and quilt also a warre roof. So interesting, what a ride, hope I feel the same when I hit a serious problem, but so far as a newbee, I'm lovin it.


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## aunt betty (May 4, 2015)

Have fun. Keep on keepin on.
The thing I found that helped me the most when I started was to not make any hasty decisions. Once you have a few hives you'll find that when you see a problem in one...the answer to the problem is in another hive. For instance: Finding a hive queenless. The next hive you check might just have queen cells about to get capped. (it happens more often than you think) 
Hit a problem? Wait two days to deal with it and nine times out of ten the answer smacks you in the head and you think, "why was I sweating the small stuff?". 
Now if you find small hive beetle larva crawling on the combs...that's something you tackle immediately. Freeze the infected frames. Put them back in and "keep on keepin on".


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## jadebees (May 9, 2013)

lostboy said:


> Are you kidding , over 120 views, no comments, not even a atta boy, come on Warre guys, give a guy some props. Anybody out there?""""
> 
> Posting for attention?


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## lemmje (Feb 23, 2015)

jadebees said:


> Posting for attention?


One of the problems of the social media generation: self esteem tied to 'likes' and 'props' of strangers on the internet.


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## lostboy (Feb 20, 2016)

Really, social media generation, that's my grandchildren, I don't even own a cell phone. Just a newbee wondering if he's doing things right, and have had enough success in life to worry about self esteem or you boys.


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