http://scientificbeekeeping.

com/first-year-care-for-your-nuc/

First year beekeeping scientificbeekeeping.com

Updated 27 Feb 2017. I continually update this page, so please refer to the current version. For mite
treatment options, scroll down.

This page provides some quick step-by-step notes for your first year of beekeeping, written specifically for
those starting with a nucleus hive or package bees purchased from me, but generally applicable.

First, educate yourself! A honey bee colony is a living animal that deserves to be cared for properly.
You are beginning beekeeping at a time in which honey bees arestruggling to stay alivebeekeeping is
more difficult than it was prior to the parasitic varroa mite (which invaded around 1990). Although honey
bees are essentially wild animals living in a box provided by their keeper, bees are in the midst of an
evolutionary struggle due to the introduction of varroa (which completely changed colony stress and virus
dynamics), as well as that ofNosema ceranae (an opportunistic parasite that can cripple a stressed
colony). In addition, the bee population now faces the additional novel stressors ofpersistent European
foulbrood, loss of forage in many areas, the effects of climate change (shorter winters), and pesticide
exposure.

It is more difficult to keep healthy bees than it is to care for a pet (for which you generally need only to
provide food). The more you understand the biology of colony health and dynamics, the more successful
you can be at beekeeping. Bees see and respond to the world (environmental cues) very differently than
do humans. In order to be a better beekeeper, I suggest that you try to learnto see the world through the
eyes (and antennae) of the bee, and to think as does the honey bee superorganism.

What is your motivation?

Please allow me to be frank. If your motivation is to save the bees, please realize that the honey bee is in
absolutely no danger of extinction. Caring for a hive of bees requires several hours of husbandry a year,
involving opening and inspecting the frames inside, and getting stung. Keeping your bees alive and
healthy these days requires management for the varroa mitemost beginners fail at this, and their colonies
die an ugly death.

So if your motivation is to help the bees, unless youre willing to provide a hive with good husbandry, youd
do more service to bees, other pollinators, and the environment by planting flowers and flowering shrubs
and trees, supporting small farmers, buying local produce, minimizing your carbon footprint, and telling
your representatives to support the EPA.

On the other hand, the keeping of honey bees offers one a tangible connection to the wild. If youre
willing to make the effort, the honey bee can help to connect you to Nature, and to the joy of experiencing
how this fascinating social insect manages to eke out a living.

Books

There are several good beginners books.

First Lessons in Beekeeping, Dadant. Standard beginner reference.

The Beekeepers Handbook by Diana Sammataro & Alfonse Avitabile. Many recommend this one.

Beekeeping
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Beekeeping for Dummies. I havent yet read, but several beginners have recommended.

Honey Bee Hobbyist by Norm Garygood overall understanding, rather than how-to.

Homegrown Honey Bees by Alethea Morrison. A fun journal of the experiences of a first-year beekeeper.
The author ran it by me for accuracy prior to publication, so good info.

A Book of Bees, SueHubblebeautiful prose about being a beekeeper

And of course, ScientificBeekeeping.com. Although I have yet to summarize my many articles into a book,
I suggest that you familiarize yourself with bees, starting with how the colony manages its labor pool, feeds
itself, varroa management, The Rules of Beekeeping, and finally First Year Beekeeping.

Beginners should always wear a veil!

(Thanks to beekeeperTrish Harness for this suggestion)

Approach bees with respect, but get over your fear of them as quickly as possible. Stings are the bees
way of telling you that you have made them think that they need to defend their colonyonce you learn not
to give them reason, you can make it look like magic.

In my beginners demonstrations, I get people over their initial fear by my example of wearing only shorts
and a tee shirt, opening a hive,, and then shaking a tub full of bees from the comb, then ladeling scoops of
bees with my bare hand into their bare handsno one ever gets stung. After this demonstration, everyone
is far more relaxed around the bees. But I know exactly what Im doing.

