Beekeeping

[FlasherZ]

Doesn't look like it was more than a few days old in there... did you find the queen or just trust she's there because everyone paraded in quickly?

I picked up woodware for 2 more today, will be placed at my uncle's.

 

[GasDoc]

This makes three hives for me.

I didn't see the queen but the workers decided quite abruptly to head into the hive and then a lot of fanning ensued.

Will check on them next weekend.

 

[mibaro2]

Interesting thread.
I've always thought of beekeeping, but have never gotten around to it. My house backs onto a conservation area that has a lot of trees. With the flowers I have around the house, I see a lot of bees on my property.
Is it a lot of work to get started ?

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

We are getting 2 queens from southern Oregon and a couple of frames with each. Time to build a new apiary outside of our chicken run. I have a ton of woodware filling the garage along with all my sets of S wheels...

 

[FlasherZ]

Interesting thread.
I've always thought of beekeeping, but have never gotten around to it. My house backs onto a conservation area that has a lot of trees. With the flowers I have around the house, I see a lot of bees on my property.
Is it a lot of work to get started ?

It depends upon how much time you wish to invest and your ultimate objective in beekeeping.

I know of beekeepers whose only objective is to provide a home for bees to encourage pollination. Near one of my beeyards is a farmer that established a hive about 5 years ago; he uses a single hive body on a bottom board - despite great activity, he has never added another hive body nor has he added any honey supers to have the bees store additional honey. From what I can see, he has just put out the hive so they can help with pollination.

Some beekeepers establish a garden hive, install a package of bees, then check it every other month or so, adding a super when they notice great activity. Later in the year, they harvest the honey from the super and scrape the frames, wax and all, into a container, spreading it like traditional wax+honey.

Some beekeepers (like me) start with a single hive and before they know it, they're checking 10+ hives every 2 weeks and managing specifically for honey production. They buy a few thousands of dollars in various equipment and extract honey in large amounts (200+ lbs or more)

And then there's the other end of the scale - 50+ hives, 55 gallon drums of sugar syrup, etc.

 

[bonnie]

Interesting thread.
I've always thought of beekeeping, but have never gotten around to it. My house backs onto a conservation area that has a lot of trees. With the flowers I have around the house, I see a lot of bees on my property.
Is it a lot of work to get started ?

Wellllll ... no, not really. You can buy complete hives (no bees) online & then either buy bees online or from someone in your area. But then the fun begins as you start to learn about how fascinating these little creatures are. There is probably a slightly larger time commit than you think, but smaller than it would be for keeping other animals. And really rewarding.

I'd start first by getting a beginner book that gives a good overview of beekeeping and checking out local groups (good place for you to both get bees and also to learn about wintering bees successfully in your area).

And if you want to get to the 'fascinating' part, start with 'Honeybee Democracy', by Thomas Seeley. You'll be hooked.

 

[mibaro2]

It depends upon how much time you wish to invest and your ultimate objective in beekeeping.

I know of beekeepers whose only objective is to provide a home for bees to encourage pollination. Near one of my beeyards is a farmer that established a hive about 5 years ago; he uses a single hive body on a bottom board - despite great activity, he has never added another hive body nor has he added any honey supers to have the bees store additional honey. From what I can see, he has just put out the hive so they can help with pollination. <SNIP>

Thanks. My goal would be the first one mentioned in the quote...just a place to help the bees live and encourage pollination.
(of course with my salt water aquarium, I started with fish only in a 25 gallon tank, and boom..has 125 galoon tank with all corals and fish).

So to get started, my next steps would be to visit my local bee club, buy a "bag" of bees (I'm sure there is a better word for it) , and build/buy a hive/home for them.

----
Thanks for the other info Bonnie. will check out the book.

 

[bonnie]

Thanks. My goal would be the first one mentioned in the quote...just a place to help the bees live and encourage pollination.
(of course with my salt water aquarium, I started with fish only in a 25 gallon tank, and boom..has 125 galoon tank with all corals and fish).

So to get started, my next steps would be to visit my local bee club, buy a "bag" of bees (I'm sure there is a better word for it) , and build/buy a hive/home for them.

Have the home ready first - unless you have a really nice guest room and understanding wife. Probably best to get started now so that the hive has a chance to build up stores before winter hits there.

