It's June 21st now..... (talking to myself)

[rjoki]

Here's hoping that some of you will chime in sometime and share whats going on in your hives, which can help the rest of us figure out if all is really well or not in our own.

As for me - I gave my new queen a week to get out of the cage, and when I saw she was still in there, I correctly or not, pryed open the cage and dumped her in. Here's hoping for the best !!

I added a second super to some of my hives, even though to my surprise, they have not stored any in the first yet. I didn't dig down into the deeps, and based on the large number of flying bees over that last few weeks, I imagine that they have been concentrating on filling up there own stores first. I also removed the queen excluders earlier than I intended when I realized that they are pretty far behind in the honey production.

I haven't given up hope though, cause this seems strangly reminicent to last year, when after what seemed like a half a summer of no honey, bamm - they filled up five supers for me in a couple of weeks.

Let's hope that's the case with this crazy year as well.

So does ANYONE have a stock of honey in their super's yet ??

[columbiacritter]

I put my first supers on last week, but don't have much hope with so little blooming in my area. I'll go down and check them this weekend. I honestly haven't pulled apart either of my hives this year. I just check onthem for population and general attitude. It's probably bad bee keeping to let them swarm, but my rural area has gone from 6 known feral bee trees to 0 in the last 2 years so maybe my hives will repopulate.

[rjoki]

Don't feel bad about just letting them do their thing Critter - I took classes from the guru of backyard beekeeps who teaches through Portland Nursery etc., and was surprised to learn that he does very little inside the hive throughout the year - figuring that the bees really do know best.

One of the prevailing thoughts on this board expressed by Drew and others, is that "bees will be bees", and that "the bees know what to do".

Although disappointing at this point, I remember the same feeling of shock that I had no honey last year at this time, but all of a sudden in July, my single hive filled up 5 supers in a matter of a week, then they went back to work and filled three more that I rotated in for me by August. I went from zero honey to over 10 gallons (145lbs) in the bucket - so don't loose faith !!

[columbiacritter]

I got 11 g off one hive last year and 0 off the other hive next to it that seemed to have the same population of bees.

[HarryVanderpool]

Jun 23, 2011 6:23:07 GMT -7 rjoki said:

Don't feel bad about just letting them do their thing Critter - I took classes from the guru of backyard beekeeps who teaches through Portland Nursery etc., and was surprised to learn that he does very little inside the hive throughout the year - figuring that the bees really do know best.

Interested in a different point of view?
The notion that "the bees know whats best" is a management philosophy.
Everyone that owns bees is the boss in their operation and entitled to run things as they see fit as long as it is legal and does not impact others.
Joe Blow beekeeper for example, really enjoys his bees every year especially at the end of the season. At the end of the season he and a friend carry the hives into the elevator, take the trip to the top floor and drop them off the Empire State Building.
Then, he speaks to groups about his management philosophy on dropping hives off of high places and watching them crash below.
But hey; if it is legal and doesn't hurt anyone, go for it.

We make sure to POUND the point into our bee school students the the bees DO NOT KNOW WHAT IS BEST!!
There is one thing that bees do really, really well and consistently:
Die!
If I were to stop caring for my hives right now, June 23, I would lose about 33% prior to winter. Mainly stupid decisions on their part related to queen issues.
Pests & diseases that they CANNOT defend themselves from are another pitfall.
Last year my losses were 2.6% against a national average of 33%.
This was not achieved by standing back and allowing the bees to crash. My bees have a beekeeper on staff to watch over them.
And I respect and accept the responsibility of the job: Beekeeper.

[Thom]

As beekeepers we have some responsibility to our bees and our neighbors. By leaving the bees to fend for themselves things can go bad very quickly such as early spring starvation when the bees have little food reserves and get socked in during a week of rain. By not managing hives you risk loss of honey production by way of swarms. You also risk colony loss from swarms. You also risk losing all your colonies by spreading disease that goes unchecked. Strong colonies will rob weak diseased colonies and it doesn't take long to have a diseased bee yard.

I understand the concept of little interference, but not the concept of no interference. Hives need to be inspected every 12 days from April through July to avoid swarms. We've imported all sorts of problems over the last 30 years, and we can no longer keep bees the way our grand parents did. Bees that come from genetic selected queens rarely ever successfully turn into survivor stock.

[drew]

One of the prevailing thoughts on this board expressed by Drew and others, is that "bees will be bees", and that "the bees know what to do".

Not sure when I said this. BUT we as "keepers" need to work within the parameters of what bees do.
It is very true bees die very well. If they didn't we would be overrun by them.
Now the choice is really yours as to how much time and caring you want to put in with your bees.... But total hands off will lead to more dead hives then live ones.

Who is the guru of backyard beekeeping? Wondering

[rjoki]

Jun 23, 2011 6:23:07 GMT -7 rjoki said:

surprised to learn that he does very little inside the hive throughout the year

Please note the difference between doing nothing, and doing very little. I said he did very little, which means that he only does the minimum necessary to manage his hives and keep them healthy.

I can't personally leave my hands off my hives for a week without opening them up to see what I can do to "help" them out - only problem is that I always have to wonder if I'm doing them a favor or not.

I think the actual difference is that the experienced beekeeper knows when NOT to "help" - and the rest of us think that the bees need us to ALWAYS "help" them.