# Backyard Hives



## aunt betty

Nice work. You'll be wanting them nucs to do splits.


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## AngelaL

I was checking my hives this morning and a few bars of honey broke off horizontally from the weight and possibly the extreme heat. I couldn't go back far enough into the hive for fear of breaking more comb. I have never had this problem before. I really wanted to inspect the hive for queen cells but don't want to take the risk of breaking combs with brood on them.
Should I just leave them alone since they are making so much honey and there are plenty of bees? They are on the 17th bar, but I took the two broken ones away. 
My understanding was August is not when they would swarm?
Thanks


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## Delta 21

The day I dropped my comb it was way too hot and as soon as I got the mess cleaned up I shut them back up and havent touched it. I know it has crosscomb in it, and Ive fed back all of their honey I dropped. It will probly do better without me messing with it.

I straightened out the comb in my other hive as best I could Monday. It took over an hour and the ladies were rather upset with me by the time I was done. I went back an hour later to put the roof back on --without my veil and hat--and was handily driven from the area. The next morning they were still mad at me, dive-bombing my hair and trying to sting....

It is still hot here. If I can get into the hive I dropped the comb in and fix on it I will but I aint gonna disturb it too much. After spring harvest I will try to manage it closer as the flow is really kicking so the new comb is laid down better an I wont be stuck here next year.

Learning, learning, learning.....


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## AvatarDad

Delta, as a woodworker I wanted to say I really like the look and craftsmanship on your hives. They look both rustic and modern at the same time. I particularly like the roofs, but the glued up sides are nice as well.

Good work. Mine are functional, but way less pretty.  I'm gonna have to step up my game.


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## JeronimoJC

You may want to start thinking about building supers for your TBH. Looks like you'll need to expand at some point.


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## RichM

I built a rack to help with inspecting the hives. It is handy for photography as well.


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## Delta 21

Thanks AvitarDad. I started with the plans for the Golden Mean Hive and then sketched up the plans for the vented roof. The walls and bottom are double thick and the roof is tongue and groove cedar planks topped off with some left over copper sheet from the kitchen remodel. The inside layer is repurposed wood from a wardrobe built by a relative when he was in high school in the 60s. He was gonna haul it to the dump cause it was old but I knew immediately what I was gonna do with it! The exterior is pine I like the look of the raw wood. The hives were my reward for building a privacy fence around my backyard, with a sweet little spot for the bees. I have enough room for 2 more hives this size, but am working on a few nuc boxes and insulation kits for the winter.

JeronimoJC & RichM - I screwed a few shelf hangers into the fence to hold a few bars while I am working, and the nuc boxes will help to create some slack space. when I need it. (Didnt really think about that box being full of bees, did you!?) The quantity of bees in these hives and the speed they built out the comb still amazes me. Next spring I need to work them about every week up till about June to try to keep the comb straight, then can probly slack off as it gets crazy hot.


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## Steve56Ace

Yep, good looking hives. I use reclaimed pallet wood for the rustic look while styrofoam insulation gabled roof and bottom board. Also a slot entrance and landing board too. Niccccce! 

Consider the time of day you go in the hive. Early is better for heat. Being in SoFLA I do deal with heat and mine are on a roof top. If direct sun try covering bars with something, anything like say a political yard sign(or two) to lay on top of other bars as you work it. 

Also you'll figure out to not go inside without a bake pan or bucket to put break offs in. If it falls in the hive, get it out! You can try making some comb savers with #5 cloth but that gets iffy. 

And yes have a nuc to put bars as you work, Made mine 19" so I can use Lang gear for this. Even use the lid to keep our spicy girls chilled. 

Hope you winter well and glad I don't have to. Bee well.


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## Steve56Ace

One question- Did you hinge the lids and if so what direction?


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## Delta 21

No. The roof isnt attached . It slips on and off real easy.


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## catbackr

Hey Delta. Top bar beekeeper in Derby. If you're ever down this way, stop in and say hello.


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## Jon Wolff

I caused four heavy combs full of brood and honey to collapse my first year, killing the queen. I placed the broken combs in a bucket in the back of the hive and let the bees hatch out the brood and clean up the honey. I closed up the hive and left them for about a month because I didn't want to disturb them. I didn't have good comb guides on my bars and by the time I opened up again, they had cross combed badly. That's when I learned that good comb guides are a must for top bar hives. Small hive beetles and larvae filled the bucket. I pulled it out and put a lid on it. The cross combing took me a couple of years to completely remove because the new queen the bees raised preferred laying brood in it and I wasn't going to kill any more brood if I could help it. I also found out that having a roof that traps heat is bad for hives here in the South and was the reason for the comb collapse, so my roofs now all sit above the bars so air can circulate freely.


