Basic questions with "it depends" type answers

1. Depends on if 8 frame, or 10 frame box to start, Also there are deep, medium and shallow boxes in either 8 or 10 frame configurations. then how many frames the beekeeper actually has in the box. Can also be effected by nectar source, humidity, beekeeper management and so on.

Rough average with all frames in the box 8 frame = deep 65lb, medium 30 not sure on shallow, never used one
10 frame=80ish medium 49ish

2. Your honey frames are in your "Supers" (boxes above the brood nest "brood boxes") Bees will go back down into the brood box's
Now if you need/want to take honey from a brood box, for lets say they are getting honey bound, you just replace it with a drawn empty comb or new foundation type frame.

3. Generally once after your local main honey flow, for many across the country, supers are pulled by end of June. This can be more a regional; thing as some parts of the country have longer and later fall flows and if they want that late dark honey for overwinter (some don't, especially in colder climates. Dark honey has more mineral and can bee a problem for bees that can't get out to pooh for 3-5 months)

Well my hive is not doing well. I think it’s just a matter of time. I did not see a queen, no eggs, a few capped brood cells but not much. Half frame of uncapped honey it looked like, a little bit of pollen.

Yesterday morning went and got a bee tree off a county road before the county burned it. Moved it to my BIL’s garden.

Hope they stick around….at least they won’t be burned up…..

Didn’t get a pic after I pulled the rags from the entrance. They weren’t pleased with road-trip and being closed up.

Does anyone have any history with the Golden Cordovan’s? We bought a couple complete hives and Im curious If you had any problems with them.

I have run several for probably 7-8 years, some times I'll have 6, right now I have 2 and then 2 others that are x's from others I had. Generally the calmest bees I've been around. Need plenty food as they build and brood a lot as well.

Great bee imo, but really just a blonde Italian. They are like Italians on steroids at times, like the traits are more expressed, The color is recessive so it wains from queens raised from them. I like them and order mine from a pretty closed apiary in N cali that has a real remote breeding facility. Several places sell them tho.

When did you check them last? any open brood/larva at all? How many bees do you figure?

I did the very same thing once probably 6 years ago. Super big bull mesquite from S Texas that was delivered to a mill up here. I ended up having to cut them out as they wanted the tree back lol

I appreciate the insight, I bought them for their color and the speed they supposedly build brood. I’m planning to experiment with these and try my hand at raising a few queens for the challenge of it at some point. I do have a question on these hives though, their complete hives with 4 frames of brood and a couple frames of honey so will I need to offer them food at first or simply let them do their thing and keep an eye on them? All of our nuc’s and packages are being fed but I’m unsure about these complete hive’s.

I’m a long ways from needing one but what do you recommend for an extractor so I can be on the lookout for one?

Reason I was asking, even tho that hive didn't expand like you'd expect, they may have tried to swarm, or supersede your queen. Any evidence of queen cells being broke down by the workers? Could be a new queen went out to get mated and didn't return.

If you have enough bee's and you're pretty certain there isn't anything nefarious going on ( suspect possibly a problem with Mites, or lack of nutrition for brood rearing and likely a poor queen) You can order a queen and get her usually within a few days

Depends on what you see and smell in the hive which way I'd go, given there is enough bees to take the hive further with a new queen.

Yeah, I like the color as well, it also goes back to what I said above, they generally do what Italians do but with vigor lol I've had some that lagged along, had a couple that blew up and swarmed even with half empty boxes. They use more food overwinter as well being a big, populace hive.

I'd feed them until they are settled in and you see eggs at least, longer if the flow is slow and you need foundation drawn. If they stop taking it, they probably found a good nectar source. It takes a lot to feed brood and draw comb, so I'd check them weekly to 10 days and make sure you see nectar in cells. You want them fed, but not to the point they become honey bound.

Are the "complete hives" 10 or 8 frame? 4 frames of brood and couple of honey, leaves you short unless you're using a frame feeder, or un-drawn foundation..

I'll come back this afternoon with some ideas for extracting and bottling or storage from my pov and what Ive done and seen, could be a longer post lol

Thumper, just an after thought, how many hives do you have, or will have soon? If you have nucs and they are good ones, they probably need to be in a brood box. Good queens can potentially burn up a nuc quick and swarm.

IMO, extractor will depend on budget, time and manpower you want to put into it, how many hives you may be extracting. I started this time like many and went crush and strain. Then caught a plastic 2 frame manual extractor 50% off so got that, worked ok for a couple years. It is labor intensive, so I modified the crank to use a drill motor.

There are two types of extractors, tangential and radial. The difference is in how the frame is placed in the extractor, tangential requires extracting one side of the frame, flipping it over and doing the other side (how my plastic one was).

One of the big names is Maxant, solid equipment and priced accordingly. I have the maxant 16 gal heated bottling tank, great quality for me.

I opted for a Lyson Optima 12 frame extractor for several reasons. Made in Poland not China, half the price almost of a maxant, I like the drain better than maxant's, have to tilt the maxant to full empty, has many good reviews. Also, maxant seems to always have a several month backlog as they build as orders are made. I had mine at my door from Betterbee in 3 days.

There was a brand from Canada, priced similar to maxant and was reported to be super solid quality but cant recall the name.

