Beekeeping ?

[bama20a]

Seems like I notice several members on here talks about beekeeping.
I've had bees for years & was wondering how many more here enjoys the hobby also.  ;D

[Riggs]

I enjoy it very much, it's almost like therapy.

How many stands do you have?

[doctorb]

I am taking a short course on beekeeping with my wife, as we are just learning about it.  Ideally, I would like to have a couple of hives on my property, and have an experienced beekeeper work them and show me the ropes for a year or two.  He/she can have the honey for the time being, I just want to learn the right way to do things.  From what I am hearing, it takes a fair amount of experience to keep hives through the winter, dependent upon lots of factors.

[Peter Drouin]

I like it, I have 2 hives, I like the spring honey, I let them have the 2 honey run,I looked the outher day and one hive the bees are at the top eating the sugar and pollen pattys, and the outher one not up yet

feed the bees now or they will starve. well in NH, we have snow :D :D :D :D

[chain]

One of the most interesting and gratifying projects I've had was developing a glass observation bee hive. Mother's glassed-in front porch was ideal; I bore a hole through the window framing and put a clear tubing about 18" long and a 'flight-deck' outside for the honey bees to land safely. The glass hive was one large brood frame in size with back and front glassed.

As the worker bees came into the glass hive they would usually do their little dance as other workers would gather around to take in the directions before trudging off back through the tubing to seek-out the pollen or nectar.

Another interesting facet, was how the bees guarded and fed the queen and brood....and then, there were the drones...always the drones waiting for their handouts and a remote chance of mating the queen.

[coxy]

chain  with the glass the bees will not fly a way and not want to come back  if thay see people   or lots of movement    when i was little my dad cut a few trees that was ful of honey  but in the last 20+ years we havent found any  seems like thay are dieing off or got good hideing spots

[iffy]

I kept bees for years but gave it up a few years back. I learned a lot from an old-timer. One of his lessons was on marketing at street carnivals and the like. I would pull one frame out of an active hive with bees intact and put it in a glass observation hive. Would set it up right in the middle of my table and you could almost draw 2 chalk lines on the ground showing the paths of young kids and adults. The kids path would be a "beeline" to the hive as soon as they saw it and the adults path would be an arch around it.  :D
I would take one of my combs out of my "comb honey" super (no reinforcing wires) and cut it into about 1" cubes. Put a few on a plate with a toothpick in each and sell them for a quarter. Old timers would buy for all their grandkids so they could see what comb honey tasted like. If business got slow my mentor told me to grab a group of kids and give each of them a quarter to stand in line for the comb honey. Human nature when they see a line is to join it and sales would pick back up. 8)

[bugdust]

My beekeeping is only at the hobby level. I entered the winter with 4 hives, but last week I notice one was lost. The hive was week and the swarm not big enough to keep the hive warm. I've began feeding them and the remaining seem to be healthy. I usually average 100+ pints of honey annually and give most of it away.... that's just me. I always try to build new hives from nucs, so I'll be keeping a close eye on the strongest hive(s) this spring. Splitting hives reduces swarms and make for cheap beekeeping. I also give the the schools a show and tell on bees and give each student a small "Honey Bear" to take home. It's a big hit, and most enjoyable. Good luck it you decide on beekeeping. More folks need to do the same.

[Autocar]

Always been interested but about as far as it ever got. Years past it seemed like we cut lots of bee trees but the last ten years it seems like the hives are aways gone only the comb. People tell me its a mite thats killing them.

[Sonofman]

My dad used to have about 30 hives, more of a large hobby than anything else. I wanted to continue when he passed, but I had gotten stung enough to develop an alergic reaction, so no more bees for me.

[wildbill]

I have one hive in my backyard.   Used to have a hive at Raider Bill's house too but it was killed by carpenter ants last fall.  hopefully i can split this hive and put one back in his yard. 

if not there is always the nuc option

[bama20a]

Brought this back up,It's that time of year again, 8)
Seen my bee's start bring in some pollen,
Hopefully the weather will hold so I can work with them today & tomorrow afternoon.Come on spring time ;D ;D

[LaneC]

You are correct coxy. The bees are dying off in alot of locations. One of the biggest reasons they are suspecting is called CCD or colony collapse disorder. They are pointing very heavily to a particular pesticide that is causing alot of the colonies to die. There are also the varroa mite and the small hive beetle which have devestated some apiaries. Both are imports from Africa. I have had to stop raising them due to health issues, but down here in the south they can be pretty tough to raise sometimes. Also another problem that has killed some of my hives was the wax moth. They will destroy a hive if not tended to and watched very close down here. There has been a big movement over the last few years for people to start raising bees because of the low number and the great importance of these little fellows. If you get interested in raising them, check with your local bee keepers. Some states even have grant money to give to people who will start 2 or more hives. It is interesting and rewarding but there is quite a bit of work involved also. I have heard it is quite a bit harder down here because of the other insects and such.

