Bee Keeping

[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.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Well I am now officially a beekeeper.

A neighbor sold her farm that was located in another town, and she had had a bee hive there for several years which she now had no place for, so she said i could have it. It especially pleased her that she would even be able to come visit her old bees down the street in their new home at my place.
After much preparation, today a kind young beekeeper helped me and we went through the whole hive getting it ready for winter... and then at dusk he and I trucked it over to my house this evening and now it's all set up in back of my garden.
Poor bees will wake up tomorrow in a whole new world.
It was so cool, we found the queen and got to look at Her Majesty!
I'm very lucky- these bees are very healthy, are acclimatized to our zone already, and were extremely gentle when we took apart the whole hive.
I'm very happy and excited!

[short cut sally]

WOOO HOOO for you!!!!! COngratulations to you...You will be so amazed next year, they have been so fascinating for me. They truly are amazing little creatures.
I wanted to peak into the hives today, but it's so windy out that I didn't dare to. I wanted to take the inner cover off and put in some crisco/sugar mixture to help with some mite control for over the winter..I don't want to use chemicals or antibiotics like a lot of people do. I want to keep it more natural.
Oh, and in November, somewheres around the 13th, there is a meeting in Syracuse for the Eastern honey bee keepers association. I heard about it last night by another bee keeper. He said he goes as there are lots of speakers and things. It's like 45.00 a day maybe and it's a 2 day event. I didn't get all the facts yet, I was half asleep when he called to tell me...