Orientation Flights

Orientaion Flights! What are they? Why does it happen?

Questions will be answered!

One question I had, and I'm sure many of you have, when I was first getting into bees was how they know where the hive is when they need to return. If you have already watched the first video in this post, you know what I'm talking about: orientation flights. An orientation flight is exactly what it sounds like, the time when bees who have never exited the hive learn its location relative to the surrounding are. I hope to answer three questions about orientation flights.

1.What does it look like? - As you may have noticed in the video, the bees swarm around the entrance of the hive. This time is far more active than usual outside the hive. The bees hover in front facing the hive and do wide circles in the air to learn the location of the hive.

2. Why does it happen? - This is a time for all the bees that are about three weeks old to exit the hive for the first time. So far they have spent their life as "nurse bees" tending to baby bees, but it is now time for them to graduate and become forager bees. The bees are learning the appearance of the hive and surrounding landmarks, which they can remember, so that they can find there way home in the evening. Bees will also relieve themselves during this time, so be careful where you stand when observing!

3. When does it happen? - The orientation flights usually occur during or just after the hottest part of the day. Where I live, the flights are around 3-4p.m. Orientation flights happen daily if the weather is nice.

Watch my next video below to see what a hive normally looks like during the day.

*both videos are from my hive

When To Add a Second Brood Box

After my last inspection, eight out of ten frames were filled. That evening I went back to my beekeeping books to check when to add the second brood box. After reading up and surfing the web a bit, I found my answer. The rule of thumb is to add a new box when the lower box is 80% full. Great, I never thought the bees would expand this fast! I decided to wait the mandatory three days before opening the hive again.

Here you can see my brother and me working the hive. There are different methods to adding a brood box, but I chose pyramiding (let me know in the comments when and how you add new boxes to the hive). Imagine the broodnest as a pyramid in the center of the boxes, with the honey frames lining the outside. That is what I'm trying to do. It is a pretty basic process, just move the three center frames from the bottom to the three center slots in the top box. Push the remaining frames in the bottom to the center, then add empty frames to the outside.

This is my hive after I added the second box. I think that it looks really nice (except for the smudge of wax in the center, but hey, that gives it character). Be careful when you add a new box. If you add it too early, you run the risk of demoralizing the bees. Demoralizing is when there is so much empty room in the hive that the bees don't even think its possible to fill all the frames. Why attempt an impossible task? Demoralizing the bees will cause them to build slower, this will hold your beehive back. That is a concept I learned from "The Fat Bee Man" on youtube. He is very experienced and gives great tips.

Hive Inspection 1 & 2

I have done two hive inspections so far and I am excited to show you all the growth. The first three pictures are from the first inspection and the last four are from the second inspection. After we opened up the hive, we went straight for the new frames. Below you can see how much growth we had in one week.

Honestly, I was pretty disappointed with this. It was the only new frame out of five that has been drawn at all. In hindsight, I can understand it. Because we had a lot of rain and it was their first week, it is not surprising that there was such little growth.

This is one of the original frames from our Nuc. I really like the brood pattern here -- definitely a good sign. We saw the queen again but didn't snap a picture of her. Below is a close up of some brood. Notice the pollen, larva and capped brood. In the top middle of the picture you can see what looks like an early stage swarm cell. I wouldn't bee surprised if it is an abandoned queen they were making before they got transfered to the new hive. I will keep an eye on it.

Now for hive inspection two. I immediately saw some good signs after opening the hive. Notice the outside frames in the picture below. This week they are coated in bees, whereas, last week there were no bees on them. This tells me that the bees have drawn out these frames.

Tada! This is one of the outer frames that has been almost fully drawn out. Look back at the first picture in this post. You can really see how much they have expanded, and they have moved onto other frames too. So far they have completed 8 out of the 10 frames. Soon we will have to add a second brood box, another milestone! 

Bee Bonus: Look carefully in the upper part of the frame near the right side. See the queen? She has a red dot on her back.

In this photo of one of the orignal frames, you can see a good brood pattern. See how the capped brood is around the outside of the frame, rather than in the middle area like the photo from inspection 1? This tells me that the center area has hatched out. I really like the variety of pollen colors in the center. You can also see nectar glistening in the uncapped cells, as well as some capped honey in the upper left corner.

