Things for new beekeepers to know during their first month (and after) of beekeeping.

1. Your First
Month
with Bees

2. Tools needed to work bees
You will find a number of
items in bee catalogs that
can be considered tools to
use when working bees.
However, you will need
only two:
 A smoker
 A hive tool

5. Reasons for absconding (bees left, not a “dead-out”):
– extra queen shaken in with bees when package made
– robbing/lack of food
– screened bottom boards (too much ventilation,
decreased retention of queen pheromone)
– disease
– hive sprayed with pesticides
– hive too small
– very fresh paint
– any other situation which the bees find untenable

6. Things to remember about the colony growth of a
swarm or package of bees…
The population of bees in your new hive will decrease steadily until
new bees emerge from cells to replace the bees which die. This is
the reason to find any problems with your queen quickly.

9. Smoke is a great help in
controlling honey bees.
However, don’t use too much.
Good fuel to use in your
smoker:
Wood shavings
Burlap
Punk wood (decaying wood
easily found in dead trees).
Pine needles

10. Give a couple puffs of smoke at entrance.
Wait a moment for it to take effect.

11. What should we be looking for when we begin to
work the hive?
First, a beekeeper’s job is to do the least amount of
damage to the bees.

12. A hive should not be open any longer than necessary
to do an inspection.
You are looking for things that are not normal.
As you gain experience, this will become easier. Hold
the frame so that the sun is reaching the frame from
over your shoulder.

13. Things you don't want to see:
Varroa mites that might be on bees.
Queen cells?
Other things in the hive such as mice, yellow jackets,
wax moths, SHB, etc.

14. You should see:
A good population of honey bees.
Eggs, larvae, and capped brood.
Honey and pollen.

16. This frame from the brood chamber is close to ideal.
Honey is stored at the
top of the frame
Capped brood fills
much of the rest of
the frame.

17. It's not necessary to find the queen each time we open the hive.
We can tell that she is present if you can see eggs in cells.

20. A check list:
Is the queen present and do you see all stages of
brood development for worker bees?
Are the bees bringing in pollen and nectar?
Is the bee population growing?
Are the bees building new comb?
Is it time to add another brood box or put on a honey
super?
Is there anything unusual you notice?

21. Self-spacing frames
Do not allow excessive gaps that will allow burr
and bridge comb.

26. Poor
laying
pattern
Good brood
pattern

27. Frames with a
spotty brood
pattern

28. If the queen has no empty cells in which to lay eggs, the
hive is “honey-bound.”