And Ive been stung so many times that I no longer swell up or itch after a sting (OK, slight temporary
swelling when stung on the lip or eyelid). One gets used to stings to the hands and elsewhere, but the
ones to the face still hurt like hell for a few minutes. So although you will see many experienced
beekeepers working without veils (because its so much easier to see the queen, eggs, etc.), I strongly
suggest that beginnersalways wear a veil until they no longer swell in response to stings.And make sure
that any visitors wear a veil. Practical tip: put on your veilbefore you enter the apiary, and dont remove
it until you are out of sight of the hives (this is when many get stung to the face). We really like the hooded
jackets that unzip from the front (I dont like to promote particular brands, but we like the Eco-keeper
hooded jackets).

You will be a far better beekeeper as soon as you learn to work without gloves, but I suggest that you learn
to do so by working small colonies under perfect conditions. Under other circumstances try using 5 mil
white nitrile, long-cuff gloves.

Ive been happy with the two brands above. Each feels a
bit different, but I cant say that I prefer one over the other.
These gloves prevent most stings, are long enough to
tuck under the cuff of your jacket (I recommend a hooded
jacket), and are remarkably durable (Ive gotten 4 full
days of hard work out of some pairs).

Page 2 of 15 We
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We
really
like
these
gloves
when we
are
working
bees in
cold or
rainy
weather
nitrile-2 nitrile
(we
rarelywear
gloves during warm weather). I put on a glove during warm weather for the photo aboveyes, they get a bit
sweaty, but your dexterity isso much better than with leather gloves.

You do not want to avoid stingsthat will only predispose you to eventual bee sting allergy. Working with
gloves allows you to get into bad habitswhen gloveless, the bees will patiently remind you each time you
make a mistake. If youre getting stung, youre doing something wrong (this does not apply so much with
Africanized bees). It may be hard for beginners to believe, but once your immune system gets used to
regular stinging, your body misses it when it doesnt get its regular doses of bee venom.

The Rules

Q: What should I do?

A: There are no shoulds in beekeeping other than practicing good animal husbandry. Bees need only a
dry cavity, food (nectar, pollen, or syrup and pollen supplement if lacking from natural sources), and
parasite management. My basic rule is to not do anything unless you completely understand the reason
that you are doing it!

You will find on the internet a plethora of opinions (often strongly expressed) on the
right way to keep bees. In general, the more emphatic the author, the less Id trust the information. For a
review of the rules according to the bees, see The Rulesand The Rules Redux.

My adviceconcentrate on (1) varroa management and (2) nutrition (in California, especially in the late
summer).

Getting Started

I strongly suggest that you start with two deep Langstroth brood chambers, and later medium honey
supers over a queen excluder (lots of reasons). Such equipment has truly stood the test of time (since the
mid 1800s) and is by far the easiest way to learn to keep bees. You can try other systems (top bar, Warre,
etc.) later, after youve experienced success with standard equipment. If weight (of the boxes) is an
issue for you, I suggest using 8-frame Langstroth equipment (same as above, but a narrower, lighter box).

Installing the bees

Congratulations,
Page 3 of 15 youve just purchased either a quality nucleus colony (nuc) or a shook swarm
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Congratulations, youve just purchased either a quality nucleus colony (nuc) or a shook swarm (package
bees)with a

newly-mated queen from selected stock!

Some nucs (and all packages) have the queen cagedI will let you know.
If so, remove the candy cap when you get home to allow the bees to chew
through the candy and release the queen. But do NOT remove the candy
cap if the bees are tightly balled over the cage, indicating that they have
not yet accepted the queenwait another day until they are walkinglightly
over the cage.

Install the nuc in the center of a brood box with additional frames to fill the
box. Keep the frames of the nuc in their original order. Be very careful not
to crush the queen!

