As requested, here is a bee thread for us newbies that want to discuss methods, pros and cons, getting started, etc.
Post on!
Post on!
A BEE thread....for those interested in beekeeping.
- Thread starter Beekissed
- Start date
I kept bees for many years back in the '80s and '90s, and I am probably going to resurrect at least one hive this year. If you are considering keeping bees for the first time, you should know that it can be very strenuous. One super (section with stored honey) weighs around 40 lbs when full, and in a good year you can have several of them to deal with, so it's tough on my back. Placing the beehive where I can easily access it from all angles will be my first step. I also know one guy who has a lot of bees that uses a cherry-picker on the bed of his pickup to handle them, which makes a lot of sense to me.
As for stings and allergic reactions, anyone with such concerns should probably talk to a doctor before keeping a hive. Personally, except for the sacrifice of a bee's life, I like getting stung, especially on my arthritic hands. It actually relieves some of that awful ache. However, using the proper equipment (smoker and suit) and techniques can prevent almost all stings. One of my mentors even worked without gloves, and on the rare occasion that one dug into him, he would take out his pocket knife and remove the stinger intact with bee, then send the bee on its way. Just remember, it's important to NEVER, EVER panic around the bees, and swatting at them will only intensify the attack. Even if you are attacked by thousands, running away from the hive will usually make them stop the attack, as they just want you out of the vicinity of the hive. Africanized bees are another story, of course, but honeybees are generally very even-tempered. They don't really want to sting you any more than a soldier wants to fall on a grenade! They also will usually give you a very strong warning first; an angry sounding hum from the hive means you're doing something wrong.
I used to be on the animal control call list to collect swarms in the spring. Shaking a basketball-sized swarm into a cardboard box and taking it to a new home was loads of fun. I haven't checked with my beekeeper friends lately to see if they are still doing that since the decline of honeybee population, but that used to a be a very inexpensive way to start a new hive. It also saved a lot of people a lot of anxiety.
Harvesting honey can be a little time-consuming, but for the most part, they just do their work and leave me free to do mine. They need occasional attention just to make sure that everything is healthy inside the hive, but not all that much. If you are just starting out, I would recommend finding a beekeeper in your neck of the woods that's willing to let you watch him perform his duties. That taught me more than all the books I read, and I hope I can pass it on someday.
As for stings and allergic reactions, anyone with such concerns should probably talk to a doctor before keeping a hive. Personally, except for the sacrifice of a bee's life, I like getting stung, especially on my arthritic hands. It actually relieves some of that awful ache. However, using the proper equipment (smoker and suit) and techniques can prevent almost all stings. One of my mentors even worked without gloves, and on the rare occasion that one dug into him, he would take out his pocket knife and remove the stinger intact with bee, then send the bee on its way. Just remember, it's important to NEVER, EVER panic around the bees, and swatting at them will only intensify the attack. Even if you are attacked by thousands, running away from the hive will usually make them stop the attack, as they just want you out of the vicinity of the hive. Africanized bees are another story, of course, but honeybees are generally very even-tempered. They don't really want to sting you any more than a soldier wants to fall on a grenade! They also will usually give you a very strong warning first; an angry sounding hum from the hive means you're doing something wrong.
I used to be on the animal control call list to collect swarms in the spring. Shaking a basketball-sized swarm into a cardboard box and taking it to a new home was loads of fun. I haven't checked with my beekeeper friends lately to see if they are still doing that since the decline of honeybee population, but that used to a be a very inexpensive way to start a new hive. It also saved a lot of people a lot of anxiety.
Harvesting honey can be a little time-consuming, but for the most part, they just do their work and leave me free to do mine. They need occasional attention just to make sure that everything is healthy inside the hive, but not all that much. If you are just starting out, I would recommend finding a beekeeper in your neck of the woods that's willing to let you watch him perform his duties. That taught me more than all the books I read, and I hope I can pass it on someday.
Not a lot of action on this thread. Was hard to find- figure I'll give it a bump as it's the largest and oldest beekeeping forum.
What a long day I had yesterday. Had queen cells arriving via UPS overnight air and had yet to finish making the mating boxes. Ugh, was out in the yard placing brood and honey frames and the cells into boxes until dark. As usual there is one hive that the queen is allusive. I checked and checked and rechecked the mating boxes that had it's brood in then rechecked it all again. Nothing. Finally closed up the hive and figured I'd recheck in morning, if didn't find her would place an extra cell in there just in case. Not an ideal solution but running out of options.
