# My Start to Beekeeping



## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)

water feature 20 ft from where i'm going to set up hive


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## rhaldridge (Dec 17, 2012)

Beautiful!


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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)

thank you very much


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## rniles (Oct 10, 2012)

nice!


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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)

thirsty


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## thebalvenie (Feb 25, 2013)

awesome! and good for you!!!! 

love seeing stuff like this.

best of luck with the bees


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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)

lol you know how bee's are, built my hive, waiting on all my gear, it arrived monday, all my bee's flew away sunday afternoon. but i'm a member of the local beekeepers group and am going on a cut out tomorrow so may have a replacement then. but with bee's gone and a day off it gave me time to move my composter and set up my hive in the location i want it.


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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)

lid about 4 inches from fence, entrance about 10 inches. but with a Labrador who likes to eat bees needed the entrance away from yard and direct access to my dog.


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## Colleen O. (Jun 5, 2012)

It must have gotten too hot in the compost bin. Good luck on the cut-out! Hope you get the queen!


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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)

well i got bee's, last night rescues a swarm and installed them in my hive. well it's a mess in my backyard this morning, bee's everywhere. after transferring a swarm to my hive last night, this morning i have 3 clumps of bee's, 2 on fence and one on bottom of hive. maybe 40% of bees in those clumps and it seams the rest are airborn and swarming, so i guess it's just wait and see what there going to decide to do at this point.


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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)




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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)

about 40% still inside and clumped on the combs i had in there


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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)




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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)




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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)

got them to calm down and most into hive, i added a few bags of sugar water to help them, tomorrow i'll get inside hive and clean up a little and put feeder inside
and install cover

















And Sue, she's my favorite, so sweet


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## Colleen O. (Jun 5, 2012)

Congrats!


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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)

thank you very much


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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)

today they have settled in and are doing much better, leaf and branches from rescue in the bottom of top bar, more than i want, since a swarm i'm thinking they filled up with honey and i'm not going to feed them, let them build comb and start foraging for them self. my questions, feed them? and open hive and clean out stuff. i'm thinking it's more important to give them some time in there new hive and get settled in.


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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)

needed to clean out my new hive


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## Silverbackotter (Feb 23, 2013)

Well things seem to be working but the one swarm I have caught and the 2 trees I have done I left alone for a couple weeks.

Hank


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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)

i was told i needed to clean out mess in bottom or they could start building comb on it, last i will open hive for a week, then will open it for 1st inspection and make sure combs are straight and not connected


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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)

ok think today is the day to do 1st inspection, i see 5 combs and there doing well. was going to leave them a month but want to see if and correcting any comb issues now. before they really get to producing comb and expanding hive. any thoughts on doing 1st inspection now or waiting, installed swarm on april 29th


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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)

ok opened up hive checked all comb, everything perfect, combs straight, no attachments, didnt look for much more than that, just wanted to make sure everything starting out well and straight. they were very sweet and did not mind me at all


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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)




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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)

i posted a bunch of new pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobalbright/


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## tommysnare (Jan 30, 2013)

f4mnect said:


> needed to clean out my new hive


right on buddy ! welcome to being a new beek.

i highly recommend watching and learning from sam comfort and michael bush. and god bless cali. we were born and raised in the riverside area and moved to SE Kansas a couple years ago. cant wait to get back and visit and enjoy the fishing off santa monica pier and some real mexican food hahaha.

Be Well.


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## Tango Yankee (Mar 15, 2013)

Nice frame for holding bars of comb! My wife has been wanting me to build one but I didn't want to deal with the weight of one made of wood. I'd completely overlooked the possibilities of PVC pipe. Thanks for the inspiration!

Cheers,
Tom


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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)

my pleasure, it works perfectly. i might remove the tee's up top and just use couplings but do like slots to put bars, it helps when i'm wearing my bee gloves. room for 3 bars, but i don't think i'll ever have more than 2 or 3 out, normally one only. i'll take some more pics of it and explain my thoughts on why i did a few things


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## mrobinson (Jan 20, 2012)

I, too, never thought about rigging up a frame of PVC pipe as an "extra set of hands."


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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)

it really helps but a week sick has slowed me down and no real bee stuff, just rest


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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)

only day to do a little hive maintenance and it was overcast. well bee's are more grumpy on a overcast day lol. had to back up and let them settle a few times. not bad but I did get more attention today, from the bee's then I have in past.


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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)

ok update time, lost my queen and hive just died out. why i lost queen no idea, they were doing good then all of a sudden less bees and activity daily until nothing. But 2 weeks ago after hive being empty for 2 months i started getting calls from neighbors(3) that there was a lot of bee activity in there backyards. 2 were just lots of scouts looking for a home. But the 3rd was a big beautiful swarm. really big, 3 times as big as my last group and 3 doors down in an orange tree.
this video is of swarm after removing a bunch of branches and about 1/3rd of bee's.


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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)

so removed them and put them in my tbh. came back at night and taped up entrance(everybody home and tucked in) and wheeled them home to there new location.


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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)

1 Week later and all is good. but it is different having 3 times the bee's in my hive. was use to the amount of bees in old hive, 3 times as many, 3 times the activity. my property and neighbors are full of blooms right now so at 1st no feeding and just let them settle in. 1 week later decided to feed just in case. opened up hive for 1st time to feed and because of all the activity thought there could be trouble. not 1 issue at all, bees were so sweet and relaxed around me. 6 new full combs in 1 week. hive is busy, looks healthy and because they have only been there 1 week i did not go any farther into hive to disrupt them. 1 hour later and there still not touching the sugar water at all. maybe there fine and taking care of themselves but wanted to give them the option.


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## rmcpb (Aug 15, 2012)

They look fairly settled in, congrats.

I love your comment above about your dog. Ours have never learned to not snap at the "stingy flies" but they do generally just stay away from the hive area so the number of stings drips off quickly.


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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)

thank you very much, ok looks like feeding them was good, 2 pints gone in 24 hours and 1 new comb built. but there are bee's returning to hive loaded with pollen so thats good too, maybe another 2 pints just to let them fill some cells. this was a big swarm, i have been told 10,000 to 12,000 bees. it's impressive how quick they can build comb and 7 new full combs in 8 days seams pretty good to me.


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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)

wow bad morning, since bees were so sweet yesterday. i decided to not suit up to remove empty feed bag. big mistake, got 1 sting right in jugular, got stung once 7 times no issues, 1 sting to jugular, full Anaphylaxis, dropped me to ground, hard time breathing, throwing up, didn't know where i was. it got bad, wife found me, feeling little better just called my doc, he said to just take it easy, but any more issues call 911. fun fun fun...still love my bees just need to take more precautions lol.


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## rmcpb (Aug 15, 2012)

More likely it was the site of the sting not a full allergic reaction or you would not have got away with just resting. Most stings have local swelling and when this is around your breathing gear its a potential problem.

Always use a veil at least. Stings on arms and body are an irritation but to your face it can be serious and easily avoided.


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## shannonswyatt (May 7, 2012)

I got popped on the face a couple weeks ago when checking out a hive in a house. Wasn't that close, but I got in the flight line. I had never had one in the face. That is a completely different ball game! My eye almost swelled completely shut.


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## rmcpb (Aug 15, 2012)

I HATE getting stung on the face. That is why I always use a veil at least.


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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)

i got lazy and paid for my mistake. went to a allergy specialist and am in testing on the severity of reaction. but good news is after testing done and he knows right where i'm at, he will be able to desensitize me to bee's.


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