#beekeeping

i just wired a sht31 to the esp32‑mkr1000 to log hive temp/humidity every time the humidity goes above 80% the board resets i checked the power supply 5v 2.5a and the sht31 is fine the code uses the i2c bus at 400kHz maybe the sensor is pulling too much current or the i2c clock is too fast for the sht31 i also saw a forum post about the sht31 needing a pull‑up resistor on sda/scl any ideas tbh i’m not sure if it’s the sensor or the board i tried a 10k pull‑up and still resets i’m using the arduino core for esp32 any suggestions thanks

I know the typical advice in the bee community: pack three days of pre‑cooked meals before a long inspection weekend. That sounds efficient, but it actually creates more problems than it solves.

1. Nutrient degradation – Cooked proteins lose quality after 48 hours, especially when stored in a cooler without active refrigeration. By the third day you’re eating essentially stale protein.

2. Unnecessary weight – Carrying a bulk of containers adds extra pounds on top of your gear. On hot days that extra load accelerates fatigue and makes you less attentive to the hive.

3. Reduced flexibility – Inspections often run longer or shorter than planned. Having a rigid menu forces you to eat at inconvenient times or, worse, skip meals entirely.

My approach: prep a simple base (e.g., boiled eggs, quinoa, or canned beans) that can be portioned on the fly, and supplement with fresh fruit and nuts each morning. It keeps the diet balanced, the pack light, and you stay adaptable to the day’s flow.

Anyone else found the three‑day bulk prep to be more hindrance than help?

I installed a queen a few days ago, set the frame in, and everything seemed fine at first. Then yesterday I came back to check and she’s gone—just like last time. The brood looks weird, no eggs, just a couple of old ones. The workers are all over the place, almost lazy. I even double‑checked my cage—no trace of the queen. Am I losing my bees to other colonies or did I just misplace her? The hive is buzzing like a stalled oven; the honey is flat, no sweet rush. I'm starting to worry the colony might collapse. Should I set a trap or just wait it out? Have anyone else seen a queen disappear this often? Need advice ASAP, or am I just overreacting? ...???

fr yo so i’ve got these little jerks invasiong my hives and i’m stuck trying to outwit ’em witout dousing everything in chemicals like a mad scientist. tbh i tried the yellow sticky traps like a good little beginner but bees get zipped too. some folks talkin’ neem oil, others say pheromone traps—bruh i’m just trying 2 keep my girls safe here. u guys let me in on what actually worked for u? even bad attempts help me filter the hot takes from real talk rn. p.s anyone know if that beetle-repellent plant thing i read about reals or fake news (like fennel? i think?)

just got back from a local beekeeping workshop and i'm gonna try out some new techniques on my beehives... anybody have recs on what to do when a hive gets too big?? should i just split it or what

i've been keeping a 5 bee hive in my garage thought i could do a quick harvest this morning but the queen was having a field trip outside she left a trail of sticky half-dry honey across the floor and the frame was all messed up no time to clean it up feels like a lost cause rn lol any tips to keep the queen in the hive without breaking the bees or the honey i feel like i'm just chasing a moving target 🤷‍♂️

I've recently installed a 5th queen into my main hive after a queenless season. It looks normal at first—frames are filled with bees, but there are barely any eggs or tiny eggs on the frames. I've been checking for queen cells and I don't see any new ones forming. I'm wondering if it's a queen problem or maybe the bees are just stalling because of the recent heatwave. Has anyone dealt with a new queen that seems to ignore the hive? What steps should I take to coax her into laying? I'm thinking about supplemental feeding, checking for queen viability, maybe even moving her to a different colony. Any tips, advice, or red flags I should look out for? Thanks for your help! ...

I'm looking for a good beekeeping suit. I've been doing this for a bit now and my old one is getting worn out. Anyone have a favorite brand or type they'd recommend? I've heard some good things about the ultrabreeze suits, but I'm not sure if they're worth the extra cost. What are you guys using?

tbh got a new board game that kinda feels like a honeycomb, each piece a bee?? i keep losing the rules, like i’m in a hive but i can’t find the exit lol any of y'all play something with that vibe? swap tips or maybe there's a hidden hive of board game fans in the bee sub? anyone else feel that? or just me??

just had a bunch of bees escape from my hive rn and im pretty frustrated tbh. was trying to inspect and somehow the lid didnt get shut right. now theyre all over the place and i dont know how to round them up lol

Late last evening, while prepping for winter, I mistakenly used the wrong hive box and stored it in the shed that usually holds spare tools. The temperature there dropped faster than normal. The bees, once in the box, collapsed and started trembling at 31°F before I could get a sense of the situation. I kept them overnight with blankets, but most had already succumbed or abandoned the frame. I'm re‑examining my labeling process now and wondering if any one of you has successfully salvaged a swarm that had been left in a cold environment—or at least has any advice to keep a hive from turning into an accidental snowbox. The frustration is real, and any lesson learned or humor to share would be appreciated. Thanks.

I finally cracked the code on reproducing a genuine 1850s honey harvest using a vintage 1905 Lyman centrifugal extractor (model #L-1905A) in my 10‑frame Langstroth system. The whole thing felt like a tiny academic triumph, so I’m blasting this out here for maximum reaction.

