Bee Keeping

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I'd like an update on this thread from those of you with bees. How have your hives been doing this year?

I have decided to start two hives this next coming Spring. I've been visiting a couple of local people with hives to get the 'feel' of things, also doing a lot of reading.

[short cut sally]

Well, I have 2 hives, the swarm and the boughten bees (pkg. bees) and my pkg. bees are not gonna do well this winter i believe. I put their 2nd brood box on in June, that means this is their 2nd story of their home for raising brood, and storing some food for winter. I just took off the brood box because they never filled it. They put only one of 10 frames to use, by filling it with honey. I took that out, and swapped it with a frame in their first story that wasn't full. I checked and the queen is still there, I don't think she's a good laying queen.

My swarm bees are shy 1 frame in their 2nd story of filling. I was told to put the honey supers on this hive and they will give honey. I told people I don't want honey this year, but they insisted. I took that off this week as it's been on 3 weeks and they haven't even thought about filling it out with comb. they have no intention of using it so no use keeping it on.

I also have my dad's hive which was another swarm that I traveled to get. They came in June, during a rain storm and bees hate rain and they were not pleased when I tried to corral them into my bag. I've been babysitting them but in a different location on our property as my dad was going to get his yard ready for them. Well, my dad changed his mind on where he was going to put them. They have bears (not as pets) and he was going to put his hive in a shed up on a shelf. Good idea, poor working conditions for the person working the hive--me. So he liked the idea of the fence and was going to get it done. A couple of weeks ago, we were just going to take the hive up to his house in hopes it would encourage him to get it built. That came to a halt when there was 3 baby cubs on their back steps one night. So, his bee's went into my yard as rumor has it that there was a bear up on our hill. His bee's were miserable the night I went to get them, and they still are. They come after me when I mow or do any trimming. So I have to wear the suit just to mow in that area. I was a good 75 foot away and they came after me on the mower.

So what I'm going to do, is combine my pkg. bees and my dad's bees together. I will kill the queen from the pkg. bees and combine the hives. The hives have to be seperated by a piece of paper, they will chew thru the paper and once they meet their smells will be intermingled and shouldn't be a problem. OK, that's what I've read and have been told. I went to do this today but man, I didn't think I had enough strength to lift the pkg. body to make a 3rd story. They sit on stacked bricks so it makes it a little higher off the ground. Or I would've done it myself, as I wanted to get it done now instead of later. DH won't be home til late, and I work the next 3 days so it will be next week before I can get to it, or hound him to do it I should say. I didn't want to kill the queen and then have him not get around for days to combine them, as there would be disrupt in the hive. Not that there's much to disrupt in this hive, but I do want to keep what's there.

Lisa, I'm glad to hear that you're interested in doing bee's. I go to our county bee meeting, held once a month. It's a majority of older men, but they have some great stories and ideas. I had to ask how to keep ants off the inner cover of my one hive, the bees keep them from entering inside but they still were all over the inner cover. They had ideas, but once the meeting was over, we have social hour-coffee and snacks provided by some of the wives and myself, they all come up and tell you their method and how their method is better. I have a lot of fun there. They have a library collection that you can sign stuff out and return. Mind you, it's all stored in an old suitcase but still does the job. The last meeting we had a guest speaker from Cornell come and give advice on how to winter over your hives and how to control the pests that are killing the bees.

I have learned so much since starting this little venture of beekeeping. I had no idea that I had estimated 200.00 would get me going on several hives when in fact, 200.00 gets me one complete hive if I'm lucky. By the time I bought the fencing, solar fencer (I wouldn't use anything but solar. some members use car batteries and they have to charge them every 2-3 months), I bought 3 complete hives (2 stories each for family rearing and 1 honey super for each, all the covers, boards etc). It all added up to way more than what I had expected. I was in sticker shock to say the least. But as the credit card commercial goes, they give all the prices and the reward at the end is priceless. And that is what I feel this little venture is. Priceless. I have learned so much about this little creature. One bee does so many things in its 6 week life, from being a nurse bee to housekeeper, to guard bee to a forrager of pollen and nectar until she dies. It's all done on instinct. They are so facinating. I sit and watch them come and go, and there little legs are loaded with pollens.

One of the guys from the bee club is going to let me know when he starts collecting honey and I'm going to go with him, see how it's done, and how to spin it and all the other stuff involved. That way for next year, I'll have a clue.
I also met our local bee inspector at the last meeting, apparently there is an inspector shortage. He's doing more than just our county. He's been inspecting hives that are going out of the state to other states for pollenating and honey collecting. He said that's a big business.