[Peter Drouin]

Mine all froze to cold for too long, for the last 4 years there were ok but not this year  :(
I was going to get some nukes, but Ann and I have honey up the you know what  ;D I'm going to set out some hives and see If I can get some swarms of bees. I did last year in the yard.


  

  

 

[LaneC]

Hello bama20a. Do you have alot of problems with small hive beetles and voroa mites? And what about those wax moths? I hope yours have survived the tough winter we are having.

[Ljohnsaw]

I'd love to have some hives, but a few problems:
1) I'm a bit sensitive to yellow jacket stings (joints ache real bad) so I think bee stings might develop issues as well. :
2) My son is very reactive to bee stings.  Don't want to risk his life. :(
3) One of my stupid dogs hunts bees.

In the summer when we are all in the pool swimming, the one dog watches the flowering plants and pounces on bees.  They sting her in the mouth so she spits them out and stomps on them.  Then she eats them.  Stupid dog! :D  When it gets really hot, the bees land on the wet pool deck looking for water.  She'll wait there for them as well.  Now, when she gets a yellow jacket - look out!  They just keep stinging over and over.

[bama20a]

Hello bama20a. Do you have alot of problems with small hive beetles and voroa mites? And what about those wax moths? I hope yours have survived the tough winter we are having.

Hello Lane: Don't seem to have a problem with the Small hive beetles,or mite's.
I have not treated mine in over 7 years & they seem to be doing fine.Went into 4 hives today because of the wood rotting,Seen afew SHB,but very few,
The one that did have the most is in the shade,I've heard they are worst there.So I'm going to move them out next weekend.Mark,,,,

[bama20a]

Peter that is a nice swarm, Catch all you can ;D
You may already know,But you can put a few drops of lemon grass oil inside of a box & the scout bees will find it,
When I had bees in Mississippi,We would catch a lot of them doing that.

[Alcranb]

I took a real beating this winter. Today it was 55° so I checked the hives. Lost half of the 24 hives I have. Fed the remaining ones. They hit that syrup like they've never eaten.
Called around looking for replacement nukes but everyone said the same....to much work and not enough money in it  :(

[LaneC]

That is good that you dont have them bad. I never treated mine with anything, I just went totally pesticide free. They sure tore mine up though. I learned a great deal about paying attention to detail and things like that from raising them. I hope they all survive, good luck.

[chain]

I will be  curious to know if our bee tree bees survived the winter....they survived the drought somehow. I've checked on them for about fives years, they're up in a large red oak about thirty feet.

[Brucer]

I know practically nothing about beekeeping. Apparently that is going to change. My son-in-law asked if he could keep bees on our property and our address is now registered as an apiary.

[chain]

Noticed in a southern agriculture journal an article about honeybee awareness insofar as harming the bees from agriculture spraying operations. They say the  time of day for worker bees that are most active between 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. Highly variable I  would think.

Also, the Mississippi Farm Bureau has initiated a awareness program for honeybees and will distribute "Bee Aware" flags [black & Yellow] to alert field workers, farmers, aerial sprayers, and others of nearby bee hives.

[ryguy777]

im good friends with a full time bee keeper. he sells on farmers markets in the area. its tough to make it right now with this shortage of bees (thank gmo corn) and there are new dieseases springing up that kill bees... but people are going crazy over cream honey and raw exctract honey at the farmers markets

[orion388]

ahhhhhhhhh Bees.... Where do I start.

We started last season with 15 hives. Added a few nice swarms for a total of 19. Gave a couple more swarms to a friend for his start. This winter has been murder. Long story short we have 2 hives right now and I'm hoping they make it the rest of the winter.
Wife and I have been doing bees for ~10 years and it's a labor of love and frustration. We have had as many as 22 hives and now 2 is the low water mark. Our regular honey customers are not going to be happy! But this too shall pass and I hope we can catch a few nice swarms this spring and recover.

John