May 31, 2008 - 11:30pm

Since the feeder jar was replaced yesterday with a full jar the bees have consumed half a jar. This is significant change probably due to the bottom board being replaced with a new one. I don't know what else could cause such a change.

Took a few photos but they weren't worth posting.

I haven't seen any more ants since the pesticide application last week.

I didn't see any hive beetles or any other bugs on the outside.

Outside activity looks the same as ever. Quite a few bees had pollen baskets so it look like they are doing good.

May 30, 2008 - 1:30pm

Didn't make it on site.

Hopefully my Dad will check on the bee's feeder jar.

Finished putting together the next hive body. For this super I am using 100% beeswax for the foundation and frames from Walter T. Kelley. Those frames were a bit of a pain to put together but it was kinda cool do build them.

May 29,2008 - 11am

Checked the feeder jar - it was just above the half way mark. Left it in place.

Decided to replace the bottom board with one that has water troughs built into the legs.

So I went ahead swapped out bottom boards. Noticed that within minutes bees coming in from foraging were in what looked like a holding pattern in front of the hive. They were going up and down and left and right and after about half an hour or so they settled in and did normal landings.

Probably shouldn't have done this but I went ahead and opened up the hive to see how things were going inside.

There were 5 and half frames with drawn comb and brood. Four of the frames had capped brood on both sides. A fifth frame was drawn out on both sides and one side with brood and some were capped.

Photo of the old bottom board and new one in place












Heres a couple of movie clips;

May 28, 2008 - 11:30pm

Didn't get a chance to go on site.

My Dad tells me that only about 1/8 of the syrup was consumed from yesterday until today. So it looks like I need to get the second hive body finished and ready for installation.

May 27, 2008 - 9:30AM

Checked the feeder jar - just under half - replaced with a fresh jar

Since the bees are consuming less sugar water it could be they have found a better source OR they have drawn comb out on most of the frames.

I looked around the hive to see if there were any dead bees caused by the pesticide. I didn't see any.

I took a few photos and one short movie clip.

May 26, 2008 - 2pm

Checked the feeder jar - it was just at the half empty mark - left it in place

My Dad cleaned up the pvc moat at the end where the hive is located. He said there were ALOT of dead bees in it. Thats probably because the bees that are still on the outside of the hive and underneath the bottom board fall to the ground. I am hoping they don't transfer any chemicals to the bees inside.

I thought I'd leave the pvc moats in for a while. I might abandon them and go with mineral oil
Hopefully the bees inside the hive are okay. From the looks of things they are, but I'll have a better idea Friday of this week when I open it up.

Here are some photos and a couple of small movie clips.

May 25, 2008 - 1PM

Checked the feeder jar - only 1/8 was consumed. Looks like the bees really have found a more attractive food source.

There were not any ants on or around the hive body or hive stand legs. So it looks like the pesticide is working. I am hoping it won't bother the bees.

The pvc moats still had a bit of water in them, so I left them alone. I noticed that quite a few bees have ended up in the moat directly under the hive. The bees that still cluster under the hive on the outside of the screened bottom board fall into the moat. I will remove the moat tomorrow and let the pesticide take care of the ants.

May 24, 2008 - 11 am

Checked the feeder jar - the level was just under half full. I replaced the jar with a full one since it was out there a couple of days and because I want to check if they really are cutting back their consumption of sugar water.

I noticed over the last week or so that the bees have been consuming less of the sugar water. I'm not sure if thats because of the higher temps or that they have found a more attractive food source.

I decided to use a pesticide to deal the ant problem. I sprayed around the legs of the hive stand and any areas where there were alot of ants on the ground.

I added more water to the pvc moats.

Watched the bees for a few minutes and saw that they are bringing in pollen.

Since I opened the hive yesterday I won't open it up for another week unless something comes up.

May 23, 2008 - 10am

Checked the feeder jar - it was just over half full - left it in place.

Thought about the extra spacing problem I created the other day and opened up the hive to look at how things were situated.

I arranged the frames to get the proper "bee space". To do that I had to remove a frame. I don't think it will hurt the hive because when this hive body is filled I will add another hive body.

I took out a couple of frames to look more thoroughly for eggs and pests and stuff. From yesterday to today there were brood cells capped.


