I'm new at beekeeping. Ordered a nuc in Jan for delivery the end of April/beginning of May. Supplier kept putting off delivery due to weather - it had been cool in NW PA. Since I wasn't getting a warm and fuzzy about this guy I found another apiary and bought a nuc from him. Got it home and installed in 10 frame hive body just over two weeks ago. Did 2 inspections and it seems to be doing well. Goes thru a quart of syrup about every other day.

Anyway the day after I installed the nuc the first guy calls and says my original nuc is ready. I have another hive so no problem. Weather really warmed up that week. I talked to the guy about picking up the nuc - I was concerned with the 1.5hr drive and the heat. He said he'd close them up the night before and keep them in the shade the next day when I could get them after work. It was 95F, probably hottest day of the year so far. Told me to keep them in my truck cab in the AC, set the nuc box on the new hive for an hour to settle them, then open the plug and let them out. Once it was dark they'd be back in the nuc box and I should tranfer them early the next morning. I did first few steps but when I pulled the plug a lot of dead bees fell out. When I peeked in the nuc there were dead bees all over so I decided to transfer them then. That went OK and I'm pretty sure I saw the queen. The dead bee pile was about the size of a small cantelope, probably half of them. I've really only looked at them once in 2 weeks and seems to be struggling, not many bees. Plan to do an inspection this weekend and will see if I can get a local beekeeper to help.

My question is what did I do wrong with the 2nd nuc? Transporting in AC? Should've waited for a cooler day? Apiary shouldn't have kept them in the nuc box closed up with limited ventilation in one of the hottest days of the year so far?

I don't want to repeat the mistake.

Thanks.

Apiary shouldn't have kept them in the nuc box closed up with limited ventilation in one of the hottest days of the year so far?

This is a big no-no. A hive produces a lot of heat, and restricting ventilation in warm weather can wipe out a hive very quickly.

Perveyor of excellent honey ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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Apiary shouldn't have kept them in the nuc box closed up with limited ventilation in one of the hottest days of the year so far?

This is a big no-no. A hive produces a lot of heat, and restricting ventilation in warm weather can wipe out a hive very quickly.
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Thanks, that was my thinking also but I talked to another beekeeper last week and he said it was the AC in the truck cab but that didn't make sense to me.

My next step is to confirm the queen survived then just keep nursing them along.

Any other advice is appreciated.

I agree with Beo (not that I have his experience). They need ventilation.

Just make sure they aren't queenless, and feed as needed. If your healthy hive can spare a couple of frames of brood and nurse bees you could transfer them over to the weak hive.

I'm at a loss as to how the AC could harm them.

I'd be willing to bet the AC saved the rest of the hive from dying.

Bee keeping can be one of the most rewarding things that you will ever do, and then tomorrow, it can be the most heart breaking......


In today's climate, the battle is very real, black bears, diseases, mites and colony abandonment , don't overthink things, just enjoy bees doing what bees do .

And yes, I think moving bees in that heat was a mistake.

From my small amount of experience, I’d have to agree. AC May have slowed them but reduced the stress.

Bees are flown commercially up to AK, and one year the entire shipment (couple pickup loads) were left on the tarmac in 90*+ sun in SLC and arrived dead.

I'm hesitant to move any bees from healthy hive just yet. They were just starting into new frames the last I checked.

If the nuc comes up queenless, or just looks like its not going to make it, you can always do a newspaper combine as a last resort.

I like raw honey and I just finished hitting up a bowstring with 100% percent beeswax so Good Luck and Godspeed as you begin your new phase of apiarian.

I just watched a video on a newspaper combine last week. Thanks for the idea and your advice.

I guess I'll know more this weekend.

I've been in contact with the apiary about my concerns and let him know my disappointment on how this went. He's offered to travel to my location to see my setup and look at the hive himself. He's also bringing another nuc but we haven't discussed price.

Don't think I'd buy any bees from that guy again. He should have known better, and he should know your setup was not the problem.

He showed up, inspected the weak hive, and agreed that a lot of the carnage was heat related. Nothing wrong with my setup. We did find an emgency queen cell. He gave me a new nuc and, since original colony was so weak, we combined them at no cost to me. Only recommendation was going from an entrance feeder to a top feeder. I have two that came with the hives so they're going in today.

Tag

I dont meant to steal the thread.....

About a week ago, I got started with bees. Got a lot to learn, but so far they seem to be doing ok. I have read where it is better to be proactive rather than reactive on mite control. These hives have not been treated for mites..... what do you suggest for a starting hive?

I do have a homemade moth trap in place and a sheet in the hive for beetles. I'm feeding 1:1 sugar/water in the hive.

Any other suggestions about something I'm missing is appreciated.

Tag, have also wanted to try bees.

BiL just got started. Aside from the regular benefits, looking into a possible agriculture
tax exemption. May offset a lot of bee costs.

some of the bee Keepers here rent their hives to citrus grower etc.

I would suggest going on beesource.com. They have a very active forum that has backyarders, sideliners, as well as commercial.

As far as mites, I've had good success with formic acid (MAQS). You have to be careful of temps, though. I also treat with oxalic in the winter when they are broodless. There are other treatments as well. Stay away form the touchy-feely treatments. Use something that's proven effective. Focus on keeping them alive the first couple of years. After that you can start playig with things. Mites, starvation, and moisture.

Check with clubs in the area. All beekeeping is local.