Crush and strain is the cheapest way to go and imo a press like the one, makes it pretty easy. I have this one for comb.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QMVZFBP?psc=1&ref=ppx_y
o2ov_dt_b_product_details

You'll find a couple seal-able, food grade buckets real handy, I have these and think they last longer than the tab style
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BGKSV412?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

Real handy and what I do for now is a 5 gallon honey bucket with gate valve and a 5 gallon 400 micron strainer, str8 from the extractor thru the screen and it's clean honey in the bucket that you can bottle from if wanted. (provided you've tested for moisture)

You can buy a gate valve for $10 and add it to a food grade bucket like the ones above
https://www.amazon.com/House-Naturals-Plastic-Gallon-Beekeeping/dp/B09QKMTFTG/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=honey%2B5%2Bgallon%2Bbucket&qid=1681869177&sr=8-7&th=1

Strainer, many use 5 gal paint strainers from lowes, I like these and they clean up great with a little warm water
https://www.amazon.com/Strainer-Filtering-Coatings-Silicones-Particle/dp/B01LZ2YCHM/ref=sr_1_9?keywords=honey%2B5%2Bgallon%2Bbucket&qid=1681869177&sr=8-9&th=1

There are several good brands and many made "over there", stainless and motorized is great if demand and budget work out. Start as well as you can and don't impulse buy without a little research and reviews.

https://www.betterbee.com/extractors/lyson-12-frame-radial-motorized.asp

https://www.maxantindustries.com/

All I got right now, will post more if it comes to me.

Couldn't get couple links to work

We’ll have over 20 next week but that numbers going to rise, everything is in 10 frame deeps including the new hives. I was referring to the purchased nuc’s but they were immediately put in the 10 frame deeps upon arrival. When I get some free time I’ll look into the extractors you mentioned but I won’t be doing anything manually that much I know, I’m of the mindset work smarter not harder these days.

On a side note I ticked off my first Hive today and got blasted in the temple and right below the ear today by 2 dive bombers lol, they got upset when I bumped the Hive right before dark and then walked in front of it way to close. They’ve all been really gentle but I’d get upset if someone about knocked my house over and then walked by the front door, revenge is a mother trucker when your on the receiving end of it..

Manually has it benefits since it is cheaper and works out well for few hives, even using a drill was better. Also works for many hobbyist as you can upgrade if it comes to that. But. I'm running with the Lyson and not looking back lol. If you have in your mind you need the best name brand outside of cost, Maxant has the 9f w/wo motor, That is the one I was considering before I went with the Lyson.

Yes sir, one end of those bishes aint to friendly

That is one reason I generally order queens, well out of the African gene pool. I have also had some open bred queens that where quite docile as well, much depends on the 15-20 drones they mate with. Also, small hives attitude can change as it gets bigger

I’ll check them out, I’m not so much interested in buying the best of the best but I’m a firm believer in buying quality stuff and not second guessing myself a year down the road. I learned my lessons years ago on buying cheap stuff so I cry once and buy once these days when I can.


How many hives do you have currently?

Right now I'm down to 12, fixing to be 15, was down to 6 last fall after bad news at the doc. Decided last spring to go further in and made good increase then in Sept after the doctor visit, I was sold off most, was up around 40 in two small yards And now I find myself doing it again as I need to try to get a few revenue streams going. The physical part is my biggest hurdle, but like you said, try to work smarter.

O agree on buy the best you can afford, within reason. If you have the budget for the lyson like mine, I think you be happy with it, but do some reading and make comparisons. I know there are a lot of "foreign" brands like on Amazon and ebay, but notice what the bee supplies carry. Dadant also carries it's own line of extracting eq as well. The lyson hit all the marks for me at the time and I like that it has a bottom side drain.

Had a few hives in the early 90's after varroa and before hive beetles, Was my grandfathers idea. When I was a kid, grandfather, uncles and my dad had a commercial bee and honey bottling business and sold to many grocery chains.

The young kids like myself built frames and older cousins made boxes after school as work class, Sundays we did a lot of bottling, I was the label putter on'er and hated it.

Ask my grandfather how many hives they had since we didn't do that much, he said under 1k, I know they also had to buy truckloads in drums from Texarkana,Louisiana and Texas. One of my biggest regrets was not taking an interest and asking him questions.

https://geneticliteracyproject.org/...8a7bd785136c677521c339&trigger=click

I haven't read it yet, but the title is intriguing.


The title is Do bees have emotions and dreams.

Been making progress….hope to be finished this weekend.

The “bee palace” is almost finished. Honeysuckle and star jasmine are in. Just have one small piece of fabric, a little more wood chips, and pea gravel on the paths to go. Still have to go dig up a bunch of dewberries off the roadside for the raised beds…

The oleander hedge is planted, fabric is down, and chips down…. Just need to spread the chips around a bit.


We will have four varieties of peach trees ((8-10 trees total) between the oleander hedge and the star jasmine screen. Also will have three or four varieties of cherry trees. Discussing with the nursery now. These will be planned very late fall or very early spring…



Still have to finish fabric around the grapes and figs.! Figs are doing really well. Most of the grapes and berries also. Once the fabric is down just add wood chips.



Late this summer and again early fall I plan to till about 3/4 of an acre between the oleander hedge and the street. This fall I will sow about a thousand dollars of wildflower seeds. Also want to dig a 60’ by 80’ shallow pond (2’ to 6’) for Lilly pads. Spitfire is opposed by I may overrule!

Once I have all the fabric down and chips in I will add a soaker hose watering setup.

Brood frame from one of my Cordovan's, she is a laying machine. I tried to use my table magnifying glass with the phone, not very good

Buy a new queen

Snake you’ve been a busy man but it will all be worth it when your finished and it looks great!!!