My wife used oxalic acid to vapor treatment her 17 hives. Despite my concerns she comes into the house in her full bee suit, mask and gloves afterwards. She undresses partially in the hallway, still has the suit tied around her waist and comes into the kitchen to wash her hands. In addition she takes a water cup out with her and leaves it in the area when she vaps. I am concerned she is contaminating herself and the home and not treating the chemical with the respect and caution needed, she thinks Im over reacting, who's right?

I’m a new beekeeper in North NJ. All my other brood frames were completely empty, but this one still has some capped brood. Should I be concerned? Thanks for the feedback!

I have a bunch of bee equipment that is in fairly good condition but as I’ve never worked with it so I have no idea how to price it and sell it to someone who could benefit from it. (Don’t even know the name of each part)

I am based in Karelia in Finland.

Could anyone help me out?

Can share/post photos if needed. :)

I've always been told it's bad to boil water+sugar while making syrup (but it's ok to boil the water and then remove it from the heat before combining with the sugar). This is how I've been making syrup for a long while, even though it's hard to get 2-1 to dissolve.

1. My bee partner just mixed up a batch of 2-1 for our hives and it was so nicely dissolved. I asked her how she achieved that and she said she boiled it for a little bit. I said WHAAAAAT? Should I toss the syrup? I feel so uncomfortable using it.

2. Why is it ok to bring sugar to 230 degrees or whatever it is, for fondant? I can't remember what it is exactly but it's definitely above the boiling point.

Thanks!!!

Does anyone use rough raw lumber to make their bee boxes?

I have been stung upwards of 30 times doing hive inspections today 😭 fully suited/gloved!! I’ve only been stung a handful of times in the last year. Weather is definitely a factor as the temps are dropping and it’s a bit cloudy today, but the bees were on another level with me specifically. We have determined that they must have a fucking vendetta for oxi clean.

Can anyone suggest an alternative to get the smell out/for future washes? Maybe just a baking soda or vinegar wash?

Hi,
Can anyone tell me what’s going on with this frame with sunken dark cells? There are other frames in the brood box that have normal brood cells.

Comment as you will

Greetings, having had a full day at the apiary today, and being near the time where i can finally kill them all in a brood-less hive

I took my time to see how varroa behave when adhering on a live bee.

-They can walk way faster than i expected finding their way into the crevice between the abdomen of the bee rendering them virtually invisible

-It's extremely hard to physically dislodge a mite from the bee body just by sliding it off with your fingers, you need to pinch it off from below with your nails( I only imagine how hard is for our belove bees to scrape them off from their body with the limited tools they have)

-They don't die immediatlely,( i tossed 3 dislodged mites on a empty jar and theyre still alive and walking, to kill them off you must pinch hard with 2 fingers,

I have a hive in Southern California, we had a low-no pollen summer so I’ve been supplementing with pollen patties and syrup a lot. Even with the hive on ant-trap stilts and not touching anything except those stilts, ants have managed to find a way in. Are they living in the wooden boards?? I can’t find an outlet for their trail, it just looks like endless looping around and in the hive. Really stumped. Anyone encountered this before?
I’ve taken a break from supplementing until I can get a handle on the little buggers, which I’m pretty confident are argentine or thief ants, not carpenter ants.

So I have had something new happen in my beekeeping adventure. 2 days ago I went to give all my hives Hive Alive fondant patties. Ive done this every fall for a couple of years now, never had issues. Bees love it. So this year I opened each hive, put in a patty and closed hive.

Well the next day every hive has tried to rob every other hive. Its a free for all out there and I have never seen anything like it. I have witnessed a hive or 2 in get robbed before but not 10.
I even brought out the water hose to simulate a rain shower and that barely slowed any of them down.

Has anyone ever had this happen? I have no outside feeders, everything is internal. Honey stores should be in a good place for all hives and ive never had Hive Alive set any hives off before.

Western North Carolina.

Had an unusually warm day the other day (Zone 6A) and took advantage to inspect and feed.

Found that the bees had filled up nearly all of the deep frames and the medium frames and started storing food in the brood box.

Only saw about two frames of capped brood and they were scant. Wondering if this is to be expected or if there’s something else going on?

Other than that everything looks good. Population looks strong, treated for mites, food stores are great.

EDIT: the expo in KENTUCKY!!!

Fellow beeks! I'm a northern California (Marin County) beekeeper with ~16 hives. Its my side-gig, but the gig is mostly honey sales and hive hosting. Have an LLC, but it does not bring in much $$$ selling at the farmers market and retail.

Trying to decide if the NORTH AMERICA Honeybee Expo is for me. I've watched Kamon and Binnie, but flying out just to see big names is not worth it in my mind. What WOULD be worth it by coming to the expo? I have about 10y beekeeping experience more or less. I can't expand because I have a full time job and limited house space.

I’m interested in improving hive management, making extraction and bottling less of a sticky hostage situation, and learning how to grow without accidentally giving myself a second full-time job.

For those who’ve attended:

• Did you learn things that actually changed how you keep bees or run your business?
• How much of the value was the talks versus vendors and conversations with other beekeepers?
• Is it worthwhile for a small operation, or will I spend three days admiring machinery designed for someone with 2,000 hives and a forklift?
• Would you fly across the country to go again?
• Anything you wish you’d known before your first visit?

I’d love to come home with useful knowledge and a few good connections. I’m concerned I’ll come home with a $3,000 stainless steel object and an explanation that begins, “Okay, hear me out.”

Please help me distinguish professional development from a very elaborate bee-themed shopping trip.

Thanks for helping me decide!