Sounds like you’re on track. Don’t worry about the bees attacking – mostly they’re just curious and a bit defensive – and that’s what your bee suit is for! The key is to move slowly and gently, no sudden movements or banging. As you gain in expeprience, you’ll gain in confidence, and then you’ll find the bees take their cue from you and calm down too!

Feel free to ask questions here, any time. We’re a good bit north of you, so the timing of things will be different, but bees are bees are bees…

tobee: this is my first time, so I don’t know how this flow compared but do know the black locust is our primary. I did check my hive, and they had drawn comb on 8/10 frames, so I added a second deep box.

workerbeej: Yes, that’s the book.

I’ll check out some of the other titles when I get a chance. What I’m finding is that even though I can read the books and understand what I’m supposed to do, once I get the box open, I’m still not confident once I get in there. I don’t know whether I’ve calmed the bees, whether their behaviour is normal, or whether they’re going to just attack like some B-horror movie, so I think I end up not examining things as I should. What I really need is to find someone else to watch and learn from. As a supplement, I’ve been thinking about buying a DVD I’ve found at a couple of sites by someone named Ed Weis, and perhaps that will give me some more concrete examples of how to go about it. The Dadant book tells me “what” to do and “why”, which is good, but I’m finding I need some visual clues of “how” to do it.

Down the road, you’ll probably want to get the A.I. Root book called The ABC’s and XYZ’s of Beekeeping, which is almost an encyclopedia of bee knowledge — but more than you need or want to know right now, most likely.

We listed a few in Good Reading for New Beekeepers. They were titles that were recommended by our members in a recent meeting, but of course that would be with more of an eye to eastern Canadian beekeepers… One that would work for you down in West Virginia, believe it or not, is the Dummies book. Despite the name, it is really an excellent book— in my opinion, one of the best on the market right now.

Martinsburg, WV. Found this entry by googling “installed a nucleus, now what?”.

Have a local association which is where I found my first mentor. He just happened to decide to move in couple of months while I was awaiting my nuc, and hasn’t been really available for contact since. I’m having trouble finding other contacts now willing to help because everyone is so busy amongst themselves at this time. Black Locust blossom time, biggest flow of the year.

Wish I’d found the “how to light a smoker” entry before installing, and those 3 stings would’ve been avoided LOL.

I’ve read (Dadant book) that my next visit to the hive should be at the 3 week mark and that would be to look for eggs and such, but the time frames for it were for a package install. I’m ahead of that game, but am having trouble findind a “to-do” timeframe for a nuc install.

I’m guessing that after finding the queen, and examining the frames, that my next step is to begin moving the full frames (10 frame w/4 nuc) outward as needed, and then adding a second deep hive box when 90% of the first one is filled?

I’ve read the CP Dadant book several times. Are there other “definitive books” that anyone would recommend?

You’ve got a nice site, here, thanks.

Have a good look at the terrific beekeeping images on MAAREC so you’ll know the major pests and brood diseases (especially European and American Foulbrood) if you see them, too.

You don’t say where you are located, but there’s a pretty good Beekeepers’ Calendar for British Columbia that would at least give you a starting point for planning your month-by-month chores in the bee yard.

Where you are located will also determine what treatments your bees will require for pests and disease, so you might want to call your Dept of Agriculture and see if they can hook you up with another beekeeper, or a local association… The value of having a mentor in that first few years cannot be overstated!

Someone else may have other comments and suggestions to add… but hope this helps you for the time being. Good luck!

Had a mentor lined up, who has unfortunately become unavailable to help at all, so I’m left trying to figure this out on my own.

I managed to install them successfully (only 3 stings), but am now sitting around wondering…. Now What?

I know I’m supposed to check my hive now (my mentor said he’d be over to show me what to look for, but he’s moving), but I don’t want to open the box any more than necessary, and I don’t know what I’m looking for.

Any help or link to resources would be appreciated.