Uh oh... I think I am in trouble.

[New_Bee]

Hi everyone!

I am a first year "beekeeper" and I think I have screwed up (go figure - right? lol). My girls are doing excellent as I have two medium supers, the second nearly drawn out (I am going to add a third super at the end of the week).  Here is my question, should I be able to easily remove frames for inspection right down to the bottom super?  If not, should I perform housekeeping now or wait til the end of the season?

Thanks in advance!

[Robo]

Depends on your definition of "easily".  You probably won't be able to remove them with just your hands.  But you should be able to remove them with a little prying with your hive tool.

The longer you leave them alone, the worse they get.  As the wax/propolis gets older and dirtier,  it becomes much harder.

I try to make it a habit to clean frames when I remove them during inspection.  Simply scrap off any excess comb/propolis especially under the top bar tabs and on the bottom bars

[New_Bee]

You mean you constantly separate brood boxes and make sure that frames aren't being "bonded" together -- being new, I wasn't sure how much "monkeying" you are supposed to do.  I have been reading everywhere and you find tons on feeding, medications, harvesting, but not too much on "housekeeping"

[Robo]

I'm not saying to get excessively compulsive about it.  I just make a habit to clean a frame when I remove it.  Being I only have a few hives,  I tend to inspect them for brood, queen, general look see about once a month in the summer.  Now I don't pull out every frame, just enough to get a feel for the health of the hive.

I would say I scrape down the supers and frame rails at least once a year.

[New_Bee]

Thanks for all of the info!  You are awesome!  I hope I can be as much help to someone as you have me one day.

[Lupus]

Hi there,

How much time to spend in your hives is a tough question with no exact answer. Messing with your bees will slow down production and give them more work to do. However, in the Southeast, in the spring, that may not be a bad thing. We have a strong early flow that can result in crowding and swarming. Swarming will result in major loss so action is advisable.

I bought 3 medium depth super/nucs that I got this spring. I made two splits with them and tried to equalize their brood. One of the hives still swarmed. With the addition of a package of bees and a captured swarm. I am up to 7 hives and growing.

My emphasis is on getting 6-8 good hives for next year instead of honey production this year. When and how much to work your hives depends on: your goals, the weather, what is going on in your hives at that moment, where you are etc.. You may want to attend a local bee club meeting and adopt some local Beekeeping strategies until you get some experience.