# Beginner's mistakes



## crofter (May 5, 2011)

Decide very early on the trip if you are basing your moves on idealism or practical considerations. If you dither with idealistic quandaries in the face of problems you will commonly come to the point that even practical solutions are then too late.

Basically this is what PyroBee is encouraging with his advice regarding being proactive with feed and pest control. Well fed, disease free bees with suitable winterizing for your climate will experience very few winter losses. 

Dont take for granted that all the advice you see proposed in books or the internet is good advice or the most practical.


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## Girl Next Door Honey (Jan 4, 2016)

I teach beekeeping classes and see a lot of the same mistakes over an over again. I wrote a whole blog post on it: http://beekeepinglikeagirl.com/10-mistakes-new-beekeepers-make/

Some additional ones people mentioned after reading my post are:

-Adding too much space for the bees to build in. This makes it hard for the bees to control their temperature. Or alternatively not giving the bees enough space and they then become overcrowded and swarm. 

- Using the smoker too aggressively. 

- Doing a full inspection (going through every single frame) when you usually only have to pull a few frames to find out what you need to know. (Is there a queen, is she laying well, do they have honey/pollen.) Doing a full inspection is unnecessary and it stresses out your bees.


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## Dominic (Jul 12, 2013)

Girl Next Door Honey said:


> I teach beekeeping classes and see a lot of the same mistakes over an over again. I wrote a whole blog post on it: http://beekeepinglikeagirl.com/10-mistakes-new-beekeepers-make/
> 
> Some additional ones people mentioned after reading my post are:
> 
> ...


Doing a full inspection is usually unnecessary, but it does help beginners get a hold of how the colony is organized and how it evolves. It does stress the bees, but they can tough it out and it's a worthwhile exercise for someone who is starting and only has very few hives, in my opinion.


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## kilocharlie (Dec 27, 2010)

Watching a 10-year commercial bee worker pointed out a lot of things to me. He watched hives for a few moments, then knew what was needed by their fly-out rates. He pointed out the hives that needed attention. 

The other guys opened those and did what ever was needed. He'd tilt up a box and look under the frames, take a frame out of the brood nest and look at the pollen barrier between the brood and the honey. That was what told him what was happening in the hive.

These guys all knew the diseases to look for, but that foreman knew the mite loads at a glance. Most of them could guess which frame the queen was on before it was pulled, and if they were wrong it only took them 2 tries.

They covered the entire drop quickly, actually doing very little work, and moved on to the next drop. Watching them work for a few hours really improved my game.

One thing that was a repeated mistake was keeping bees at other people's orchards and not having a backup location already to move them to. The man wanted the bees there, the wife or girlfriend ordered them gone and commenced to destroying equipment, throwing bee gear in the trash, burning the wood, etc. Don't waste time with control freaks. Go to real orchards that want a beekeeper to succeed, or use your own land. Starting over is a PITA.


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## Norcalkyle (Apr 23, 2015)

My mistakes from my first year (still in progress) that I will try to learn from and not repeat....

1) When picking up a super or feeder, make sure there are no frames glued to the bottom with burr comb. I dropped a frame of bees while in a hurry when if fell from the bottom of the feeder on to the ground. I was lucky the queen didnt get lost. I now pull and twist to ensure everything is free.

2) Don't be passive about mite treatment / assume I have mites and be proactive. I had a hive lagging big time last year, and blamed the queen. Once I treated with 3x OAV, the hive exploded and went in to winter with the most stores and best population.

3) Go in to the hive with a plan and idea what to look for. I seemed to get lost everytime I would do an inspection last year, then when walking away from the hives wish I had looked for something or done things that I forgot. This year I am going to keep simple notes on each hive, that way I can get in, look for signs of a laying queen, and address any issues... and get out asap.

4) Not worry so much... No less than 5 times last year I was sure my hives were doomed, the queen was gone, or there was a major problem. I need to do what I can to help them thrive, but leave my worries behind and trust that they are a very resilent species.

5) Try to take honey. I think I could have taken a decent amount of honey this year, but wanted to be sure to leave them more than enough to get through the winter. While so far the hives have plenty of weight and seem to be okay (which makes me glad I did what I did)... I want to see a reward for my time/effort/money. I would really like to have honey for myself and give quite a bit to my friends.

6) Expect major frustrations, but embrace them and learn from them. I am realizing that I am going to find dead/doomed hives and I am just going to have to deal with it and move on. I have been terrified to have a hive die, and while I hope for the best and will do whatever I can to prevent that, I can't let the idea of a deadout take the fun out of it for me.