Thanks Steve.

When I get bees again next year I may have to refer back to this.

The mostly dead package I got a few weeks back is completely gone. Looked in the box a week ago and not one bee left. No capped cells started, they just drew out a few and had some with a bit of pollen. I'm guessing the queen died shortly after arrival here.

Learned a lesson. Going to order early and local.............and probably drive over and pick them up myself.

Good luck to all the other new beekeepers.

Steve, thanks for the suggestions. Because of the virus, the local bee clubs have not been meeting, however they are suppose/trying to start having meetings again around the middle of July.

I've read about MAQS and the temp thing is what has got me worried about it. This time of the year, 90+ temps are common. We've already had some upper 90 degree days. Since I dont have any honey supers on the hives, I was leaning toward Apiguard or Apivar. Have you used either of these? Hopefully by the time fall arrives, I'll be able to use the oxalic over the winter. I know there is a couple of ways to use it, and the fogger sounds very easy..... but costly.

Valsdad, hate to hear about you losing the hive. My first try at bees was a failure, also.

That sucks Geno. Sorry.

Oldman,

Not my first try, had a hive 25 years or so ago. Biggest problem I had with that one was a bear getting in it!

Moving something over 12 times since then until we got this place was not conducive to beekeeping. Still just a novice as back then I had never heard of colony collapse and a few other things. Our big town, 2 hrs away has a club, I'll be joining before ordering season so I can get info for next year. A bit different than down your way, up here the problem is keeping the girls warm enough in winter.

The Corona and it's impact on the USPS coupled with us getting a late start at finding bees turned into the worst case scenario I believe.

We'll try again, as that's what we do, right?

The local club has been pretty good for getting info/answering questions and putting out notices on used equipment. We were able to meet at a experienced beekeepers farm and observer a few inspections the past few months.

Yesterday was a beautiful warm day and both hives were really active. Did an inspection on first hive and they are starting to branch into new frames. Guessing I'll have to put the 2nd brood box on in 2-3 weeks.

Installed a Lyson top feeder on each hive too. They are Langstroth hive boxes but they seem to fit well. Shouldn't have to refill until this weekend.

We dont have that problem and I'm glad of it. Although I would like to see a wild bear, one of these days.





I had to look up what a Lyson feeder is.... shows how green I am. I can see where that large of a feeder can really be handy. My bees are still in 1 large super. I put an inner cover on top of it, placed a Boardman feeder with a qt. jar on the inner cover, put on an empty large super and outer cover. Right now both hives are using about a pint per day, so I have to replenish the feed every other day.

Wierd thing is that the bears each the larva, and leave most of the honey... We only had one incident with bears when we moved hives to the southern tier of NY where they exist.

My dad had a thriving bee keeping business for years before South American honey showed up and sunk the market place.
It’s how we spent our summer weekends traveling to the places (typically in brush rows) where our Colony’s were, I’d mow the lawn (they love that), and we’d check the health of the hives and put supers (smaller frame holders vs. hive bodies which are the 2 bottom big frame holders they keep for the winter). IIRC we had a special screen between the hive body’s and the supers so the queen couldn’t lay eggs up there.

Ah so many memories, and bee stings.

We’d fill a garage with supers in the fall and fill 50+ or so 5 gallon Cans with honey... Dad used the hot knife to remove the comb wax capping, and I’d run them in the extractor.

Cover honey in the spring, buckwheat honey in the fall, and we’d haul hives around to pollenize orchards for people every year.

Oldman3 - don't feel bad, its my first year doing this too and I'm still learning. I read a lot and watched a lot of YouTube videos over winter.

Temp management wise -

In the summer we flipped the top cover of the hive so that a slit was across the top for ventalation (the top is plywood, with 3/8” boarder except for the front.
when it is in the 90’s bees would be at the top and bottom and fanning thier wings to help air flow through the hive.
We also painted our hives with aluminum paint to reflect the sunlight and help keep them cool, in the winter we’d put boards with small entry cuts in them at the bottom hive entrance to help keep cold air out.

Skunks - have you guys run into the grass being pulled away from the bottom of the hive ?
That’s what it looks like when a skunk goes to the hive at night and rolls the bees around in the grass to get them to sting, and then he eats them.

I take my last post back then.

And yes, the top feeder is safer. But sometimes an entrance feeder makes sense..




Geno! One thing I have learned is that it's best to have more than one hive. That gives you a resource for rescuing a troubled hive.

Well, my buddy I'm starting up with got a package just like mine. His wife ordered them together for us. He kept 11 hives or so when they lived over in the bee area. Retired up here a year or two back and is just getting started again.

He got lucky, somewhat. His neighbor lent him a frame of brood to try to help his get fired up. Not sure, but he doesn't think it's going to help much.

We have an ad in the local paper for folks to call us if they want a swarm removed. Figured why not, as we have boxes and the clothes and smarts to do that. Maybe we get lucky yet and have a colony or two to overwinter for next spring's flow?

As I think I mentioned, neither of us has ever tried bees in this climate. But, we're both retired and can always use another project, eh?

We plan to help each other out with bees, queens, etc if needed in the future.

Geno, I can imagine it's good to have someone close by that can help ya, especially if they know what they're doing. As far as I know, no one in my community has bees, except me. One fellow told me he tried some a few years ago, but they didn't make it and he's not tried anymore. I hope that bee club out of West Monroe gets to start up their meetings next month.