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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers
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- From: Meredith Friedrick <friema16 AT gmail.com>
- To: Orange County Bees <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: [ocba] Newbee questions
- Date: Sun, 31 May 2015 21:08:10 -0400
I have my first hive (installed on April 16) and things seem to be going very well.
I successfully moved the hive about 200 yards about 3 weeks ago and it doesn't seem to have hurt the number of bees at all.
To preface my questions, I want to share that my goal is to increase bee populations in whatever way I can. I'm not that interested in having lots of honey for personal consumption or sale (although I would love to taste some from my own hive).
History -- The last time I checked the frames (one week ago), they had filled out foundations on 6 of 9 frames with heavy bee concentrations on both sides of the frames. I moved the exterior (empty) frames into the center and the interior frames to the exterior in order to encourage them to fill out the empty frames. I also have a medium super on top in case they run out of room in the bottom deep.
My questions are as follows:
1. In bee school, I was told to open the hive "minimally" because each time you do, you kill 100+ bees. What is "minimally"? How often should I look inside the hive, given my goal?
2. I was also told yesterday that I need to actually see the eggs in order to verify that I have a good queen. I haven't been able to do that because of lack of contrast between eggs and my new foundation. I have lots of capped brood and tons of bees. Is this something I need to get someone else to come look at? I looked for the queen the last time and didn't readily find her, but given the increase in bee numbers from the previous entries, I thought that she was there. I have seen her on previous inspections.
3. Generally, what observations can I make from the exterior in order to know that my hive is doing well?
Thanks,
Meredith Friedrick
- [ocba] Newbee questions, Meredith Friedrick, 05/31/2015
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