- - - Updated - - -

Some beekeepers (like me) start with a single hive and before they know it, they're checking 10+ hives every 2 weeks and managing specifically for honey production. T

Good reminder to for me to stop at 5 hives. But spare nucs don't count, right?

 

[FlasherZ]

Good reminder to for me to stop at 5 hives. But spare nucs don't count, right?

That's what I thought too. Then you get a swarm call, and suddenly you have 6... then 7... It always helps to have other interested beekeepers in your rolodex to take swarms that you capture or trap to help manage willpower.

 

[bonnie]

I have a friend who bought a complete Flow Hive, but doesn't receive it until December. I already told him that I'd stock it for him next spring . I'm guessing I can off-load a few hives his way before his wife screams 'no more!!'. But my secret plan is to get her interested in making honey mead.

- - - Updated - - -

And if we get a honey mead thread going, then we can bring those home-brew folks into the conversation .

 

[cwerdna]

I figured this should go here:
14 million spilled bees on I-5: | The Seattle Times

 

[FlasherZ]

I figured this should go here:
14 million spilled bees on I-5: | The Seattle Times

This happens usually once a year or so. It makes a big mess, but beekeepers are generally happy to help (generally, they get to keep the bees they clean up). Last year was West Virginia, I think?

 

[FlasherZ]

About 10 yards behind my hives today (which are continuing to go gangbusters in this honey flow):

Yum.

 

[bonnie]

Wow. You win.

 

[rjcbox]

About 10 yards behind my hives today (which are continuing to go gangbusters in this honey flow):

View attachment 78499

What is this?

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

Morel?
I just got a bunch of black trumpets

 

[Simbul]

Honey on tap

That looks like work!

How many hives do you have now?

This is might be a easier way to get honey

New Invention - Flow: Honey on Tap Directly From your Beehive - YouTube

 

[FlasherZ]

What is this?

These are beefsteak mushrooms. Not as good as the yellow morels (which are just starting to pop up here), these are delicious too. You have to be careful with these guys - while they taste absolutely delicious, they're a bit more poisonous than morels and so you shouldn't eat a lot of them.

- - - Updated - - -

Morel?
I just got a bunch of black trumpets

Nah, these are called "false morels" because they kinda-sorta look like them. Dad & I also found 5 yellow morels while going through the woods yesterday, but they went to my dad.

 

[bonnie]

Wow. My first robbing. I've been feeding a new package that I installed last week ... thought I'd been careful ... nothing spilled, top feeder (not an entrance feeder), reduced entrance so easier on the guard bees. And I was walking by that hive today on the way to the garden and bees everywhere, fighting. Balls of bees on the landing and tumbling to the ground, hive covered ... there was another small entrance where they could get in and out. What a mess.

I closed up the other entrance, stuck a bunch of grass in the small entrance (leaving just enough room for a bee at a time to get through) & watched it calm down slowly. It looks like things are back to normal now. But what a sight! Wish I'd had my camera with me.

 

[FlasherZ]

Wow. My first robbing. I've been feeding a new package that I installed last week ... thought I'd been careful ... nothing spilled, top feeder (not an entrance feeder), reduced entrance so easier on the guard bees. And I was walking by that hive today on the way to the garden and bees everywhere, fighting. Balls of bees on the landing and tumbling to the ground, hive covered ... there was another small entrance where they could get in and out. What a mess.

I closed up the other entrance, stuck a bunch of grass in the small entrance (leaving just enough room for a bee at a time to get through) & watched it calm down slowly. It looks like things are back to normal now. But what a sight! Wish I'd had my camera with me.

My woodware manufacturer gave me a tip about entrance reducers... he told me to use some of the right-angle drywall protectors as an entrance reducer, drill 3 holes about 3/8" - one left, one center, one right, and use that. Only one bee at a time can pass through each hole and it tends to make life easier for the new bees.

The other thing I do is to replace the inner cover that has a hole in the top with a screened inner cover for a while when installing packages. It helps for two reasons - the first is that it keeps the bees from having to defend a top entrance but keeps ventilation; the second is that you can refill a top-feeder just by pouring syrup through the screen into the feeder. I use a bit of thymol and lemongrass extract in my syrup and it can make the bees a bit cranky... the screen keeps them from immediately attaching to my veil.

I take the screened cover off when they're really established or when I pull the feeders, otherwise they propolize the hell out of the screen.

7 new packages coming next week for 3 different bee yards. Fun!