Instructions 1 For a package, there are a zillion recommendations for specifics as to how
to install the bees. It makes little difference if you are installing only a single package if there are no other
hives immediately nearby (if there are, install late near dusk to avoid drift of bees to the established hive).
In general,lift out the feeder can to remove the queen cage, andhang the cage (use a grocery store twist
tie) from the top of a center frame. Thenshake the bees out of the cage into the hive (you can temporarily
remove frames). Then replace the hive cover (you can place the package with the hole next to the
entrance to allow the rest of the bees to find their way into the hive.

Immediately, and consistently start feeding sugar syrup to the new colonyuntil all the frames in the lower
box are fully drawn. Feeding sugar syrup to the small colony frees the bees from the need to forage for
nectar, and they can use their efforts instead to collect pollen, rear brood, produce beeswax, and draw out
comb.

Irecommend making a dedicated feeder lidmake it from a 16 x 20 piece of plywood, with an approx.
1 hole in the center. Use this lid temporarily in place of your regular lid(s). Make a feeder bottle from any
wide-mouthed quart jar, with about three small holes punched closely together in the center of the lid. To
use the feeder, fill the jar 2/3rdsfull of white granulated sugar (feed no other sugars), then add hot tap
water until nearly full. Place your finger over the holes, and shake til the sugars dissolved. Invert the jar,
centered over the hole in the feeder lid. Generally, feed a quart a day.

An example of a simple feeder jar and temporary hive

cover for feeding. By making the hole smaller than the
size of the lid, plenty of beespace is left above the top
bars. Use a wide-mouth jar for stability.

For best queen survival, you should not disturb the new
colony for a few days (other than feeding). Inspect the
colony after a week. Use little smoke and minimal
disturbance. If alls well, the bees should have started
drawing out fresh comb, there should be brood of all
ages, including white larvae and eggs. Note that eggs are
very difficult for the beginner to see, especially against

Feeder jar and OSB hive hive cover

new
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new comb. The presence of any eggs, or young larvae in
royal jelly, means that you have a queen, and alls wellyou need not actually see the queen!

Q: How often should I inspect my colony?

A: There are no shoulds in beekeeping. You are learning about beekeeping. You can learn some things
from books, but there is nothing like the hands-on experience that you get from closely observing what is
going on inside the box. So open your hive as often as you can (every other day is OK) so long as you use
only enough smoke to keep the bees from looking at you, and handle the frames carefully and gently.
Sure, such frequent opening is disruptive to the bees and may result in some degree of queen losses, but
it is the only way you will ever become a good beekeeper. It is far easier to observe the growth of a small
nucleus colony than it is to tear into a hive when it is huge. So get in there and watch your colony grow!
Learn to recognize the ages of the brood, fresh eggs, the expansion of the broodnest, pollen stores, comb
building, etc. It is not necessary to ever actually see the queen, so long as you see eggs or young brood.

Initial Varroa Management

Unless I tell you otherwise, any nuc that I sell has already been treated to reduce varroa levels (we use a
dribble of oxalic acid syrup during a critical window of time; see Oxalic Treatment of Nucs). For packages,
I suggest that you give any package a similar treatment prior to Day 8 after installation (at which time
varroa can begin to hide in the sealed brood). If the nuc has not been treated, I suggest the application
of either a Hopguard II strip (considered an organic treatment, but less effective), or an Apivar strip
(synthetic, but highly effective).

Reading the Combs

There is little need to ask others for adviceif you learn to read the bees and the combs, the colony will tell
you its exact condition, and whatever it needs. Ive labeled the components below.

To determine colony condition, work your way to a center

brood comb, an pay most attention to the interface
between the honey at the top, and the brood below.

In this
dynamic
interface,
you will
be able
to tell
whether
Beginning 1 the
colony is
hungry
or
storing
Beginning 2

honey,
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honey,
and how good their protein reserves are.

You always want to see a nice band of beebread around

the brood. Should this band disappear, suspect that the
colony is suffering from nutritional stress (more later).
There does not seem to be any benefit to feeding pollen
sub patties to colonies if they are already gathering plenty
of natural pollen (in the Foothills, from Feb-end of June).

