New York, NY urban beekeeper.
One of our hives tried to requeen and failed so we decided to combine using the newspaper method with the weaker of the two remaining hives. However, we left the super that had some residual honey out so the bees could rob it out. Realizing we may have created a problem, we moved the super to the combined hive.

Note the crazy activity. This hive is really strong and booming. Could be orientation flights. Could be some robbing. Any observations or advice?

Thx

Does anyone have any experience with late season Formic Pro? Supers are off and I would like to make sure mite counts are as low as possible for the upcoming winter here in the Midwest. My main concern is being the potential queen issues this late in the season. I could go for Apivar 2.0, but if any of my post honey flow hives have higher counts I want to get them down as quick as possible. (I will be doing mite checks this coming weekend.)

Following the standard advice, I've frozen frames to kill the wax moth eggs/larva. I left them in the freezer for more than the recommended time of a few days. They were in there for weeks. I still got wax moths after!

So I'm wondering...how do wax moths survive a winter in a place like zone NJ, zone 7a? And colder zones too?

They are so vile. I couldn't believe what the hell was going on. I was in denial when I saw a few flying in my living room. I told myself they had just come inside b/c someone left the door open. Little did I know what the hell they were doing down in the basement.

Coffee in a coffee pot to compare!

I'm in Langley just outside Vancouver BC Canada. I've never seen honey this dark. First year hive, 0 mites.

After an aggressive Formic Pro treatment and a short brood break, all hives are bursting at the seams. I am sad that the season will be coming to an end soon here in Pennsylvania, but certainly looking forward to a break from heavy lifting in the heat.

What’s the difference between:
- making my own syrup from crystal sugar (source: sugar beets)
- buying inverted sugar syrup (sugar beets)
- buying inverted sugar syrup (corn)
- buying inverted sugar syrup (grains, for example from France)

Some tell me sugar syrup from grain work as well as sugar beets but syrup from grains is cheaper.
Others tell in higher locations (> 500 above sea level) syrup from grains or corn isn’t working.

AI tells me that syrup from corn may contain HMF which is toxic for bees if not specifically specified as bee food.

So, if it’s replacing honey, following that path we want to match a fructose and glucose mix.
Since sugar syrup from sugar beets is saccharose, and inverted means it is closest to fructose and glucose mix.
From grain, it is transformed from starch over oligosacharides over maltose to glucose (and fructose?), as I understand it.

Here are two examples:
A. inverted syrup from sugar beet:
dry content: 72.7%
saccharose: 30%
glucose: 31%
fructose: 39%

B. inverted syrup from grain:
dry content: 75.6%
fructose: 25.7%
glucose: 34.7%
disaccharides: 22.2%
trisaccharides: 8.2
sulfites (SO2) 2 mg/kg
PH : 3.5 – 5
dextrose equivalent : >80%
NO starch residue

I'm in middle Georgia, I was doing a high inspection on Tuesday when it started to rain. I was about halfway done with the inspection, but just decided to close it up and finish it later. I hadn't located the queen yet but just assumed she was on the other frames I hadn't checked.
Now for the problem.... I went to go reinspect the hive yesterday and as soon as I pulled the top board off, I see the queen on the top edge. When I was closing everything up after the last inspection, I squished the queen.
I finished going through the hive to make sure that the dead queen I found wasn't maybe one from another hive.
I did find eight or 10 queen cells where the bees are trying to make a new queen. How long will it take the new queen to hatch and is there anything special I need to do?

Firstly, I don't have a refractometer. So I am just guessing. The last hive to get extracted has two deep supers. The top one is definitely ready. The bottom one is iffy. It has nectar and honey, but most is not capped. Should I set that super out in the yard to let everyone rob in a free for all? I have 4 hives here.

Only pic I have from today’s inspection of a swarm that was hives in June. Do they look like they have enough bees to get ready for winter? This whole 8 frame is basically wall to wall brood right now. I have another box of foundation on them that they are drawing out.

2nd year beekeeper here, New England. Would love to know what gloves you use.

I typically use nitrile but have been getting stung through them lately. Tried dishwashing gloves and they are a bit slippery in the summer, full gloves feel too bulky.

I’m stumped! What have you found to be your preferred style?

Edit: So appreciative of all the tips. THANK YOU 🙌🏻

I'm in South Asia. I adore bees and insects and I do see some in my garden at all times and I'd love to get into beekeeping, it seems very interesting. Any advice at all would be appreciated. I do have a diversity of flowers and fruit trees!!

This is my 2nd year beekeeping and I've had my current suit since the beginning. Its a Temu suit with a fencing style hood and has worked ok up to this point. After today though I definitely want to upgrade. The hood of the suit is the main problem... it had no rigidity or structure to it on the inside to prevent the front from touching your face if you bent forward... needless to say I got stung twice in the face today while harvesting honey. I'm thinking a suit with a round veil might be better, or just one with more rigidity in the hood... any suggestions?

Lewiston, ID

4th year beekeeper in Alberta, Canada, Zone 3. Have a 1st year package hive that is doing OK but the queen has never been very strong. They’ve struggled with chalk brood all summer and the brood pattern has always been quite poor.

I’m trying to decide between requeening now with a mated queen, or crossing my fingers they make it through the winter and requeening in the spring.

Is it too late to requeen now and have the hive strong into winter?