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## Delta 21

I got into the hive that I had dropped the comb in and they dont seem any worse for the wear. When I dropped their comb, I put an empty bar then a bar with a half sheet of wax covered foundation at about bar #13 to hopefully straighten things out a bit. Today they have capped honey drawn out to bar #19 with just a little curve on the south end that I was able to straighten out with minimal loss. As soon as I got into the honey stores the combs are completely covered with active bees. 

I got to frame #14 looking at everything but trying to keep moving. By then I was sweating and they were starting to not mind the smoke and a few had me pegged for destruction. I got 'em buttoned back up but a few had to chase me into the house for good measure.

Is it painfully obvious to everyone that I am a wimp to these ladies and have the first years jitters like crazy! Is this a thing with their numbers or drones (probly this cause its more embarrassing to be scared of a harmless bee :v or are they more irritable later in the year? I think I am getting more steady and quicker but by the time I get to the brood nest they are gonna be mad at me!

These 2 hives appear to me to be doing quite well in spite of me. I seen what I thot was robbing going on 3 days ago. Lots of activity at this hive entrance but normal goings on at the other. then yesterday morning there were 6 or 8 dead bees at the entrance and not at the other hive. I salvaged the screen boxes that the bees came in and fashioned some robber screens. I didnt see any evidence of robbing once inside the honey stores. but didnt want to chance this hive getting robbed out. I know its numbers are lower than next door.

Already thinking of broader comb guides on the top bars and maybe some vent holes. My bars are 1 3/8ths" wide and 1/4" spacers. Why do they bulge the tops of the combs out right to the edge or even past the edge of the top bars?

catbackr - I am still seeing 2 or 3 different colors of pollen but have no idea about nectar. Are there any good sources of info that you use on nectar flow for our area. 

Thanks everyone!


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## Delta 21

......and now for something completely different.

Is it the goldenrod and the honey curing (evaporation) that smells like you just stepped in a farm fresh cow patty? I know there are some cows less than a mile from me, but for the last week every time I have stepped into the bee yard I have been looking for maybe how my pooch got back in the bee yard and where is he leaving me surprises at? There was a hint of the smell inside the hive but it has been strong in the bee yard for a few weeks.

(Lifts shoe and double checks the bottom......)


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## Jon Wolff

Goldenrod honey smells like old gym socks to me. Despite the smell, it tastes fine, although if I harvest it, I use it in baked goods, but I usually leave it for the bees to overwinter on. 
I don't know what kind of comb guides you're using, but a good wedge is what I use. I'll add chamfer molding to my first eight or ten bars when I start a new hive and use a follower board. Then empty bars without wedges go between drawn comb as the bees need them.
The more the bees have to defend (honey, brood), the more aggressive they can be, especially in a dearth and when the population is high.


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## Delta 21

Jon Wolff said:


> http://imgur.com/a/3YTzK?


Hi Jon. I have found your pictures showing your bottom board feeders and traps. 

http://imgur.com/a/3YTzK?

I am thinking of putting a bait trap and a feeder on each of my hives. I havent had sign of SHB yet and dont want those problems. 

I love the feeder idea with bee access from the inside.


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## Jon Wolff

Delta 21, I've found it to be so convenient for many reasons that even if I didn't have to deal with SHB, I'd probably have at least one on each hive. They do work great as traps and feeders, but also when I want to clean out all the debris that sometimes builds up inside the hive, I can remove a jar and just sweep everything out of that section. Debris build-up on the bottom of a hive is often the first place pests like SHB and wax moth larvae get their start.


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## Delta 21

Mid winter update. 

Both hives seem to be doing ok. One hive got hammered with mites and DWV. I started OAV via a small brass "crack pipe" heated with a propane torch with 5 treatments in Nov. then another in late Dec(mite drop was 'significant'  ). They had even stopped casting out their dead for a while and I thought the hive was gone but the break between frigid colds has both hives cleansing.

I am working on hive #3 for a possible split this spring. The same Golden Mean profile but measures 43" inside. A buddy helped me cut new top bars and I have enough to cover the new hive and 2 nucs I am working on. I cut plenty of 1/4" spacers today, and worked on the 2 bottom board feeder/traps.



Jon Wolff said:


> Delta 21, I've found it to be so convenient.......