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## Margot1d (Jun 23, 2012)

Good points Norcalkyle. I definitely worried too much in the beginning and messed with them too much. I am not sure if this really could have been avoided because it was my learning process. I started with one hive, I would recommend two for the reasons PyroBee stated. Also:
-Keep an eye on growth and follow the rules, add boxes when 8 out of 10 frames are drawn.
-It's very hard to tell superceedure from swarming when you are new. I think the difference between them is blurrier then most people think. When this happens don't freak out. You more then likely have a day to get some good advice, don't expect other new beekeepers to know anymore then you do. Go on Beesource and get advice if you don't have an experienced mentor.
-Setting a box on it's side on top of the hive and looking at the bottom of the frames will allow you to see if any queen cells are filled with larvae or are capped. This can quickly tell you if you have a swarming problem without pulling individual frames. This is especially important in May and June.
-Always wear a veil. The temperament of the hive changes based on a lot of factors. When you are rushed is when there are accidents and you might be sorry if your not suited up.


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## Colobee (May 15, 2014)

Yes - many good points.

Quite often I read of beginners inspecting their hives every few days, or weekly. As soon as there are eggs & capped worker brood ( a viable queen), make that once or twice a month at most, especially with a new hive . Another mistake is splitting a small new brood nest ( putting a frame of foundation in the middle) in an attempt to help them build up faster. Wait at least until they are hatching out the 3rd brood cycle ( about 2 months). 

Don't mistake "checker boarding" as a technique for expanding the brood nest ( don't alternate foundation between brood combs to "give the queen more laying space".) Once you get a few years behind you, there are some brood nest manipulations that are successful, but leave it alone to begin with.

If you want to see what's going on inside the hive - get or build an observation hive. It can be an emergency nuc, in the worst case. I ran one for several years, early on, and could surmise what was happening in the other colonies by what was going on in the OH. It eased my desire to go mucking around for no good reason, and let the hives build up naturally with minimal intrusion. I learned to watch and enjoy flight activity as an indicator - like KC mentions.

You can probably never have enough bottom boards, covers and spare supers - try to get or build a few extra whenever you can. I was lucky in the beginning. All we had to worry about was tracheal mites and foul brood and nosema. There were usually more swarm calls than equipment.


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## K Wieland (Sep 15, 2011)

Don't assume that being in the suburbs prevents bear from finding your hives. If other beekeepers report bear around you, take precautions before the bear eats one of your hives completely.


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## ritan1 (Nov 10, 2015)

Lots of really good advice here. I am also just a beginner, but here's what I've learned from my first year's mistakes (and successes) -

1. Never go into the hive without a purpose and a plan. Every time you go into the hive it is a disruption, so make sure there's a good reason to do it. Yes, in your first year, one very good reason is learning, but still go in with a goal of what you're looking for - eggs, larvae, brood patterns, queen cells, etc.. And, as Yogi Berra used to say, "You can observe a lot by just watching." 

2. Take photos of everything and record everything. It is amazing how quickly you'll forget what you just saw - which hive was doing what, what frames had brood, nectar, honey, how drawn out which frames were. I love Michael Palmer's duct tape method, quite advanced for me, but adaptable to anyone - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9Qnzf-2BAU

3. Do not buy every bee gadget in sight. Carefully consider what makes sense for your reality, not possibilities, projections, and fantasies.

4. PAY ATTENTION TO MITES!! Regardless of your beekeeping philosophy, attend to the mite issue in accordance with that philosophy. Treatment-free, natural, organic, chemical, whatever - none of that means do nothing. Do not ignore mites and their impact. 

5. Don't go it alone. Go to bee school, join your local beekeepers' club, sign on to your local bee field day, get a mentor.


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## michkel (Dec 1, 2012)

Bring a camera with you for inspections. I can't tell you how many times I've closed up a hive and come inside and thought, I should have looked at _____. If you have pictures, you can look at them to see things you may have missed while in the hive.


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## miltcook (Jun 13, 2015)

Know what orientation flights look like and understand the huge numbers that can be involved in these flights. I mistook this for robbing and mistaking intervened, when nothing was wrong. I inadvertently set back my hives by at least a month.


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## PyroBee (Dec 14, 2013)

I wish that I could have my first year over. I killed so many bees. I would have treated for mites and would likely be further along. Definitely addicted and want.to continue to learn.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

Don't open feed. Even if "you" only have one or two hives. Promotes robbing. Ask me how I know:gh:.
Cheers
gww


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## mdohertyjr (Jul 20, 2014)

Make sure as a new beek that you know the difference between a wasp and a honey bee. Don't sit outside your hive killing drones because you think they are wasps, LOL


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## michkel (Dec 1, 2012)

mdohertyjr said:


> Make sure as a new beek that you know the difference between a wasp and a honey bee. Don't sit outside your hive killing drones because you think they are wasps, LOL


Oh, that reminds me. Drones have a different "buzz". Don't freak out when you hear a different buzzing sound.