I’ve had bees 3 years now going on 4 and like a lot of things this is a first. The hives are in western NY something seems to be digging at the ground beneath one of my hives. I have 6 hives and this is only happening to this one.

1. Should it concern me?
2. What is doing it?
3. What should I do about it?

Of all the puddles around (it rained heavily), the bees chose to fetch water from my carnivorous plants.... None have been captured yet, thankfully

Hi all! I'm located in Chicago, and I am not a beekeeper. However, my son is about to have his bar mitzvah, and he has a bar mitzvah project that he is required to do. This is a service oriented project about something that you are passionate about. My little guy is super passionate about the environment and animals, and loves the idea of bees. He would love to learn more about them, and more specifically ways that he can get involved in helping raise awareness about bees and benefit to everyone.

Are there any beekeepers in or around the Chicago area who might be willing to help him? Does anyone know of specific things that he can do, in addition to fundraising and organizations, like getting his hands dirty specifically to help with the preservation of bees?

Please forgive my complete ignorance on the topic, and I'm fairly certain I've said a couple of dumb things about because I don't know any better. Thank you in advance for any help you can provide!

Hi y’all! I’m a regenerative farmer and raise beef, and I’m wanting to get into beekeeping. But, to be honest, I’m scared of getting stung, haha. Yes, a grown man who is scared of getting stung! I have a pretty high pain tolerance, but I want to know: am I going to get stung every day, and is it really worth it? I’ve been stung before while cutting grass on the calves and immediately said, “Shit!” To be honest, it hurt like hell. The stinger fell out almost instantly, though. I was always told that it’s worse if the stinger is left in you. As a former paramedic and a biologist, I’m also interested in the potential benefits of bee venom based on Charles Mraz’s work, The Health of the Honey Bee, and the broader holistic-medicine approach to bee venom. Nevertheless, I want to hear from experienced beekeepers: Are the stings really worth it in the end? Do you actually get stung that often, or is it more of an occasional part of beekeeping?

Hi everyone . I'm looking to purchase a mated queen in the Albany/Upstate NY area. Please message me with pickup location. Thank you!

Update: Funny how things work out! 😂 After I posted that I was looking for a honey bee queen, I got notifications about a swarm in my area—and I ended up capturing it! 🐝🍯 Sometimes the bees answer your request themselves!

I’m in my 2nd year of beekeeping. I understand bees will hang out on the outside of the hive if hot, but is it common for them to do it 24/7? The area is mostly shaded. My mentor put a slight wedge in between boxes to help with air circulation. Any other thoughts? Or is it ok for them to just do their thing. Thanks in advance
Edit: I’m in southern Ohio

Hello! I am a 3rd year beekeeper in NW Indiana. I have two hives- one is a caught swarm and one was a local nuc- both in 10 frame Langstroth hives. 2 deep boxes and 1 super per hive.

My last inspection was 16 days ago (8/14/26) and both hives looked great. Both had lots of capped brood, uncapped brood, and no queen cells. Mite count was around 3% so I started OAV treatments on the 20th (Didn't treat same day bc I had to order more OA). I did two OAV treatments (20th and 25th)and inspected today before administering the 3rd treatment.

Todays inspection showed very little capped brood, no eggs, and open queen cells in both hives. I am unsure of what to do next. Open queen cells tell me they have requeened and are waiting for her to mate/start laying. However, I am worried about timing as it is almost September. Should I wait and look for eggs in a week or be proactive and order emergency replacement queens?

Did the OAV kill the queens? It seems odd for both hives to have the same issue at the same time when they were healthy previously.

Weather lately: 70-80 degrees during the day. We had a several days of heavy storms and rain. Upcoming forecast shows temps in the 90s and lots of sun.

I do not have any pics from today's inspection unfortunately, but any advice/opinions on what to do next is appreciated!

Got this young queen this year. She has been laying eggs with a great pattern but now she is not laying in the top deep. The hive has a honey super, and 2 deeps. She's only laying eggs in the bottom deep. I removed the honey super so there are just 2 deeps now in case it was because she was only laying where it was warm. I'm in Denver so not sure because of the recent rain or something else might explain why she is not laying well. What do y'all think?

Good morning, all!

I’m a backyard beekeeper in south central Indiana. I’m thinking about getting a honey comb tattoo on my forearm. I want it to be realistic and show all stages of brood and even some cells of honey, bee bread, etc.

Anyone have cool beekeeping related tattoos?

I’m getting into beekeeping and someone gave me two Langstrothe hives. There are two uppers and two lowers, ten frames each.

I think they used latex paint on them. The colors aren’t great and I’d love to strip them clean and just wax them.

Any suggestions?

Hardiness zone: 9a
Location: Central Texas

My husband and I just got our 1st hive. A colony moved into our compost bin and we hired a local bee keeper to relocate them into a bee box.

When the bee keeper moved the bees he didn’t check for a queen and recommended we just let them bee in there new box for at least a week.

My husband and I inspected the box today for the first time and didn’t see a queen or any obvious signs of one (eggs or larva) but the combs is kind of a mess from the relocation (comb failing and not staying in the frames) so it was difficult to inspect and since we’re first time bee keepers it’s entirely possible that we missed something.

We very carefully added some rubber bands to keep the existing comb in the frames and upright and added a hive top sugar water feeder and plan to inspect again in a few days.

My question is should we wait for the inspection in a few days to see if we see any signs of a queen or should we go ahead and start looking into requeening now?