Jon I found a thread where you said you "retrofitted" an existing hive with a feeder? I would love to have the jar feeders on my other 2 hives and have been contemplating this and I cant seem to come up with when exactly would be the optimum time to bore a hole thru the bottom of my occupied hives. :scratch:.
I used a roto-zip to cut the holes on the new hive. It cuts with a high speed cutter and makes quite a different vibration than a drill with a hole saw but am still anxious about the unintended consequences of such a violation :no: ??
~~~~~
I scrounged a big derelict styrofoam cooler that has 3" thick sides and about the same size as a double deep Lang. I chopped it in half and have dummied up the inside to the Golden Mean profile and have two boxes that will hold 8 or 9 top bars each. The bees cant get to any styrofoam on the inside and I am giving a few coats of paint on the outside. A nuc to try to overwinter next year would be good and I even had crazy thoughts of making one into a honey super and try a hybrid.

These were package bees last April. From the sounds of things I am lucky to have treated when I did and it still may not have been soon enough because the Kansas winter aint over yet. I am wondering about re-queening and good genetics. Each generation of local surviving queens with the traits you desire is better? I am not opposed to requeening this spring but have just begun to learn about this. Both these queens made tons of bees last year and they cart out all their dead and trash pretty consistently.

Bee handling. I have stubby fingers. And I know they can sting. I have been trying to consider them more and not mind them landing on me and crawling around but I am not anticipating doing inspections in flip flops and a tank top like the ladies in Hawaii just yet. I know I would injure the queen if i tried to pick her up. Need to figure out queen handling. I can herd or 'sweep' the others with a feather or doves wing. The post about someone having a bee in their suit and it flying right into their ear!!  And they waited a half hour and it just backs out !!?? I would have panicked so bad that I would have provoked it to sting me. I have no doubt.

I am thinking of inspecting in mid Feb if its warm enough. There is plenty of bee room and brood comb and honey but a couple of wonky cross combed bars I need to extract before the brood nest explodes into it and I want to get set up for a split. Will they want to swarm in the spring just to reproduce the hive? or stay put if they have enough comb and room to expand into? I plan on harvesting what I need to or removing comb for storage/use in a nuc and inserting empty bars into the middle of the brood nest to keep them building. I dont want swarmy bees.

Thanks everyone for all the help.


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## trishbookworm

Even not-so-graceful people can beeKeep - I'm a great example! Just had a foundationless frame flip out of my hands a week ago when inspecting a hive. I did not mean to do that! 

I use nitrile gloves when I am not sure how the bees will respond - that hive was very calm about the whole thing. More so than me! But it was honey not in brood nest - phew! 

I also tuck sleeves in gloves so I can be more chill when a bunch of bees flies up angrily - like when I am doing a sugar shake (the step where they get dumped in a container prior to dumping in jar... not my fave time to be a beeK! 

For queen handling, I actually just put a mason jar in her walking path across the comb and then ushered her in with a feather. Worked really well - if you find you have 2 queens in a hive with virgin queens and want to put her somewhere else! I plan to work on queen marking this year. It's suggested to practice on drones - and I will!!!


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## Delta 21

trishbookworm said:


> practice on drones !!!


  :thumbsup: I am the winner at over looking the simple stuff. I usually got partial credit because I like to show my work, even tho the answer was wrong.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have hive #3 - 95% complete. I set it up with a mason jar feeder and a SHB trap through the bottom board. I want to retro-fit my 2 original hives this way and will transfer my hives one at a time to their "new" homes after the work is done.

My 3rd hive is the largest of the 3. I am thinking of moving the existing hive a few feet over at night and place the new hive in its old place, then x-fer the bees and comb the next day and move the old hive box into the shop for its modification. Is this correct?

I dont want to move them too early as its still freezing at night, but they are bringing in pollen when they can fly, so brood is coming very soon. I cleaned up all the brace comb last week and it should only take a 10 or 15 minutes to x-fer the comb and bees to their home but was wondering about the new hive smelling like fresh lumber and if this would be a problem? It has been setting in the shop with a few bars of wonky comb and nectar in it for a week.

Thanks for any suggestions! 
Frank


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## Delta 21

Spring has sprung. Both hives overwintered good. #1 starting off with low numbers from all but death last fall from mites and DWV. I started OAV in Nov. #2 managing much better with strong numbers all winter and already lots of bees. Last weekend the queen was on bar #8 and way too busy laying to notice me, a week before she was on #18(!) New bees, capped brood, seems like a lot of drone brood (but what do I know about bees?), no queen cups. Pollen coming in and activity is picking up. They are building new comb and I have an empty bar just about every other bar. #2 was kind of light on honey and had worked into the sugar frames. 