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## kaizen (Mar 20, 2015)

invest straight away in oav treatment setup. don't try to do treatment free till you have ten hives to lose. 

if you are going into this solo get a go pro chest mounted camera. its invaluable at looking at what happened a month ago or what it looked like a 2 weeks ago. also when starting out and you drop a full frame of bees trying to get a camera shot its kinda scary.


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## brettj777 (Feb 27, 2013)

Norcalkyle said:


> My mistakes from my first year (still in progress) that I will try to learn from and not repeat....
> 
> 2) Don't be passive about mite treatment / assume I have mites and be proactive. I had a hive lagging big time last year, and blamed the queen. Once I treated with 3x OAV, the hive exploded and went in to winter with the most stores and best population.


I second this 1000 percent! I had lagging hives and treated too late, they never made it to winter...


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## CajunBee (May 15, 2013)

In addition to the camera, or if you don't have one convenient, put a voice recording app on your phone and talk your way through the inspection. Talk about everything you see/notice. Old school dictation.


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## Cyan (Jan 27, 2015)

The largest mistake I made last year (last year being my first year) was not having a written agreement with a landowner over the placement of my apiary. Worst part was, he is/was family.

There was also some confusion on my part- between using small cell foundation, foundation in general (wax or plastic), or whether to utilize natural comb. I made several mistakes on ordering equipment. Not understanding that there is a difference in equipment needs based on my specific climate was the main issue there. I bought a lot of different styles of feeders to discover that half (the most expensive ones) were allowing too many bees to drown. I also didn't know that 99% of equipment suppliers favor bottom entrance hives, while my initial research had me liking top entrance configurations.

Yes, I made a lot of mistakes last year but that also set me on the road to 'hands on' learning which isn't a bad thing. Reading scores of books and hundreds if not thousands of posts here and there taught me a great deal about 'beekeeping theory' and general rules of thumb. But beware, there's a fair amount of bad information out there as well. Find a mentor in your area if at all possible.


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## jhinshaw (Aug 14, 2014)

My biggest mistake this year was treating too late! *"Make sure to treat in August!"* is written really big on this year's calendar. I thought I could treat in September like I did with my first package but when an established hive has been booming all spring-summer and have earned themselves a high varroa load, waiting to treat until September when they wind down their brood nest is a big mistake. *The hive will crash fast.* Even if you treat successfully you are rolling the dice that your queen will survive and that there will be either queens available in your area to buy if she doesn't, or time enough for them to raise a virgin and mate with remaining drones. 

Fortunately I was able to recover them by treating with MAQS and then feeding heavily to try to stimulate a bit more brood production for winter bees...AND I was lucky the queen survived the treatment. This year I will treat when I pull the supers in August!


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## jhinshaw (Aug 14, 2014)

Girl Next Door Honey said:


> I teach beekeeping classes and see a lot of the same mistakes over an over again. I wrote a whole blog post on it: http://beekeepinglikeagirl.com/10-mistakes-new-beekeepers-make/
> 
> Some additional ones people mentioned after reading my post are:
> 
> ...


Just thought I'd say that your queenspotting instagram game really improved my ability to spot a queen on a frame my first year LOL!


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## Dominic (Jul 12, 2013)

jhinshaw said:


> My biggest mistake this year was treating too late! *"Make sure to treat in August!"* is written really big on this year's calendar. I thought I could treat in September like I did with my first package but when an established hive has been booming all spring-summer and have earned themselves a high varroa load, waiting to treat until September when they wind down their brood nest is a big mistake. *The hive will crash fast.* Even if you treat successfully you are rolling the dice that your queen will survive and that there will be either queens available in your area to buy if she doesn't, or time enough for them to raise a virgin and mate with remaining drones.
> 
> Fortunately I was able to recover them by treating with MAQS and then feeding heavily to try to stimulate a bit more brood production for winter bees...AND I was lucky the queen survived the treatment. This year I will treat when I pull the supers in August!


Use treatments according to labels... We usually harvest our honey in September around here, treatment obviously isn't to be done before that (unless the label says otherwise, like with MAQS).


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## jhinshaw (Aug 14, 2014)

Dominic said:


> Use treatments according to labels... We usually harvest our honey in September around here, treatment obviously isn't to be done before that (unless the label says otherwise, like with MAQS).


Right, harvesting is a very locally timed event. After my experience this year though, even if I had to harvest late I still would not wait beyond August to treat (also probably a local thing). I would either use a treatment that allows for honey supers to be on or I would remove them for the duration of treatment.


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## Margot1d (Jun 23, 2012)

Dominic said:


> Use treatments according to labels... We usually harvest our honey in September around here, treatment obviously isn't to be done before that (unless the label says otherwise, like with MAQS).


