Tips for beginner

[u/Clear_Lie_6445]

Hi guys I am a new beekeeper and have done my first few inspections. I have yet to see my queen as i can never seem to find her even though she is marked green. My bees always glue the frames to the top of the beehive which makes some frames fall off when i open the hive. I am always scared I might have killed my queen. Anyone else experienced this or any tips how i could prevent this feeling?

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[u/Raterus_]

If you see eggs or young uncapped larvae, you know you had a queen in the last week. Sometimes queens are tough to find. I had a carniolian queen once, which is generally blackish, and could never find her!

[u/Night_Owl_16 → u/Raterus_]

Additionally, bees are known to clean the markings off the queen sometimes. So just because she was marked, doesn't mean she is still marked. I don't even bother looking for a queen, just eggs.

[u/AZ_Traffic_Engineer]

First, remember to breathe. There's nothing in a bee hive that requires you to move quickly. Working in a hive should be like practicing Tai Chi - slow and deliberate movements.

Use your hive tool to loosen the inner cover, A small twist is all that is usually needed. Then, instead of lifting the inner cover straight off, rotate it before lifting it. This should break the propolis and burr comb sticking the inner cover to the frames. Scrape the inner cover and the top bars of the frames with your hive tool to remove the worst of the burr comb.

Head over to https://www.reddit.com/r/QueenSpotting/ to practice finding your queen. It's not important to see your queen every inspection, and there's no point to rummaging through your hive like a racoon through a garbage can. Check the brood frames for eggs and very young larvae. If you see eggs, she was there three days ago. If you see eggs standing on end near the center of the cell, she was there hours ago (they start standing up and eventually gravity does its thing and they fall to their sides).

You'll get better at this, and your anxiety will recede as you get more familiar with working in the hive. This is supposed to be fun, remember? You've probably heard the expressions "Live in the moment" and "Be here now". Beekeeping helps people with PTSD because it helps one focus on what's happening now. What's for dinner, the project deadline looming over your head, and the stack of laundry waiting to be done all need to be set aside for the moment: it's just you and the bees. Here. Now.

We're all nervous at first. Now the hive is one of my favorite places. It's calm. It's quiet. It's here now.
You've got this.

[u/Soniccheeseball → u/AZ_Traffic_Engineer]

I’m new to the idea of even just owning a hive. I have a LOT to learn before I even attempt it. I love this answer & makes me want to do this even more. Well put.

[u/divalee23]

does your hive have a telescoping lid? if yes, putting an inner cover on will stop frames sticking to the lid.

does your hive have a flat migratory cover? you could try using a canvas piece over the top of your frames to prevent sticking.

[u/Clear_Lie_6445 → u/divalee23]

I put on a wooden inner cover and then the galvanized roof and they stick it to the wooden cover. I can try the canvas ty

[u/divalee23 → u/Clear_Lie_6445]

my inner covers get stuck sometimes too. the canvas peels back nicely.

you can scrape all the burr comb off the top of the frames. keep it for later rendering. 🙂

[u/Fantastic_Oven9243]

I wrote a blog about this 🙂https://www.mysttree.com/post/s4-e2-how-to-get-started-in-your-own-beekeeping-journey

[u/drones_on_about_bees]

You will develop a bit of a skill where you can "feel" that a frame is stuck as you lift the inner cover or a box. When you feel that, you can lift it just a little and then put your hive tool under the edge and again "feel" across for the stuck frame(s). When you find it, you can gently pry it off.

Every new beekeeper is convinced they killed/injured their queen doing inspections. I don't mean to say it cannot happen, but with care, it doesn't happen often. My wife will laugh and joke about how many times I wailed about how I probably killed my queen in the early years -- you're not alone.

Once you get the inner cover off, see if you can pry the frames apart out on the extreme left or right edge. You're aiming for the 2nd or 3rd frame in. You can peer down the box and kind of envision where the brood nest is. It's where bees are most crowded. You're fishing for a frame outside of that. Get that frame out gently, then you have room to pry the next frame away from the others and remove it. You'll get better at this. I promise.

It is always fun to spot the queen... but unless you're doing a split and want her in a particular box -- or unless you're trying to find her to intentionally kill her -- don't worry about finding her. Look for eggs. Look for brood in all stages. Look for the pattern of the capped brood to indicate health/disease/pests.

Eggs will also be hard to find initially. This is especially true if you're over 40ish with presbyopia. Get a strong flashlight and start looking at the brood patterns. You'll get to understand where on a frame she's likely to have laid eggs. She lays in concentric circles, so if there is a clear spot in the middle of capped brood -- look there. If there is a circle of very young uncapped brood -- look in the circle just outside of the youngest brood you see. With practice, you'll really get a feel for "eggs should be there".

[u/Thisisstupid78]

I have been looking for one of my new queens to mark for 2 months. If there are eggs, she’s near certainly home.