Here are a few photos from today's visit;

May 22, 2008 - 10:30am

Checked feeder jar - It was 3/4 full. Left it in place.

There was burr / bur comb near the feeder jar opening.

Since I saw that comb, I thought I should open up the hive. I noticed that I had left too great a gap between the middle two frames. As a result of that mistake, the bees drew out comb on the inner two frames. So with the other frames that had about 3/4 comb drawn out, I spaced them a little bit apart. I am eventually going to have to remove a frame.

I looked through all of the frames.

On the middle two frames there were larvae! I tried to find eggs, but I still couldn't!!!!! So the queen seems to be doing okay.

I did see the queen today. I watched her for a minute or two to see if she was laying eggs, but she was just milling about.

On four of the frames ( from the middle two then moving outwards) I saw alot of capped honey and now quite a bit of pollen.

I didn't take alot of photos, but I took a couple of the burr combe the bees made near the jar feeder area. So here they are;

May 21, 2008 - 12pm

checked feeder jar - it was 3/4 empty.

Didn't make it on site. My Dad did, so I don't have any pix to post.

My Dad tells me that the bees have built up burr comb around the opening that the feeder jar sits in and that some of the comb is connecting a couple of frames. Next time I open things up I'll have some house cleaning to do.

May 20, 2008 - 10am

Checked the feeder jar - it was 2/3 full - left it in place

Looked over the pvc moats...

They were both dry! But I didn't see as many ants today. That could be because of the moats and or the baby powder.

So I filled up the moats, put down some more baby powder.

Took a few shots of the bee cluster underneath the bottom board. I still don't know what they are doing down there. It could be they are helping with cooling the hive or pest control.

I setup a tripod for the camcorder. Took about 10 minutes of footage.

Noticed that quite a few bees had pollen baskets!

I tried to take photos of those bees, but failed miserably.

So here are a couple of shots underneath the bottom board.







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May 21, I will swap out the bottom board with one that has legs and water containers. I am hoping that will put an end to the creep crawly bug problem.

May 19, 2008 - 11am

Checked the feeder jar - its 3/4 empty - replaced with a full jar

Finished the pvc moats. Put sand around pipes to fill in any gaps.

Here are some photos of the pvc moat project

May 18, 2008 - 6pm

Checked the feeder jar - was just under 1/2 empty

Went out to the hive to try a solution to the ant problem.

I thought I would put some water barriers around the legs of the hive stand and see if that would stop the ants.

I put together some pvc pipes to form a moat. The hive stand has four legs, so I made two pvc moats. I put them together this evening. By the morning the glue should be cured well enough to put water in the pvc pipes

May 17, 2008 - 11:30am

Checked feeder jar - it was 1/2 empty - replaced with a fresh full jar

Ants are all over hive. Noticed that they are going in through screened bottom board. That may be the biggest reason why there are a few bees on outside of hive underneath screened bottom board.

used the smoker a little bit before opening hive.

Opened up hive, smoked the bees some, their buzzing increased as I smoked them...so I stopped and began inspecting frames.

I removed the outer most frame, to make it easier to manipulate the other frames. I just set that one on the hive stand.

I saw that the bees had glued every frame to each other and to the hive body. I loosened each frame and cleaned that stuff.

Removed the two most inner frames. Both of them were drawn out completely and bees completely covered both sides. There was capped cells at the top of each frame both sides. Looks like stored honey. Noticed that right below the capped honey there a few cells filled with pollen, but not very much.

I looked with great effort to see eggs in these two frames but I could not. I did see my queen roaming about on one of these frames.

I put that frame back in and looked at the other frames for signs of egg laying but I still didn't see any.

The other two frames had one side almost drawn out and the other sides started. And bees completely covered those frames as well.

Then the next outer frames had bees but no drawn comb.

So basically 6 frames were covered with bees.

The rest of the frames were empty and there were some bees milling about.

I have an ant problem and I am working on a solution...

Below are some photos of today's visit

May 16, 2008 - 2:30pm

Checked the feeder jar - it was 1/2 full - replaced with a fresh, full jar

Since it was a very rainy day I did not open the hive. I hope to have a look inside sometime this weekend.

ToDo List when opening the hive this weekend

Apply last dose of Tetra-B mix

Check how many frames have comb...

Look for signs of the queen! ! !