Yes, but it is also good advise to have supers off and treatments started by the end of August in the north where the winter is long. I am surprised that you can get away with doing it so late considering the winters you have.


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## EastTnJoe (Jan 20, 2016)

Girl Next Door Honey said:


> I teach beekeeping classes and see a lot of the same mistakes over an over again. I wrote a whole blog post on it: http://beekeepinglikeagirl.com/10-mistakes-new-beekeepers-make/
> 
> Some additional ones people mentioned after reading my post are:
> 
> ...


That article was excellent, thank you for sharing.


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

Margot1d said:


> Yes, but it is also good advise to have supers off and treatments started by the end of August in the north where the winter is long. I am surprised that you can get away with doing it so late considering the winters you have.


I take mine off in October.



Margot1d said:


> -It's very hard to tell superceedure from swarming when you are new.


 Not hard at all, they do not swarm if it is supercedure.


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## Doreen78 (Feb 25, 2016)

When you do a cut out and put your queen in a cage, wait more than 2 days before releasing her. Otherwise you might find yourself shaking a bunch of bees out of a tree the following day, dumping them back in the box, and now hoping you got the queen (again). And your spouse will make fun of you for saying having bees is not much harder than having goldfish. True story.


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## Margot1d (Jun 23, 2012)

Acebird said:


> I take mine off in October.


And you don't treat, so I am not sure what your point is. Regardless of treating, I don't know how your bees can consolidate enough stores to over winter when you remove supers so late. find I pull mine in end of August and I still have to feed.



Acebird said:


> Not hard at all, they do not swarm if it is supercedure.


After they have swarmed you missed your chance to do anything, hence the beginner mistake.


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

Margot1d said:


> I don't know how your bees can consolidate enough stores to over winter when you remove supers so late.


In October you are past the point of foraging so you know exactly what you can take. In August you guess, maybe set the colony up for failure so you scramble to feed. August and September is like a new spring. They have to rebuild the colony with young bees to make it through winter. If you take their honey they have to try and rebuild from the crap carbs you give them. It is not their food. You took their good food when they needed it most.


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

Margot1d said:


> After they have swarmed you missed your chance to do anything, hence the beginner mistake.


Do you remember what this hive looked like before it swarmed? You should now know what to look out for. You might also consider keeping up with supers so they have more than they need to overwinter without feed. A swarmed hive is a double whammy on the honey crop. Way, way worse than a split.


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## Margot1d (Jun 23, 2012)

Acebird said:


> In October you are past the point of foraging so you know exactly what you can take. In August you guess, maybe set the colony up for failure so you scramble to feed. August and September is like a new spring. They have to rebuild the colony with young bees to make it through winter. If you take their honey they have to try and rebuild from the crap carbs you give them. It is not their food. You took their good food when they needed it most.


Thats a nice theory, but I'm not really buying it.



Acebird said:


> Do you remember what this hive looked like before it swarmed? You should now know what to look out for. You might also consider keeping up with supers so they have more than they need to overwinter without feed. A swarmed hive is a double whammy on the honey crop. Way, way worse than a split.


The whole point of my original post was to say that when you are new you don't know what to look for, so get some help. I don't really have any idea what you are talking about here.


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## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

Learn how to remove and return frames with least amount of upset and dead bees.

Don't assume mites won't be a problem.

For the advancing beginner...
Don't make splits too early, 
and don't make splits too late.
Quality of hives over-rides quantity of hives.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Always go with your local weather.
I got the summer, Autumn and winter trend but not
yet on the Spring timing. This year the El Nino
effects messed up on my timing so have to put
back the splits for them to build up more until April.
Too early for making splits in February this year.
March is still rainy. It is not my fault that they put out
supersedure cells this early. And the weather is not ready for
the queen's mating flight. Spring blooming is almost done. I see
pear trees blooming but no apple yet. Will wait to see what April and
May bring us.


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## Westhill (Jul 26, 2012)

Here are my two major things I learned as a newb. The first one I learned in time, and the other I didn't (but it's fixable)

1) Don't assume you don't have mites just because you don't see any, and because you don't see any falling on your bottom board.

I never saw any mites on my bees or in my hive. None on the bottom board.

I treated anyway in early fall, and WHOA! Dead mites by the hundreds! Or thousands.

My bees are alive and vigorous now, but I bet they wouldn't be if I had believed "I don't see mites, so everything is fine."

2) Do not space out your undrawn frames. You will get a mass of crazy stuck-together comb if you do. Jam all your undrawn frames tight and leave the spaces on each end of the box.

I am waiting for it to get warm enough for me to do that first spring inspection, and that empty-of-bees bottom brood box full of crazy comb is finally going to get taken off and broken up for swam traps.


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