Everything is cleaned up and I will feed until the flow starts. Love, love these feeders through the bottom board. It took them about 2 days to take back a quart of honey/nectar but it dipped below 50 at nite. Yesterday they took a quart of light syrup in less than 4 hours, and the inside of the jar isnt even sticky.







I got 5 or 6 bars of wonky comb out of the hives during cleanup and currently have them in my #3 hive. I cant find my bottle of LGO but hope that any stray swarms stop by for a viewing. 







#2 is growing fast and may need new digs. Lots of foragers in and out of #3. But the landlord made things harder today by installing that screened in front porch the ladies wanted so bad last year. 














IF no strays move into #3, AND #2 doesnt get ahead of me and conveniently swarm into#3, I may split it into #3 about mid summer(?) Not too sure what to expect starting spring with established bees and hives 3/4 full of comb.

And in the midst of it all I 'managed' our old Montgomery Wards chest freezer out of the basement and into the bee shed. Even half full there is plenty of room to help with bee management.


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## poorboy1964

I have enjoyed reading your thread thanks for taking time to do this, I hope to start building my first TBH soon but wait for bees next spring unless I happen on a surprise


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## Delta 21

poorboy1964 said:


> I hope to start building.....


Thanks. Other than the dates on the pics on my phone, this has become my bee log. I should be keeping better track of things and journaling it better. 

Plan on building your hives bigger than what you were planning.:thumbsup:


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## Chris LS

Plan on building your hives bigger than what you were planning.:thumbsup:[/QUOTE]
I'm enjoying your posts - and the replies - on this thread, Delta 21! I'm planning to start building my two top bars - I was going to go with Les Crowley's recommendation of 10" deep, with 120 degree angles on the sides, and 48" long. Is that big enough? It gets really hot here (Colorado front range, some dry, 100+ degree days in summer) and he feels that the combs are more stable in very hot weather if they aren't too long, thus the 10" depth. I noticed in one of your photos that it looks as though the bees had build comb right to the floor (bottom edge is straight) - was it attached?


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## Delta 21

Hi Chris LS, The most mine can build is 9" down from the top bar. 16" across the top. They go from light as a feather to a lot heavier than you think full of honey and bees. Dont be afraid to touch and manipulate the comb they are building it to keep it straight on the bar. 1st year wax is bendable and you can manipulate it more than you think as long as its warm. The middle of July in the blaring sun is too warm. Virgin wax is super fragile. Kinda like wet paper mache just hanging there, perfectly, waiting, for you to mess it up. Even when you do they will fix it up good as new in no time.

Your comb guides need to extend as close to the side of the hive as possible.













I used some bits and pieces of comb, some news paper and a few staples to make some suggestive enticements for my #3 hive. Broken comb can be salvaged in the same fashion using a cardboard cradle. The bees re-attach it and take care of the trash as well. At first I used sheet foundation as guides and on some didnt go out to the ends completely. Out towards the ends of the bars they like to get crazy with the comb and can tie 2 or 3 bars together quickly. Hopefully they build straight out to the walls and use just a bit of brace comb against the wall. I v never had any attach a comb coming down from a top bar to the floor of the hive but they are very good at their space management. Being in the hive regularly keeps the brace comb down and makes inspections easier. You are thinking right at 48". Anything smaller than 36" will fill up too fast. It gives you extra covered space inside the box for utility stuff and if the bees dont need it you can move the follower and make their space any size they need . But by August, hopefully they will need all of it.


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## poorboy1964

Delta 21 good to hear 48" is long enough better material yeild, at this point what do you think about the top width I am wondering about making the top 19-20" wide do you think I'll regret that later?


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## Chris LS

Thanks, Delta21, very helpful. I know how heavy my Langstroth deeps are when they are full of capped honey - it's impressive! And the cardboard cradle is - no doubt! - going to come in handy. I'm planning to make my hive so that I *could* put the top bars into a Langstroth, thus make them 19 inches long, but the cleat will only be 17". I really appreciate your advice! Chris


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## R_V

Delta 21 said:


> I used some bits and pieces of comb, some news paper and a few staples ....


:thumbsup: I like it.


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## Delta 21

The bees work in 3 dimensions and are held to the internal volume of the box. I dont think they care so much about the shape. 2 of my hives are 36" inside and the other is 45". The smaller the hive, the quicker they will be to want to swarm. The extra space makes management easier. I have been meaning to cypher the surface area of the inside with drawn comb so I would have something to compare to Lang terminology. The wider the top bar the more management it will take to keep them building straight. It took me 10 months to get the last of my cross comb fixed. I had three bars that were locked together and the queen was laying in the middle of it. It took a while to migrate it to the back without destroying brood. Once you have them building straight comb all the new comb will be straight. They are following my new bars, cut with a wedge for them to follow, much better than the ones I started with. My first set was a strip of foundation glued into a saw kerf. They got me going but the the wedge cut bars are a big improvement.