What I did:

• Re‑wired the Lyman motor to accept my 240V supply – ignored the original 110V spec and added a 15A fuse for safety.
• Modified the extractor head to accept modern 10‑frame frames by machining a custom adapter plate (Al‑6061, tolerances ±0.02mm).
• Followed the original 1862 “Bee‑Harvest Manual” for pre‑extraction warming: 30 min at 28 °C, then a gentle 2‑minute spin at 120 rpm.
• Collected the nectar, filtered it through a fine silk mesh (the same type used in Victorian apicultural journals), and stored it in a 2‑liter copper canister.

Result: 12 kg of honey with a measured moisture content of 16.3% (±0.2), matching the historic reference range. I even brewed a 250 ml batch of mead using that honey, kept it in a 0.75 L demijohn for two weeks, and the flavor profile was unmistakably “old‑world” – floral, with a faint hint of iron from the copper.

Now the real question: Who else has dared to marry a period‑accurate extractor with a modern hive? I expect a lot of “don’t bother” or “it’s pointless” replies, but bring them on. I’m ready to defend the methodology and the historical relevance. Also, any tips on polishing that copper canister without stripping its patina would be appreciated.

• EerieHedgehog561

i'm prepping to talk about queen health at the next meet rn i’m super nervous tbh? any quick hacks to stay calm? maybe some breathing or story structure? lol 😅

The screen mesh on my nucleus hives... keeps tearing in places I can't track. Fixed one hole last week, found two new splits today. Did they feel like nibbling the plastic??? Or maybe the staples are just comically flimsy. Any ideas?

I've been trying to set up an apiary in my small backyard and I'm running into some issues with local regulations Has anyone else had experience with this? I know it's not directly related to fashion, but I've been incorporating beekeeping into my style - like wearing bee-themed accessories to raise awareness about the importance of pollinators. Anyone have tips on how to manage a small apiary without disturbing the neighbors?

Beekeeping has become the latest 'authentic' hobby everyone clings to... People romanticize it as 'connecting with nature' while buying $500 starter kits and calling it a day?? Where's the commitment to actual stewardship? It's all Instagrammable hives and no real understanding of colony collapse... Same with film photography—everyone wants the 'authentic' experience without learning the craft... Is it just me who's tired of superficial engagement? Or do others see this trend for what it is: a performative distraction from real responsibility?

I just installed a Carson 26‑Frame GWP on my northern side of the apiary and, on the southern side, the Storer 26‑Frame GWP.

Both share the same external dimensions and the same top‑entry opening, yet in practice I’ve noticed differences in:

• Lattice structure: Carson uses a finer, radial‑style mesh (0.3mm openings), while Storer opts for a looser 0.6mm grid. This influences draft speed.
• Vent openings: Carson provides a double‑layer vent system at the bottom, 23mm wide; Storer’s vent is a single 33mm aperture. The airflow from Carson feels more evenly distributed.
• Wax ribbon orientation: Carson positions the central ribbon at 30° to the frame, which appears to favor bead formation; Storer’s ribbon aligns more vertically. The angle may impact comb integrity during brood frames.
• Removal effort: Carson’s pull‑tabs fit neatly with an average of 45 seconds per hive, whereas Storer can require roughly 60 seconds due to its heavier pull‑tab construction.

In my trial across a two‑season window:

The differences, while modest, seem statistically consistent. I can’t help but wonder: does the higher vent surface area and radial mesh justify the price differential of roughly $8 per hive unit? I’d love to hear if anyone has similar data or anecdotal observations. I suspect the improved airflow in Carson has downstream benefits, but the cost‑benefit trade‑off remains uncertain. Perhaps a direct test in the same floral context would clear it up…

Your insights on ventilation efficiency in 26‑Frame GWP systems would be appreciated.

I’ve been training a GPT‑4 model on a dataset of honeycomb images and colony health metrics. The results are promising, but I’m stuck at the evaluation stage. Also, I’m looking for a position in an apiary tech startup or a research lab that blends AI with apiculture.

Here’s what I did:

• Collected 12,000 labeled images of honeycomb cells, annotated with health indicators (cancerous, varroa infestation, brood pattern anomalies).
• Preprocessed with ResNet50 as a feature extractor, then fed into a GPT‑4 encoder‑decoder architecture for sequence‑to‑sequence predictions of health scores.
• Used cross‑entropy loss and a custom F1 macro metric for multi‑label classification.
• Fine‑tuned on 80% of the data, validated on 10%, tested on 10%.

Problems:

• Overfitting: training loss drops to 0.02 but validation stays at 0.35.
• Attention maps are noisy; unclear which cells the model focuses on.
• I tried a Vision Transformer (ViT) backbone, but it didn’t improve performance.

What I need:

• Advice on regularization techniques (dropout, weight decay) that work with transformer‑based models.
• Tips for visualizing attention over honeycomb cells.
• Any job openings or research projects that need AI expertise in beekeeping.

If you can help, I’ll gladly share my code or dataset. Also, if you know someone hiring for a data scientist in apiary tech, let me know.

lol so i've been noticing a bunch of dead bees outside my hive and i'm pretty sure its varroa mites rn.. been trying to learn more about it but all the info is so scattered tbh has anyone else dealt with this?? i've got a tbh with 30 bars and i dont know how to treat it without messing up the whole hive.. been reading about sugar dusting and drone brood removal but idk what's the best approach also side note, does anyone know how to deal with apiary software that's always rate limiting?? cant even get a decent api request thru without getting slammed with errors

so i just got a warre hive and im trying to convert my langstroth to warre i have a few questions about the process rn like how do i transfer the bees without killing them all lol anyone have experience with this? i have a few medium supers on my langstroth and not sure how to make them work with the warre im using the schwarz beehive entrance which is pretty cool btw