May 15, 2008 - 10:30am

Checked the feeder jar - it was 1/4 full - replaced with a fresh jar

Checked under the hive to see if the bees were still there. There were a few there but nothing like the past few days. They were clustered in a shape about the size of my fist.




So My first thought was my queen got back out and down there again! So I thought I should carefully sweep the bees into a box and dump them into the hive. I dumped the small amount that fell into the hive. The rest went airborne and made it very clear that they were upset. I am very glad that I wear a full body beekeeper suit. The girls were extremely hostile. So much so that even after moving thirty feet away from the hive they still surrounded my head/face area. After about 50 feet they left me alone.

May 14, 2008 - 11 am

Today's goal is to get the queen back into the hive

I succeeded in getting the queen back into the hive - I dumped her into the middle of the hive where she immediately starting crawling around and went down between the middle frames. I carefully put the hive lid on and hoped for the best.

I noticed that even though the queen was put in the hive, the bees that had clustered around her went back to where she was under the hive.

May 13, 2008

Checked feeder jar - it was 1/3 full

Took several pictures of bee cluster under hive.

Later in the evening while reviewing the images, I found my queen in the bee cluster!


Called up the local beekeeper I know with more questions about my situation. She said that I should try to collect the queen into a box and put her in the hive. So that will be tomorrow's goal

May 12, 2008 - 4:30 pm

checked feeder jar it was 1/2 empty

Opened up hive for the first time. Looked around quickly. Found two frames almost drawn out!! Work on two others was under way.

Looked at the queen cage and it was empty and cleaned out. Alot of bees had crammed themselved in there for whatever reason!!!

Since the queen was released I will look for eggs on May 16, Friday - weather permitting.

Applied second dose of Tetra-B mix.

Took a look at the bees clustered outside and underneath the screened bottom board - there looks to be over 200 bees!!!

Talked with local beekeeper about what was happening with the bee cluster. The suggestion given was to carefully brush them onto a plate or container and dump them in the hive.

I brushed them off and onto a plate but they immediately went airborne.

Once enough bees were brushed away, I could see that they were working on drawing out comb. I scraped it off and didn't see anything in it.

Heres a photo of the empty queen cage.

May 11, 2008 - 7pm

Changed out 3rd feeder jar - it was 3/4 empty

Replaced lid on feeder jar with one that has significantly smaller holes

Still around 100 or more bees on outside of hive on bottom of screened bottom board

May 10, 2008 - 7pm

changed out second feeder jar - it was 3/4 empty

there are 100 or so bees on bottom of screened bottom board

May 9, 2008 - 8pm

Changed out first feeder jar - it was 3/4 empty

Already noticed a small amount of black ants around hive.

Also found about 100 bees on bottom of screened bottom board

May 8, 2008 - Package Bees Arrive

The US Post Office called at 7 am to let me know that the bees had arrived.

Gathered up the hive equipment and hive body and drove down to the Post Office at about 8:30AM.

*Side note about picking bees up at Post Office

Put the package of bees in the front seat and drove out to the location of the hive.

The bees are located at my parents property about 10 miles outside of town.

The drive out there was pretty quiet. The bees were alot quieter than I thought they would be for all that they went through.


Here are a couple of shots of the package bees in the shipping box;






Once on site I brought all of the equipement and stuff to the hive location.

At 9:15 am I "installed" the bees.

Heres a photo of the empty shipping package

Gee Wiz

Before I started all of this My Dad made it pretty clear that the Bee thing was my endeavor.

However, he did say that he wouldn't mind changing out feeder jars and stuff like that. So when its noted that a feeder jar was checked or changed out, my Dad probably did it, but I just log that it was done.

May 7, 2008

Prepared a gallon of sugar syrup mixed with fumigilin B.

I have a case of quart mason jars that I'll use to feed the bees.

Once the medicated syrup is completed, a regular mixture will continue to be fed to the bees until it look like they don't need it.

Began Ording the goodz

During the second week in January I ordered a three pound package of bees w/queen and a Beekeeper starter kit.

The bee kit arrived by mid February.

The package of bees and queen were scheduled to ship on may 6.

Attended a meeting at a local county Beekeeper Association

After attending the meeting. I browsed through the catalogs and books I picked up from the meeting to figure where to start.