You can see the bees not wanting to build centered on the plastic strip. The bit of comb built just to the other side of the foundation strip? They did this all over sometimes not on the same side. (so I was screwed when I took this picture and didnt even know it.:lpf They dont like foundation. They build comb 10X faster out in thin air. Them building off center on more than one adjacent bar at a time led to inconsistent comb spacing and zig-zaging and where I didnt continue the plastic out to the edge of the bar, as soon as the guide stops, the bees take a hard turn towards the entrance of the hive locking the bar next to it with comb, and the bar next to it.....







The extra work that goes into these are worth it. More consistent comb. One of the enticements has already been consumed in new comb and the only thing left is the staples and the bits of paper between the bars. You cant tell that it was a humans suggestion at all. Amazing. :thumbsup:


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## poorboy1964

Thanks this helps more than you know lol,,,,


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## Chris LS

poorboy1964, we just finished building our hive - for the most part. We made it 48" long (we had some 1X12X4' lumber) and now realized that the final length of the hive - with the end pieces - turns out to be over 50 inches, so using 8 foot lumber to get two pieces for the roof frame, etc., doesn't work. That may be part of the reason that people go with 44" long sides. Duh. Maybe you already figured that out, would have saved us a few bucks.


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## Chris LS

Delta 21, did you make your top bars or purchase them? I see that BeeThinking sells them - one piece with the triangular wedge, but they are kind of pricey and about 1/2 inch too long for the hives we just built :/ I'm trying to figure out how to make them... with a router? (I had to look up what a router was - it's kind of a miracle that the hive turned out as well as it did!) How did you do it? Thanks for your help!


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## Delta 21

Chris LS said:


> How did you do it?


Welcome to my winter. $3 and up per bar! 

I spent the three coldest weeks applying painstaking brainpower and frustration to come up with the two bars on the left and decide that my equipment and skill were not sufficient for the task. I have a buddy with wicked wood skills and the tools to put them to use. 4 hours later I had 75 like the one on the right. (at substantial discount!)








He had a pile of scraps that were just what I needed. Started by squaring up one edge on each board on the table saw, then cutting to finish length on a radial saw. On the table saw rip each bar to 1-3/8" square. Knowing the end tabs would be 3/8" when finished, the rest in dedicated to the wedge. Cut at 45deg angle. He cut a few guide boards, screwed them together, made a jig out of nothing, and clamped it all to the fence so the blade would clear. We wasted one bar getting the point centered but by the second one it was centered and we cranked out 75 bars. Set your depth to 3/8" on the radial saw and cut the tabs out of the wedge side so the fit just right and hang perfectly. It was fun, dangerous, and a YUGE leap forward in my management. I owe him a big jar of honey.


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## AvatarDad

I do basically the same thing with a table saw, and then trim the finger hold ends at a bandsaw (you could do this step on a table saw also, but it is the only part of the operation which scares me... since by then the topbar is pretty thin and you have to cut it on edge). If you don't have a table saw, you would be better off nailing molding to flat bars.

You don't need a complicated setup to center the wedge: just flip the top bar 180° to make the 2nd cut... the two cuts will naturally be centered. (You still may have to move the fence a little to get them looking how you want).

You can get 15 19" top bars out of a big box $4 2x4x8. (2x4s are naturally just a hair over 1 3/8, so they are close to the right width right out of the store). Obviously use plain pine and not PT wood.


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## aunt betty

Cut the bars out of 3/4" pine. Cut a saw cut down the center and glue popsicle sticks into the kerf. Coat them with bees wax and you're good to go.


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## Delta 21

Plain popsicle sticks with some wax would probly be more pleasing to the bees. The foundation was coated but after examination I could tell that they took to straying off the foundation at every opportunity. It was a real amateurs mess for a while.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And now for something completely different.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I tried fashioning some robber screens and could use a little advice. They are placed over the end entrances on my Top Bar hives. The hive entrances are still reduced to 1". They are a little wider and have about 2 1/2"-3" clearance from the front of the hive box to the screen. Wider than the traditional robber screens on langs. It took 4 days and my #1 hive caught right on. This hive is a little low on #s but is growing. First 2 days were confusion and ganging up on the front of the screen, but they got it and are doing great.




