Maintaining New Bee Colonies (Video)

Learn the dos and don’ts of inspecting newly installed bee colonies for health and productivity.

By Staff
Published on May 2, 2016
article image

From Brush Mountain Bee Farm

Have an Objective

A common error many new beekeepers make is to overwork their hive. Every time you open the cover on the hive you are setting your bees back in production.  This is not to say that inspecting your hive is a bad practice but you should have a clear objective for working your hive.  Shane Gebauer, president of Brushy Mountain Bee Farm, is returning to an 8 Frame Hive in the video that recently had a Nucleus colony installed into it. As he is inspecting the frames he has two questions in mind:

Is the queen laying?

Finding the queen is a difficult and timely task that is unnecessary. Always check for signs of eggs when inspecting your colony and be aware that the first few frames may not contain eggs. Eggs indicate a Queen was present within the last 3 days. Eggs, larvae, and capped brood confirm a balanced expanding colony.

Online Store Logo
Need Help? Call 1-866-803-7096