I have written a lengthy Understanding Colony Buildup

and Decline seriesall posted to
ScientificBeekeeping.com. Reading this series from
beginning to end will give you a deep understanding of
the biology of this fascinating creature, and allow you to
make better management decisions on your own.
Beginning 3

Handling Tips:

Move smoothlylike youre doing Tai Chi. Bees only sting when they feel that you are threatening their
hive. So dont do anything threatening! Fast or jerky movements appear threatening. Always use smoke,
but use it sparingly. The only bees that will sting are the guard bees on the periphery of the
clusterespecially at the entrance and at the top bars. Bees that are not looking at you arent interested in
you. If you see bees looking at you, give them a little puff of smoke and wait until they turn away from you.
It is only safe to pick up a frame if there are no bees looking at you.

Bees will often fly at your hands or face and give warning bumps prior to actual stinging. Pay attention to
what they are telling youBACK OFF! They either dont want to be disturbed at that moment, or you have
not used enough smoke, or youve been too rough.

If there are bees looking at you, warning bumps, stinging, or the smell of alarm pheromone, STOP WHAT
YOU ARE DOING! Do not keep going, or things will quickly get worseyou dont want to go there! Give
the bees a chance to calm down, and for alarm pheromone to dissipate. Give the top bars a light puff or
two of smoke until there are no bees facing you. If you cant get them to calm down, then just close the
hive up for the day.

The best way to learn how to work gently with bees is to carefully watch an experienced beekeeper who
doesnt usually wear gloves (or veil). Such a beekeeper has learned how to work bees with care and
respect. Those who always wear gloves and full gear often have very bad habits. I strongly suggest that
you learn to work bees barehanded in good weatherthin latex or nitrile gloves are a good way to eliminate
most stings, but still get a feel for the bees.

Helping the Bees

As the population grows, and the colony can cover more frames, the bees will draw combs of foundation
from the center out, and the queen will start laying in those combs. This is your chance to watch a colony
grow! (The population of bees in a nuc will expand quickly; that of a package, not until 3 weeks after

installation).
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installation).
You may check the colony as often as you like,but be awarethat clumsy handling by beginners often
results in queen lossso handle the combs carefully.

In general, place the combs back into the same arrangement that the bees had. Always keep brood (and
frames of eggs) together, honey to the outside, and pollen at the edge of the brood nest.

Exception: Its hard for the bees to draw out the outermost combs. Once the bees draw out the inner side of
the second combs in, reverse those combs, and move them to the outside (only if they contain no eggssee
illustration).

Instructions 2 Feed the colony sugar syrup continuously, but not to the extent that the
queen is unable to expand the brood nest due to excess stored syrup and nectar. If the bees store syrup in
the center of the brood area, cut back on feeding.

Note that there is often a large colony-to-colony variation in buildup and honey production. Unless you
have other colonies to compare to, its difficult to know how well your colony is doing, compared to the
norm.

Make sure you have a queenindicated by eggs and brood of all ages. Note that it is common for
beginners to inadvertently kill the queen by inexpert handling of the frames!

Check to see that the queen is laying a regular pattern of brood in concentric rings by age. If brood pattern
is spotty or uneven, the queen may have a problem, or the colony may be suffering from a brood disease.

A colony with well-fed, healthy brood.

If there are multiple eggs in a cell, or you see

bullet-shaped cappings in worker brood cells, you may
have laying workers or a drone-laying queen. If you see a
peanut-shaped brood cell on the side of a comb, the
colony is in the process of replacing (superseding) a poor
queen.

If the brood is spotty, look for signs of brood

diseasechalkbrood (white & tan mummies), EFB
(twisted white & yellow larvaeoften hard to diagnose), or
AFB (sunken perforated cappings, melted brown larvae
Wet brood 2
that rope)

If there
Page 7 of 15are queen cells being formed, the colony may have lost their queen (several small,
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If there are queen cells being formed, the colony may have lost their queen (several small, scattered
emergency queen cells), may be superseding the queen (one or two very large queen cells on the side of a
frame; allow the process to continue), or be preparing to swarm (large queen cells often at the bottom of
the framescolony needs more room).

