Worried after new package install

Beekeeping - Basics
21

Hi Becky – I’m so glad you asked because I learned some things the hard way. First of all, I should say that I’m using a regular Langstroth hive right now, but the process should be the same.

The corner pieces and chimney are easy to snap in place. However, there should be two holes drilled in the blue plastic feeder underneath the chimney. I bought mine from Pierco and they had predrilled the holes.

I watched Frederick Dunn’s video and he suggested to put the inner cover on first to prevent the bees from building comb on the underside of the feeder. He’s usually right about things, but he got that wrong. The feeder should go directly over the brood box with the inner cover on top.

I also made the mistake of filling it to the top with 2.5 gallons of liquid feed before making sure it was set up correctly. By that time it was too heavy (and spilly) to move. So I waited a couple of days before realizing that the inner cover was preventing the bees from getting up there. Even with that little rectangular hole in the middle, they just weren’t using the feeder.

So I went to Home Depot and bought some 1" acrylic tube and a piece of plexiglass. I softened up the tube in a pot of boiling water to straighten it out, drilled a 1" hole in the plexiglass and siphoned half of the syrup back into its original container. I’ve never siphoned gas out of a car, but figured it must be about the same, so I just sucked on that hose until it started flowing back into the jug and ended up with syrup all over my lips. (Which probably isn’t a good thing around a hive…)

Anyway, with half of the syrup out, I could lift up the feeder and put it aside. I removed the inner cover and put the feeder on the brood box with the inner cover over it, and the roof on top. I was careful not to to spill anything and washed out the hose in the kitchen sink. I’ll just save it for when I harvest honey from my Flow Hive.

I’d like to put the plexiglass cover directly over the feeder so I can see what’s going on without bees jumping in, but I’m still cutting it to size. It takes forever to cut with this little hand cutter, but I only have one more side to go. I’ve read comments from people who say that the inner cover gets moldy from close contact with the syrup. I think the plexiglass cover should prevent that from happening.

I haven’t checked on them today, but will let you know how it goes!

siphon
siphon1512×2016 860 KB

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22

To follow up — Yes! The bees are now using the feeder! I finished cutting the plexiglass and plugged the hole with a bottle stopper. It looks like they’re attracted to their new skylight and are climbing up the center chimney! I think I’ll leave the top off for awhile so I can watch them. BTW, one bee fell into the feeder when I removed the inner cover, but I fished her out with a piece of wood and took her over to the water dish to recover.

One more thing that Frederick Dunn suggested was to put a narrow strip of sponge inside each corner feeder to give the bees something to climb on, because they enter through an opening at the top edge of each corner and have to climb down the sides, which are slick. Instead of a sponge, which tend to get yucky, I cut strips of a scrub pad that’s made of natural material. So the corner feeders each have a little ladder that helps the bees to climb in and out.

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23

Hi Dawn,

Another question, I’m trying to figure out how the bees will get from the first brood box into the second brood box if the brood boxes have solid bottom boards? I watched a video and there is not a lid between the two brood boxes but the inner lid and top lid go onto the top (second) brood box?

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Hi Trish,

If you look at the loose pieces of a hive, from the bottom up, the order is:

  1. Hive stand
  2. Bottom board (solid or mesh, it doesn’t matter)
  3. Brood box - you can stack several brood boxes with nothing between them
  4. Queen excluder (only if you are are going to extract honey)
  5. Honey super (only if you are going to extract honey)
  6. Inner cover
  7. Roof

Here is a diagram that explains what I am talking about with the hive structure:

I strongly suggest that you buy and read a good book like Beekeeping for Dummies. I am not saying that you are a dummy, but the questions that you are asking are very basic, and require many thousands of words to answer. You would get them in 20 minutes from the book, but it could take me 4 hours to try to explain it online. :blush:

My point is that you will have a bottom board, a brood box, a second brood box on top, then an inner cover and a roof. There is nothing to impede the bees between the two brood boxes. :wink:

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In case it helps @Tiawest65 , here is a labeled photo of my current hive setup. I have 2 brood boxes below a queen excluder and a Flow super. I put an extra super on top, because the bees looked crowded and were not capping the Flow super. We will inspect next week to see how things are going. :blush:

Please note that there is no layer between the two brood boxes, or between the 2 supers. You just stack the boxes one on top of the other. :wink:

Langstroth w Flow Super 2021
Langstroth w Flow Super 20211512×2016 1.44 MB

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26

Hi Dawn,

Thanks for the picture, what a nice setup you have. Last night, I went out and looked at our empty hive, I didn’t realize until I took it apart the brood boxes don’t have a bottom board attached to the sides. :thinking:
I ordered the Beekeeping for Dummies book and it should arrive tomorrow. I read the Beekeeping for Beginners book, but didn’t look that closely at the pieces of the hive. :astonished:
Thanks for all your info and support, it is so appreciated.

Tomorrow is the big day, we pick up our NUC in the morning.

Thanks,
Trish

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27

:heart_eyes: :partying_face: New babies! hope your bees are super friendly and successful. Wish you and your new colony all the best.

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28

Hi Trish, sorry if I’m misunderstanding you but this makes me wonder and I want to help you start off right. You only need one bottom board per hive, and it goes at the bottom not the side. Hopefully you have one in your setup because your bees need it to control the temp and keep pests out. I don’t advise installing your nuc without one in place.

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29

Hi Eva,
We have a bottom board and it is in place. I was confused about the brood box, thinking it had a bottom board attached, which it does not. Silly me.
We got our very full NUC on Saturday. Installation went well. We did not see the queen but didn’t spend a lot of time looking for her. We just wanted to get them installed and comfortable in the new hive. We watched bees coming in and out the remainder of the day. All the bees coming back to the hive had lots of pollen on their legs. :slight_smile:

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This is one of my favorite pastimes! Isn’t it fascinating to see all the different pollen colors?!

Former forum contributor Valli liked to call these ‘pollen pants’ :joy:

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31

yes very fascinating! I didn’t know there were different colors of pollen until recently, I just never paid attention :slight_smile:

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32

I couldn’t resist checking the syrup after 3 days, I was surprised they hadn’t consumed more of the sugar syrup than they had. If they are not consuming much sugar syrup, do we continue to provide the syrup or take it away?

33

I don’t remember what volume of syrup you gave them. A quart, 2 quarts, a gallon or more? A new colony will usually take a quart within a few days, but larger quantities take longer… :blush:

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I doubled your recipe and gave it all to them in 4 very large jars and 1 quart jar.

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35

Well, that sounds like quite a lot of syrup. I would just leave it for another week or two, and then take it off after that if you see black strands (fungus) in it, or if they haven’t used it. You may have a nectar flow on, and if so, the sensible bees will forage nectar rather than syrup. :wink:

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