This is my brother cutting some burr comb, one of my favorite things during an inspection. We keep all the extra wax in a jar. Soon it will bee full, so we will be able to melt it down and refine it!

Cheap Homemade Beehive Feeder

I am trying to do my beekeeping all-natural, this mean no chemicals and minimal interference with the natural bee way of life (other than taking all their honey at the end of the season, haha). This is something I am really passionate about, so I didn't want to feed my hive because that would be added interference. For those of you who know Colorado weather, its unpredictable at best, and the last few weeks we have been having lots of snow. This was a set back for all the plants, so not many had flowered at this point. I was worried for my bees, what would they eat? My desire to keep my colony alive triumphed over my desire for an all-natural hive, so I decided to feed them. Like most beekeepers, I settled on plain sugar water, with a mason jar feeder. Excited for this new DIY project, I got to work with whatever I could find.

Like many young people, when I hear the word build, I think Legos. After deciding a specific width and height, I crafted this hunk of junk (conveniently colored to match the hive). There are three parts to my set up, the base/walls, the supports, and the arms. The base and walls are pretty self explanatory,  they are just there to hold everything together and keep the jar from tipping over. The supports are there to hold the jar just high enough that the bees can crawl under but still reach the lid to gather the syrup. You can see three supports jutting out from the wall, the fourth is a square block near the front. Finally, the arms. After a few tests, I figured the perfect height so the arms would fit snugly in the entrance. They are two thin pieces and a smooth piece all stacked on top of each other, for those who understand the Lego language.

I decided on the smaller size mason jar because I didn't want the bees to rely on the syrup. This was plenty I think, the bees drain it everyday. I think they could easily empty a large jar as well. In the next two pictures you can see the holes in the lid, this is where the syrup drips out. I made mine with a kitchen knife, but you could use a fork, hive tool, or a samurai sword, whatever is on hand. After about a week and a half, I have removed the feeder for good. There is plenty of forage available now, especially dandelions.

A New Beehive

Hello! Welcome to my new beekeeping blog. I am glad that you have taken a chance to read about the adventures ahead. I am a new beekeeper with a first-year hive. My family, a host of friends, and I are excited to nurture these bees through the season.

So, the purpose of this blog: I want you feel as if you are at the hive learning with me. I plan to give regular updates on all things "bee" related. There will bee lots of pictures, my personal commentary, and a swarm of bee jokes. All right, lets get to it. This is gonna be sweet!

We ordered our 5 frame Nucleus Hive, which is just a miniature beehive, back in February. After that, my brother and I…

            You: What? Your brother! What are you, like 16 or something?

            Me: Umm well yes

            You: Doesn’t that make you a noob, I mean, you’re just a kid

            Me: That’s true, but I have read many books in the recent months, and I have 

                   a mentor, so I think that I should bee able to handle these bees pretty well

            You: Oh, Ok

…spent the next couple of months building our hive, and anxiously awaiting the bees' arrival in May. Finally May 5th arrived and we buzzed down to Denver to pick up our bees at "To Bee or Not Too Bee," which is a lovely little store. After that, the fun started.

Picking up Nucleus Hive

The Installation! Below is a picture montage with short descriptions for every photo (hopefully it is an accurate and entertaining representation of how we transferred the bees).

First we opened the box and smoked the hive. The smoke has no chemicals, but it does drive the bees down, where they will begin to eat honey. This makes them less inclined to sting. It’s like eating a Thanksgiving dinner and then having a wrestling match, you just don’t want to fight, maybe puke though...

This is me cutting out burr comb, which is basically unneeded wax. Just simple housekeeping that is done at every hive inspection.

My brother and I are inspecting the frame. We are looking for the queen. We want to know if she is strong, laying lots of eggs.

And we found her! See her at the bottom left corner of the frame. She has a red dot on her back, which signifies that she was born in 2013. After not so much deliberation, we named her Queen Amidala. Not the best, but I guess its more original than “Buzz” or “Elizabeth.”

The work is done, and now its closing time. So I need to evenly space the frames before putting the lid back on.

Overall, it was an awesome experience. All 5 frames were full of brood, nectar, honey, and pollen. I can’t wait to see the hive grow, and I’m so excited that I can share it with you.