Varroa is the Leading Cause of Colony Morbidity and Mortality

The leading cause of colony failure for beginners is from not managing varroa mite levels, which then
allows viruses and nosema to kill the colony. If your colony was strong in summer, and then the bees
suddenly disappear in fall, leaving behind plenty of honey above, and scattered sealed brood in the lower
box, varroa is generally the culprit. You can diagnose by holding a brood frame horizontal with the top bar
away from you. With the sun coming over your shoulder to illuminate the ceilings of the cells, look for the
telltale white guanine deposits left by mites. If you see them, it was most likely varroa that did your colony
in. Here are some photos of typical varroa deadouts:

In this photo I have the top bar toward me (sun to

my back), looking at the floors of the cells for AFB
scale. To look for guanine deposits from varroa,
turn the top bar away from you.

A
colony
dying
from
varroa/D
Note
the
deformed
1-IMG_3859
wings
on
the
bee,
and
dwv the
fully-form
adults in the cells unable to emergea typical sign. Note the white guanine deposits left by the mites on the
cell ceilings.

Another shot of a colony dying from varroa/DWV. Again,

note the white deposits.

Close up
of some
guanine
deposits,
some
adult
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brood
unable
to
emerge,
and
some
cells
with the
cappings
partially
chewed
open.
dwv Varroa guanine resized
All
typical of
a varroa kill.

Treatment Free Beekeeping

Although my goal is to develop a stock of bees that require no treatment for varroa, I do not recommend
treatment-free beekeeping for beginners. Control varroa, or colonies will generally die an ugly and
unnecessary death from the varroa/virus complex. Not only that, but when that colony crashes, it floods
the surrounding colonies with varroa mites, making you a nuisance to both surrounding beekeepers, and
the feral population of bees that is slowly evolving resistance to the mite. PLEASE MANAGE MITE
LEVELS IN YOUR HIVES AND DO NOT ALLOW COLONIES TO COLLAPSE FROM VARROA.

Once youve mastered keeping colonies alive and healthy for at least three years, then you can experiment
with going without mite treatments (dont expect most commercial bee stocks to survive without
treatmentyou will likely have better luck with VSH, Russian, or feral survivors). There are several
easy-to-use and effective natural mite treatments on the market that will not contaminate your combs or
honey, as well as biotechnical methods such as drone brood trapping and queen caging.

Monitoring Varroa Infestation Levels

Starting in July after installing a new nuc or package, you should test it for mite level, using a sticky board
or other method (I strongly recommend the alcohol wash or sugar shake). Assume that all nucs have
varroa mite. You must monitor mite level, and treat if the mite level exceeds the seasonal treatment
threshold (1 mite/100 bees prior to July 1, 2/100 July 1 through late fall). We are having great success
with mite-tolerant queens, biotechnical methods, and natural treatments.

I recommend mite testing in early spring, before supering, again in early August, and in late September
(Northern Calif).

Due to the huge variability of stickyboard counts, any

single stickyboard count is nearly meaningless. However,
they can be of use if done regularly.

The best test is an alcohol or detergent wash of a level

half cup of bees (~320 bees), or the sugar shake (see
http://scientificbeekeeping.com/sick-bees-part-11-mite-monitorin
Page 9 of 15 ). Update: Im currently favoring taking
Mar bee samples
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). Update: Im currently favoring taking bee samples for
the alcohol wash from outer or upper frames (rather than
brood frames) in order to minimize colony disturbance and
the possibility of killing the queen. Since bees from these
frames carry only about 80% of the mites of bees from the
broodnest, adjust the treatment thresholds accordingly
(never more than 5 mites per level half cup of bees).

Update 27 Feb 2017: I have a few updates on the best

mite washer at Improved Mite Washer.

