Salem

Hello

I'm having a bit trouble getting my bee skeps producing any honey.

I have build 2x bee skeps, and put in one queen and three drones in each. I have fruit trees fully grown that are in range of said skeps. However, after 3-5 days, the worker bees just seem to die/leave the skep - without having produced any honey.

Purity of said skeps is around 25% if that matters.

you need around 6-8 drones to really start off the process. Drones die naturally after a while but if the skep has started to produce workers then they are also replaced. I find having 3+ skeps works best as when one has too many drones spawn you can distribute them across the others.

Also the more you look inside the skep the lower its production will be. I think it works as a 'reset' to how fast the skeps work when you look in side so it 'should' be OK to look inside a skep multipal times so long as it is in a short time frame as there will not have been much time to come up to speed during that time. I don't know if this is true, its just a theroy.

If you need more drones let me know - I have had a glut of then in the last couple of days so you are more then welcome to take some spares. HS: Dipti

And if you want your fruit trees to blossom you need to have some delphic bees inside your skeps as well.

Not sure where you have that information from - I have never needed delphic bees in my skeps to get my trees to bloom, they are always removed right away and studied.

Just to add an anecdotal data point, I've gotten bee skeps to work just fine with only 5 drones in addition to the queen, as have others I've spoken to... Though I suppose cutting it close probably does increase the risk of getting unlucky and having a drone die off before they get started with producing more drones. I've been 3/3 for starting with that few though, with many more drones produced quickly.

Aye, even 4 drones can get the skep going but I find 6-8 to work well at getting everything kicked off quickly. Kinda wish there was a little more with the skeps, like a chance of getting stung, smoking the bees before messing with the hives, maybe even a hat/mask to help avoid getting stung.

Lusewing wrote:Aye, even 4 drones can get the skep going but I find 6-8 to work well at getting everything kicked off quickly. Kinda wish there was a little more with the skeps, like a chance of getting stung, smoking the bees before messing with the hives, maybe even a hat/mask to help avoid getting stung.

+1, or use of % honey in recipes (aside from sweet jerky, apparently) so that the % of the hive could do more than just apply to the fruit trees.

Cawalox wrote:And if you want your fruit trees to blossom you need to have some delphic bees inside your skeps as well.

Please ask about rumors before you state them in help as fact.

Personally I think bees stinging would be a good idea and kinda like how I read previously about ants in say old food but you have a chance too see them around rose bushes (if there were such a thing lol). Couldn't you just imagine a yellow rose bush or black! Which would help c & d . And it'd have to be pollinated like the fruit trees.

Yesno