So that's how my bees are doing. I went and spent 2 days this summer at our county fair. The bee club set up an observation hive, and they needed persons to sit and talk about bees when people passed thru. That was fun. I made construction paper bees and put bee facts on their wings, and hung them up for extra reading. I hoped someone saved them, as I would like to laminate them and reuse them.
GLC- the torch is passed to you for your Dh's update

[tulip]

Shelly, Thank you! What a wonderful report!

I would love to try bees. I've been told that I'm allergic to bees, but I'm not sure I am. I was stung by a yellowjacket a few weeks ago and aside from freaking me out a bit (I was ready with my epipen), it was like a big, if more painful, mosquito bite. Can one get tested for bee sting allergy without actually seeking out a bee to so the stinging?

[GLC1968]

tulip - I'd bet there is a way to test for it without stinging you (or endangering your life!). I'm sensitive to wasp and hornet stings but bees are no trouble for me. Of course, I haven't been stung yet, so I hope this is still true!

Our bees are doing well. They have filled two big boxes...the bottom with brood, the top with honey. We harvested one frame a couple of months ago and they have since filled it mostly back up, so we think they are good to go for the winter.

Just two days ago, we saw bees (not yellow-jackets) on the rotten pears! I guess that in the absence of pollen, they'll make due with fruit sugar. It makes sense - they eat what they can now so that they can save the stored honey for later. Smart little buggers!

I'm amazed at all the work you have to go through to keep your hive safe, Shelly. We do nothing...ours sits on two cinder blocks smack in the middle of our orchard with no fence or anything. We did construct a big shade cloth for them when our temps were above 100F for a few days in a row. The sun was relentless, so we thought they'd like a little shade. So far though...they seem happy. Next summer we are going to try raising our own meat chickens and the plan is to use the orchard for that. We may have to rethink our hive location but I'm hoping that chickens and bees can live in harmony. We'll see...that's still a ways off.

Oh and the honey was/is delicious!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

So happy to see updates on this thread.

I did get to visit one hive locally last week. And I got my first sting!
I was visiting this guy with a hive while on my bike and the bee came zooming out of his hive and crashed into me and got jammed between my bike helmet and my sunglass earpiece and naturally stung my temple. OW-eeeeee!!!!!!! But hey, I lived, and had no allergic reaction. The spot was a bit sore and itchy for 3 days or so, but not too bad after the initial 10 minutes of pain.

I had been stung by a wasp once, but I was glad to get this 'test sting' from a honeybee to make sure I wasn't allergic before I get into this endeavor!

GLC- can you explain your previous photo of the jars of honey mash with duct tape in your kitchen?

[GLC1968]

Wow, that's weird. That photo of the honey in the jar is not the original photo I posted! Something must be up with our server and the addresses got mixed up, I think. I'll have to let my H know. I'd originally posted a picture of a close-up of the bees on a frame!

Anyway, that jar photo is how we strained our honey. My H cut the comb off the frame, put it in a bowl and chopped it up fairly small and then put it in the half gallon ball jar. Then he put a piece of clean nylon hosiery over the top and flipped it over onto the top of another jar. He attached them with duct tape. Then we left it like that for about 24 hours in a reasonably warm location. The honey drained into the bottom jar and the comb stayed in the top jar. It's a simple way of separating them if you don't have the centrifuge type equipment.

You can see a few more photos here:
http://simplemetamorphosis.blogspot....ch/label/honey

[Pax]

Wow, that's weird. That photo of the honey in the jar is not the original photo I posted! Something must be up with our server and the addresses got mixed up, I think. I'll have to let my H know. I'd originally posted a picture of a close-up of the bees on a frame!

Anyway, that jar photo is how we strained our honey. My H cut the comb off the frame, put it in a bowl and chopped it up fairly small and then put it in the half gallon ball jar. Then he put a piece of clean nylon hosiery over the top and flipped it over onto the top of another jar. He attached them with duct tape. Then we left it like that for about 24 hours in a reasonably warm location. The honey drained into the bottom jar and the comb stayed in the top jar. It's a simple way of separating them if you don't have the centrifuge type equipment.

You can see a few more photos here:
http://simplemetamorphosis.blogspot....ch/label/honey

Neat pics GLC!! I'd love to visit our local beekeepers but the only ones I know are affiliated with the university and they're not open to the public.