At less than 2 mites per 100 bees (6 in an alcohol wash of

1/2 cup of bees), virus transmission by mites is not a
Times to monitor jpg
major issue. At 5 per 100 (15 in a wash), some viruses
begin to go epidemic. At 15/100 (45 in a wash), colonies generally start to go into a death spiral.

The most important times to sample are early spring, and then regularly between August 15 and the onset
of winter.

Treatments for varroa control

Suggestion #1: Be proactive rather than reactive! It is far easier to keep the varroa level down from the
start, than to later attempt to bring it down once the mites have overrun the colony.

We have very good success with Apiguard gel (thymol) or MAQS (formic acid). I also recommend a 3.5%
oxalic acid dribble (applied accurately) before Christmas (Northern Calif). Ive detailed your seasonal
choices for mite treatments below.

Notes:

All miticides are poisons, but some are safer than

others to both the bees and to humans. The
natural treatments are all part of our normal diet,
and most are naturally found in the hive at low
concentrations. I do not hesitate to use them,
since the benefit of controlling varroa far outweighs
any health concerns to the bees or their keeper.
That said, the natural treatments are all stressful to
the colony, so application instructions must be
Mite management choices carefully
followed.
Proactive
treatment allows
you to use lower
(and less
stressful) doses.

Page 10 of 15 Thymol:
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Thymol: Natural
and safe (25 g of
Apiguard gel
contains the same
amount of thymol
as does 1 lb of
fresh thyme
herb). Thymol is
the only
consistently
Name your poison jpg
effective essential
oil (actually a crystal at room temperature) found to date. I suggest wearing disposable gloves (to remind
you not to rub your eyes) . Weve used Apiguard successfully from 55F to 95F, applying 25 g (in a lump,
not spread out) on an index card laid across the center of the top bars between the brood chambers
(application without the card can result in excessive colony disturbance)
http://scientificbeekeeping.com/the-learning-curve-part-3-the-natural-miticides/. We adjust the dose
according to cluster size and temperaturethe proper dose will cause the removal of a handful of pupae
onto the bottom board by the next morning (the colony will remove them from the hive soon afterward). I do
not recommend applying under the lid, especially in hot weather. Repeat in a week to 10 days if mite count
is not reduced adequately. Do not apply if honey supers are on.

Update 2016: recent tests of mine are showing better mite control by applying two 50-g doses ofApiguard,
10 days apart, on top of the hive (as per mfrs instructions) in a 1.5 wooden rim (to provide better air
circulation around the thymol). This works very well at daily high temps around85F, and can be used up to
105F (but the colony will be somewhat stressed during treatment). We do not taste thymol residues in the
honey after treatment, but the label calls for it not to be applied with honey supers on. We get high efficacy
with two 50-gram doses applied 10 days apart.

Formic acid: Natural and pretty safe, depending upon how you handle it (definitely wear nitrile gloves; the
respirator is generallyunnecessary). The three main advantages of formic are that it effectively kills mites,
is already a natural component of honey, and that it leaves zero residues in the hive. The problem is that
the liquid form is somewhat dangerous to handle, and getting an appropriate release of vapors is tricky.
The product Mite Away Quick Strips (MAQS) is the most user friendly
http://scientificbeekeeping.com/an-early-summer-test-of-mite-away-quick-strips/,
http://scientificbeekeeping.com/miticides-2011/. Works best in doubles without supers. A single-strip
treatment gives decent mite knock back. A half strip works for singles with at least 5 frames of bees.
Applied in doubles at full dose (two strips) in summer, we lose about 1 queen out of 25. Mite kill may not
be consistent, so check back. MAQS may cause the loss of poorly-performing queens when applied at
daily high temps above 85F.

Oxalic dribble: Natural and safe (the amount used is equivalent to that in a 3-oz serving of spinach).
This product is available at any hardware store as Wood Bleach. Follow the mixing directions at
http://scientificbeekeeping.com/oxalic-acid-treatment-table/ exactly, as there is only a small margin of
safety to the bees. The oxalic syrup is very safe to handle, but care should be taken not to splash it into
your eyes. The treatment is by far most effective if the colony is broodless. Best use is for a single
application in November, or earlier if the colony has shut down broodrearing. You can also apply in
summer3 applications, a week apart. Excellent for cleaning up nucs in the spring
http://scientificbeekeeping.com/simple-early-treatment-of-nucs-against-varroa/.

