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Yet to Bee!

2K views 9 replies 7 participants last post by  tecumseh 
#1 ·
My son and I are waiting for our first bees but the weatherman is keeping them delayed. Have on order two nine frame hives and two nukes all with overwintered queens. Have been busy putting together boxes and assembling and wiring up frames. Have been rather humbled by the amount of things there is to know about bees: it appears there is a wealth of knowledge here and nice to know there is someone handy to ask for advice.

It is a short season here and especially late getting started this spring so for sure we are not pre selling any honey for this fall. Will probably be looking for strategy for just getting them through the winter.

Frank
 
#3 ·
You'll catch on soon. =) I got my first bees late in the season last year and was so worried they hadn't "built up" enough to make it through the winter, but I tell ya, when you go out there and learn that they've survived - it's the best feeling EVER! Well.... and then you learn how to do your first split, and raise your own queen.....see! Lots of fun to be had! Hope they arrive soon for ya!!!!
=)
 
#4 ·
Hello and welcome to the forum Crofter,I'm new at this too,the friendly folks here can help you through just about anything.I've learned so much in a short time with all the help and advice I've gotten here.That has to be great having your son in it with you also.There are a few members here on your latitude that I'm sure can will be very helpful,to help get you through the brutal winter up there.
 
#5 ·
Hey Crofter:
Welcome to the friendliest bee forum :thumbsup: "Tried the rest, settled here on the best"
Congratulations on getting involved in one of the most addictive hobbies around. You will find tons of useful information here and any questions you may have will receive answers (sometimes several :lol: ) in a very short time.
I'm another beek from the "tundra" as Iddee likes to tell me, so we may have a lot in common regarding some issues so don't hesitate to ask questions. The only dumb question is the one not asked. Been at it several years now and I still post lots of questions, everyday something new and interesting will pop up.
 
#7 ·
Welcome aboard and I do hope you come to enjoy 'the girls' as much as myself.

I know this is a tad early in the game... but a question...

a snip...
Have on order two nine frame hives and two nukes all with overwintered queens.

tecumseh:
is this fairly common in Canada to sell hives and nucs with overwintered queens. I do this (overwintering in small boxes) myself to get an early start on queen rearing but I was wondering if this was a common way to advertise and sell hive starts in other places?
 
#8 ·
tecumseh said:
.. but a question...

a snip...
Have on order two nine frame hives and two nukes all with overwintered queens.

tecumseh:
is this fairly common in Canada to sell hives and nucs with overwintered queens. I do this (overwintering in small boxes) myself to get an early start on queen rearing but I was wondering if this was a common way to advertise and sell hive starts in other places?
My understanding is that it is hard to produce any great number of this season laying queens for May delivery. With new queens the places I inquired had no nucs before the first week of June.Dandylion only started blooming 2 weeks ago if that is any comparison; maybe their long underwear is screwing up the drones performance, Lol!
A friend will also have several hives on the same site. We are looking at requeening all and perhaps put the old queens into small splits to draw out comb.
I have built several Cloake boards and a bunch of mating nucs and have been meditating on a bunch of different graftless queen rearing methods so we will see how that goes. Right now I need to learn a lot more to even know the right questions to ask; a bit of the cart before the horse since we still have no bees!

Frank
 
#9 ·
Hey Crofter:
We have the same issue over here (Nova Scotia) as well, new local queens are not available till June 20th (called yesterday) so if you want a nuc in May, you are either getting an offshore (Hawaiin or Australian ) queen, or an overwintered one.
Boy, you're into cloake boards and mating nucs already :D , and researching queen rearing as well. You've got it baaaaaaad! :mrgreen:
 
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