`````
Hive #2 has considerably more bees and overwintered very well and this queen lays a rock solid pattern. Last fall this hive grew and all but filled 20 bars with bees, brood, and honey. There have always been extra bees hanging on this hive, chilling out taking a smoke break. And they prefer the outside. This was last August.







Sunday I went thru the hive and found no queen cells, but I have never found one before so I have never seen one with my own eyes.. Lots of bees and brood that will be hatching now or this week. The weather is cool and cloudy with lightning and occasional rain and these girls dont seem to care. Hive #2 has taken to the robber screen in a slightly different way.







Thats about a package of bees. It was 38 on Sunday am when I went out to do a OAV and there was a ball of about 500 still out on the face of the hive. I smoked them and the drones buzzed and they all ambled into the hive like I was disturbing them. I havent noticed a change in their buzz frequency, just a little louder because of the quantity. They seem to be pretty chill and its late in the day.




I have told other not to worry about bearding bees on the front of the hive but its only mid April and they are acting like its mid summer!? There is plenty of room INSIDE this hive for these bees but they dont care.

Am I looking at a bee bomb about to explode? or do I need to take my own advice and not worry? Just too amazed not to ask.


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## poorboy1964

Wow that screen is completely full, you don't think they are building comb there do you?


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## Delta 21

Everything is clean underneath. I checked it for comb. And most are out foraging today. Humid weird weather. A little cooler, rain possible and lightning and thunder I can hear already. It shook up the bees pretty good or there are lots of new bees (new......bees......newbies! :lpf: I kill me!) doing orientation. 3 bees in my hair in less than a minute. No stings. They just chased me out of the bee yard and I barely stopped to admire them.


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## poorboy1964

Delta 21 said:


> there are lots of new bees (new......bees......newbies! :lpf: I kill me!)


LOL it was funny


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## poorboy1964

Delta 21 said:


> there are lots of new bees (new......bees......newbies! :lpf: I kill me!)



That's to funny glad you are having fun with this lol


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## Delta 21

And then there were three. and a nuc split.








2pm today the ladies from hive #2 are swarming. Heavy stream out of the bee yard. The whole back yard sky engulfed in bees with local birds swooping thru feeding as well. It was awesome! 




The queen landed on my bushy rose bush and in no time they were all clumped right around her.




I rushed around and got some crappy comb with honey left in it and put in in a box right under the swarm so hopefully they wouldnt fly away. It took a bit to get hive #3 opened up and ready. A light mist with some light syrup and a few snips later they were gently in the box. Totally mellow bees. I didnt find the queen but they were acting like she was right there the whole time. Its sundown, they are tucked into their new box with a comb of uncapped and capped brood from their old hive and 6 empty bars of comb. With luck she survived the dump into her new home and will settle in.


Delta 21 said:


> Sunday (9Apr)I went thru the hive and found no queen cells, but I have never found one before so I have never seen one with my own eyes..
> .


Well, I have seen one now. I went thru the parent hive to fetch a comb with brood in it for the new hive. Hoping to root them in their spot.

I ended up with a split into a nuc box with 2 comb full of brood, bees and one capped QC on each bar....and I stopped counting at 15 queen cells that I smooshed. A bunch capped and a bunch just being capped. I looked thru the hive twice, didnt find a live queen, left one frame with 2 capped queen cells less than an inch away from each other and closed it up. It was a crazy day. Iv'e never seen or done anything like this in my life. I hope I did a few things right.


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## Chris LS

Wow, that's exciting. Way to go! I'm interested to hear the next update. I think I'll get a nuc box ready, just in case!


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## Delta 21

Chris LS said:


> I think I'll get a nuc box ready, just in case!


Yeah, last inspection had me thinking I was setting pretty! Now all of a sudden my slack space is gone. I guess I better finish hanging the gate on the bee yard so this kind of thing wont happen again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yesterday I went thru my #1 hive. Lots of capped brood with some emerging. I found what looked like the beginnings of a few queen cups but no larve in them. I wiped them out and spread out the brood chamber a bit. Very calm bees yesterday. I wish they would stay this way thru the summer.

I am loving my new top bars. :banana::banana:Straight comb !!:banana::banana:








The brood nest stays fairly organized and straight but they can be inattentive in the honeycomb area. One wrong turn and things start to go bad. Another week of this and three or four bars would be locked together and its a giant sticky mess to work with. The older comb was 'wavy' and they just magnify and reproduce it on the next one. Get that crap outta there before the queen lays it full of brood and you decide to leave it over the winter to keep the numbers. :no:















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## Chris LS

That must be a pretty good gate! So did you just straighten this comb out and put it back in the hive?


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## Delta 21

They are building wax like crazy now. I removed those 2 and and another. I got just under a quart of honey out of the three bars, 2 big capped honey bands across the tops of the comb with just a little clear syrup I have been feeding. The darker comb had a lot of pollen that I feel bad for taking but they have plenty and are bringing in more daily.