Update Aug 2016: Others are using oxalic vaporization, which can also give very good results, but has
operator
Page 11 of 15 safety issuesbe sure not to breathe the vapor! Im currently testing OA/glycerin strips,
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operator safety issuesbe sure not to breathe the vapor! Im currently testing OA/glycerin strips, which
appear promising. I will be publishing my results soon.

Amitraz: Commercial U.S. beekeepers have used the agricultural product Taktic, generally mixed with oil
or shortening, for a number of years with consistent success (although this practice is illegal). Apivar strips
are an improvement, being legal, as well as delivering a reduced and safer dose over 42 days, resulting in
high efficacy of kill, and fewer residues in the hive. The strips, however, do not cause a quick kill, so may
be most effective in either spring (applied at least 42 days before the honey flow), or in fall if mite levels are
not too high, and there is enough time before cold weather sets in. I gave Apivar only three stars since it
does leave a residue, which recent studies suggest may affect sperm viability in the queen and have other
sublethal effects on the bees, as well as the EPAs legitimate concerns about its safety to humans. There
is also evidence that some mite populations have developed resistance to the active ingredient.

Hopguard: this recent addition to the arsenal is completely natural, not surprisingly tasting like bitter,
concentrated hops http://scientificbeekeeping.com/miticides-2011/. Youll want to handle it with
disposable gloves due to its messiness. Its utility and effectiveness are similar to oxalic acid, but it is more
costly. The new Hopguard II strips are effective in nucs, packages, or broodless colonies; just be sure not
to directly hit the queen with the strip when you insert them.

Fluvalinate and Coumaphos: These first-generation synthetic miticides (along with the off-label use of
agricultural products containing the active ingredients) quickly bred for resistant mites, and contaminated
the entire U.S. beeswax supply. I cannot recommend their use.

Our typical mite management regime in Grass Valley is as below:

For further information, I suggest the

following articles:

VarroaStrategy

Mite Treatments 1

Mite Treatments 2

Formic acid strips

beginners-management Oxalic Acid

http://scientificbeekeeping.com/sick-bees-part-12-varroa-management-getting-down-to-brass-tacks/

CCD

Adding another brood chamber

Once the bees have drawn out all the combs in the first brood box, you can add the second brood box (you
may wish to add a drone frame for mite trapping). Keep feeding the colony until all the combs are drawn
out. At this point, the brood chamber is complete (assuming a double deep brood chamber), and you

should
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should discontinue feeding.

A healthy colony will often create drone comb between

the two brood chambers in spring. Always check such
exposed brood immediately for the presence of varroa, as
it is a decent indicator of brewing problems.

Adding Honey Supers

Once the colony has filled two brood chambers (this may
not occur in your first year), you can then add a queen
excluder (I highly recommend) and honey supers.

If the colony fails to move up onto foundation in an added

box:
Drone brood
Lack of honeyflow or syrup feeding. Bees will not draw foundation unless they are whitening wax due to
intense feeding or an intense nectar flow.

Dont bother adding foundation unless you see white wax.

But always add more combs if you do!

Queen Excluders

Bees do not like to draw foundation placed above an

excluder (not a problem if you are adding drawn comb,
which you will unfortunately not have available your first
season). To encourage bees to work through the
excluder, I suggest reversing the brood chambers if
there is a band of honey across the top of the upper
White wax combs. This maneuver will place brood directly below
the excluder, which encourages the bees to work upward.

Keep in mind that bees willnot draw foundation unless they are producing white wax. This rule applies
even more emphatically if you are trying to get them to work through an excluder onto foundation.