Small corrections are possible and you can manipulate the comb more than you think, until it rips. Sometimes the bees will take the hint, but once it wanders onto the other bars its best to start a clean bar. Scrape the wax/propolis off REAL GOOD or they will just follow their old tracks.

My #2 hive that was busting with bees has had negligible harvest this spring. They ate all MY honey, but (hopefully) gave me another 2 colonies of bees.
This hive was hammered with mites last fall and is just now back on its feet. I have gotten at least 25 pounds out of this hive in its first year.


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## poorboy1964

Delta 21 things are looking great for you keep up the good work


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## Delta 21

The continuing story continues....http://www.beesource.com/forums/sho...ped-swarm-on-the-ground&p=1546142#post1546142



Delta 21 said:


> Did I say lousy with drones and Queen cups??!!  This is some of what I pulled the other day so I could gain some space in the box.
> View attachment 33030
> View attachment 33031
> 
> 
> I started last year this time with the bars that set taller. The shorter bars are new this year. All but 3 are fully drawn.
> View attachment 33032
> 
> 
> 
> I got into the hive and moved 3 frames of bees and brood over to my weaker hive. It will be full of comb in less than a month. I checked over each comb 3 times. I am almost sure the queen wasnt there. I put a sheet of newspaper between them and the colony.
> 
> THEN - No more QCs in this crowded hive and when I got to the bar with the capped one I knew about -- it has been opened. SO - they swarmed without me noticing and I have a virgin somewhere, or they decided not swarm after I decimated it 3 days ago. There seems to be about the same number of bees.
> 
> I have everything buttoned up and only time will tell if I screwed up. The hive I put the swarm into seems the most organized. These other 2 have nectar, capped honey, brood, and pollen from one end to the other. There seems to be a loaded comb of pollen where the dividing line should be but I cant make rhyme or reason out of any of the rest of it. Hopefully after the swarm impulse is gone they will get things organized.



BOY, DID I SCREW UP ! 

I went into the hive with the paper combine from the 11th (hive #3). I opened the hive around the paper false back and lifted a comb of the bees I had moved. RIGHT THERE. The very first bee my eyes focus on is a queen! I had left her on one of the frames that I moved (from hive #1) and was seconds away from combining her with a queen right hive. ARGH! I was in a panic! I carried this comb directly into the shed and captured her with a plastic spring (hair clip thingy) queen cage. My mind is full of the BAD that I might have caused. I pulled a comb of her brood and bees and put her next to the comb in a quiet box. I went back to the open hive and inspected it hoping to find the queen and I did. WOW. 2 in less than an hour. I confined her while I finished looking around then released her and closed up the hive.

Back into hive #1, the hive I robbed the queen from 5 days ago. I looked front to back and couldnt find a queen running loose (yeah, I know....:lookout:.) I had placed a small comb of bees from her original hive in the quiet box and when I got back there was a golfball size clump of bees around her so I figured I might want to put her back more slowly. Summoning new patience, somehow this Padawan persuaded the queen to crawl into a queen cage from a package. I packed the escape hole with a tiny marshmallow and hung her from a new bar that had just a start of comb on it, between two drawn combs, and buttoned it up.

I noticed this hive as well as my hive #2 that also swarmed are both broodless right now. OAV in the morning. I havent seen a new queen or any sign since her swarm on the 18th and another on the 5th of May and am anxious for this hive but am still smarting from my screw up. I have a small split I made from this hive that should have a queen ready to go.:scratch:

I am too **** nervous to even think straight. Its time to do nothing. Thats prolly the best thing.


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## Delta 21

Ready for SUMMER !!

Inspections on my 2 hives that swarmed have revealed laying queens in both hives !

#1 Hive - Dangling on the precipice of the abyss is how I have felt the last 2 weeks. Almost dumping my new queen into my #3 queen right hive still has me triple checking everything. She reintroduced to her hive ok and has layed up 3 or 4 partial combs that are capped already. I found one capped supercedure cell on the very last comb in the hive and chose to leave it. The crew probly built it when I was playing goofy shenanighans with the queen. I will let them work it out. There are combs filled will pollen and new white honey cappings are showing up.

#2 Hive - This hive swarmed twice this spring and I was nervous about it making a queen. 2 combs with open brood and they started bringing in pollen a few days ago to match the other hives in the yard. Something is flowing now and they are building up nice with nectar. 
I spotted the new queen banana and 
used my handy dandy one handed queen catcher to get her banana::banana and 
I marked her banana::banana::banana.

#3 Hive - This hive contains the original package Italian queen that was hived last year in Hive #2. She swarmed on Apr 18 and I dumped her into her new home with 6 full drawn combs I had been saving and a comb of brood from her original hive. Yesterday she/they have 19 combs fully drawn and are going great.

I pulled a nuc off #2 when they swarmed with a frame with queen cells on it. I have both capped and uncapped brood and the capped looks like drones but I will check back in a few days. I hope she isnt laying only drones. Her mom is a laying machine !


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## rodneyk915

I just read through your previous posts, wow that was exciting! Makes me think I may want to build another hive as a standby just in case something like this happens. All I have ready right now is just a small trap box I built that has maybe 10 bars.


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## Delta 21

Well yesterday was fun. Tornado passed just south of town but the real kicker was tennis ball size hail that just about crippled our whole little town. Cars are still on I-70 with busted out windshields and cars and houses in town were hammered for over 15 minutes with hail. Probly a couple of thousand cars with busted glass and and a few hundred houses with hail penetrations thru the shingled roofs and then comes the torrential rain that followed. Never seen anything like it in Kansas. No one was hurt too bad, but WHAT A MESS !!

Hail penetrated my cedar gabled roofs and busted up the robber screens. I can imagine what the ladies were thinking. They had been extra extra testy the last 48 hours. All the vegetation is clobbered and shredded. I dont know what this hold as far as forage for the near future? The ladies seem fine this morning leaving to greet the sun and go scout out the damage. 




































[video]https://www.facebook.com/frank.welch.58/videos/1901400863221422/[/video]

Praising God in the midst of the storm. Continually amazed at his wonders!


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## poorboy1964

That's terrible, your girls will bounce back better than I would


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## Dwarvencheif

Wow I forgot how crazy the weather is in KS, left there (Junction City/Ft Riley) 20 years ago. Hope the gals bounce back and curious how the vegetation will respond after being ripped to shreds. Makes me want to add some buffering additions to my hives against mother nature... But we only worry about lack of rain and earthquakes here


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## AvatarDad

Good grief, that's amazing. Best of luck to you D21


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## Jon Wolff

Delta21, I've been extremely busy this spring and summer and rarely checked in to Beesource. I can see I missed a lot! I enjoyed reading through your adventures with your hives. Sorry I didn't reply to your question about the feeder/trap holes, but it looks like you figured it out. I couldn't see any screen in your feeder jar for the bees to climb on. Did I miss something? I love feeding them through the bottom board as well. It's so convenient and doesn't bother the bees, and with access inside at the back, robbers aren't a problem. Meanwhile, we're having rain here every day, which is creating a lush landscape around us, and the bees are packing in more honey than I've seen in a long time. A nice change from the droughts we suffered through the last few summers.


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## Delta 21

Thanks everyone. The crazyness is settling down. The humidity aint dropping fast enough. Roofing contractors swarmed the town yesterday. Insurance guy was here today! Still mind boggling.

The ladies stayed hunkered down for the first day after the storm. Saturday at noon you couldnt tell anything had happened at all. All hives coming and going with purpose. Lots of pollen. Bees being bees. :thumbsup: Im gonna give them a few days to chill before I play with them. I fed them yesterday and glad I put my veil on! Alert fighters defending the open hole in the bottom board. I have been going gloveless this year so far but will probly glove up for the rest of the year. 2 hives swarmed in the spring and dont have as much honey as last year but still enough to swipe a bar or two here and there. If the golden rod flow is good, winter stores should be fine with a little left over if I time it right.

Jon Wolff - I did a split into a nuc after a swarm. My first. Only 2 bars with 2 queen cells. I left them way too much room and wax moths overtook the nuc. I cleaned it up and choked it down and they had made a new queen cell so its not gone yet Less than 1000 bees but we will see what happens. Only one of the 3 hives had sign of wax moth in the trap. The only difference from you is I am using Diatomacious Earth instead of mineral oil. No moth damage in any of the hives. You cant beat the feeders thru the bottom board! I do have 1/2" screen as tall as the jar coiled up in a spiral for a bee ladder. Usually about 20 or so bees dead in the bottom of the feed jar when they are done, then they start dumping hive trash in it till you change it out for a full jar. Out of sight and smell of the other hives. Works great !


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## Delta 21

This may be aggravating the normal dearth I am in. I hope it didnt wipe out the Goldenrod and Milkweed that should start up soon. Still a steady stream of pollen coming in.

You can see the "Hail Gash" from outer space a week after the storm!









Wax moths got the nuc.  Sorry ladies. I gave you way too much space to defend.


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