We have our best luck at drawing foundation by adding full boxes of 10 frames directly over the brood of
strong (at least 10 frames covered with bees) growing colonies during a strong nectar flow.

But there is a major advantage of keeping your honey supers free of brood cocoonswax moth cannot grow
on stored white combs free of brood cocoons or beebread (not enough protein). So you face a trade
offbees like to store honey in dark combs, but then you may have a storage issue if your storage area is
not cold enough.

Getting a Taste of Honey

OK,
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of 15 may not get a full honey crop your first season, but you can at least steal a little
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OK, you may not get a full honey crop your first season, but you can at least steal a little from the bees so
long as you replace it by feeding them heavy (2:1 sugar:water) syrup before cool weather sets in.

Lets say that the first brood box is full, and now the honeyflow is starting, and youd really like to get a little
honey the first year. Just put on the second brood box, and stop feeding syrup. Let the bees work up and
fill the box with brood and honey. Once the honeyflows over (usually once blackberry stops blooming at
the end of June), you can pull out frames of honey and do a scrape extraction. Use a tablespoon to
scrape the honey off the foundation into a nylon stocking hung in a gallon jar, then return the scraped frame
to the hive, and resume feeding until the bees draw it out again. They will winter just fine on honey made
from sugar syrup.

Winter Preparation

Your colony will generally reach its maximum size around July 1, and get somewhat smaller during the late
summer and fall. Colonies winter best (in the foothills) in two deep brood chambers or equivalent, with a
total weight (mainly due to honey) of about 130 lbs (you need at least two fingers to tip the hive). If the hive
is not heavy by the end of September, feed heavy sugar syrup until it is.

If your apiary is located in a dry area of the foothills, there may not be enough pollen to sustain late summer
broodrearingcolonies in these areas greatly benefit from late summer feeding with pollen
supplement. Any of the top-tier pollen supplements workif you dont see pollen beebread in an arc
above the brood, the colony is likely hurting for protein. We typically feed each colony several pounds of
pollen supplement during August through October. This may not be necessary if you live in town or in an
irrigated area.

The best indicator of protein status is how much jelly the nurse bees are feeding to the young larvae.
Larvae fed generously with jelly are called wet.

When a colony suffers from protein deficiency, the nurses

will cut back on the amount of jelly that they feed to
larvae. See the photo below for dry brood.

There
are eggs
in the
center
cells;
larvae
Wet brood being
given
minimal
jelly in
the cells
below.
When
Dry brood we see
such
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such
dry larvae, we immediately feel patties of pollen substitute (see Comparative Test of Pollen Subs).

It takes a fair amount of pollen sub to provide enough proteinabout one 1-lb patty per week (you can feed
several pounds at one time if you dont have Small Hive Beetle in your area).

Winter Prep

Winter prep consists of having the hives off the ground and in a well-drained sunny location. It helps to
reduce the entrance. A well-prepared colony (well fed, and low mite level) should need no care during the
winter, and will begin to rebuild its population in January. An insulated cover (such as with 1 of
Styrofoam) will help the colony.

Miscellaneous

The combs I am selling you are generally at least two years old. I recommend rotating old combs out of the
brood nest and discarding them when they get dark brown and rubbery hard.

Read all about beekeeping, but remember that there is no substitute for hands-on experience in the
beeyard with an seasoned beekeeper. Find a mentor in your area. The easiest test for choosing a mentor
is to find someone who consistently has extra bees for sale each spring (not necessarily the one who is
most strongly opinionated).

Getting a colony of bees is not like getting a puppyyou expect the puppy to live to old age; this may not be
the case with bees. In nature, a large percentage ofcolonies die each year. Even the best beekeepers may
have a third of their colonies die in some years. It helps to keep more than one colony, so that you can split
it in spring to make up for losses.

Good luck with your new colonyI hope you have great success this year! If you have suggestions as to
how I can improve these instructions, please let me know!

Category: Beginner's Pages

Tags: basic beekeeping, beekeeping in california, beginning beekeeping

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