The short of it is I took my niece to the yard this morning as an extra pair of eyes to go through that hive again in search of her. Nothing. Then she said what is that clump of bees doing over there? I quickly realized that was where I'd placed the top box on it's side the night before. Yup, there she was. In the grass with 100 bees clustered around her.
Whew!
What a long day I had yesterday. Had queen cells arriving via UPS overnight air and had yet to finish making the mating boxes. Ugh, was out in the yard placing brood and honey frames and the cells into boxes until dark. As usual there is one hive that the queen is allusive. I checked and checked and rechecked the mating boxes that had it's brood in then rechecked it all again. Nothing. Finally closed up the hive and figured I'd recheck in morning, if didn't find her would place an extra cell in there just in case. Not an ideal solution but running out of options.
The short of it is I took my niece to the yard this morning as an extra pair of eyes to go through that hive again in search of her. Nothing. Then she said what is that clump of bees doing over there? I quickly realized that was where I'd placed the top box on it's side the night before. Yup, there she was. In the grass with 100 bees clustered around her.
Whew!
I feel that I have to post my own views to counterbalance what has been said previously regarding the "Flow Hive" .
As a beekeeper of over 16 years with conventional framed hives(British Nationals) and top bar hives, I can see benefits to this system for framed hives, particularly for the hobby beekeeper. I can't see it being economically viable for commercial beeks. From the information I have seen it is unlikely to ever be available for natural comb in horizontal or vertical top bar hives due to the nature of the engineering/mechanism which I have to say I am in awe of..... such a really clever idea. So the target market I would imagine is framed hive hobby beeks and newbies
As with any tool, it has to be used appropriately and with knowledge. I'm sure information will be supplied with the hive/frames regarding it's correct use. I would hope that if people are going to spend large sums of money on this and even more on buying nucs/packages, then they will take the trouble to read that information, but of course you are right there will be some who don't and have disasters with it..... that is not the fault of the designer or seller. Some people are just plain ignorant and you will never change that.
The windows I believe are just for inspection to see if the honey comb is capped and come with covers like any observation hive. I have a hive with a window already and it is a huge advantage to be able to see what is going on without having to open the hive and a great educational tool and the bees undoubtedly cope better with the shutter being removed every once in a while for a few seconds than having the roof lifted off their home and all the heat and nest scent lost.
Robbing occurs in conventional harvesting, so I don't see what the difference is although I admit the promo video does make you cringe a little seeing the honey flowing off the end of the tube into a jar and not a bee or wasp in sight. Bees can smell honey from a mile away or more and will come looking for it. The risk could easily be prevented though by having the tube go through a lid with a hole in it, so that no access could be gained to the honey whilst it is being harvested and the aroma of it, to a large extent, contained within the jar.
As the other poster stated, it is designed to be used in a conventional hive with a queen excluder, so brood should not be in the frames that it harvests.
From what I have read only 3 or 4 of these frames are used per hive and they are spaced between normal frames, so you are never going to rob the hive of more than 50% of it's honey.
I cannot comment on your concerns regarding the price and availability of nucs and packages as I only use natural swarms which my bees produce in abundance and I would be very happy if everyone else did the same, (hobby beekeepers at the very least), as I think the bee package industry is unethical. I have never needed to buy bees in all the years I have been beekeeping and regularly give away 8-10 swarms a season.
I do not believe this design is any more or less likely to encourage people to neglect their bees than a conventional hive, but as someone who is steadily becoming more hands off with my bees, I am finding that my bees are better off for less intrusion..... I have several hives that are now 6 years untreated for varroa and looking good..... there is however a lot more to it than just leaving them alone to get on with it..... I do still do inspections maybe 2-3 times a year and I watch activity at the entrances almost every day, so that I can spot if there is a problem, but for me, the main elements of my success are having locally adapted bees which arrived as a swarm 17 years ago, allowing them to swarm and having good natural forage..... I digress though.
Back to the topic in hand, if they are compatible with British National hives, I am certainly tempted to buy 3 or 4 of these "Flow" frames for one of my hives and give it a go. The cost is the only stumbling block as my funds are very limited at the moment.
Anyway, as an experienced beekeeper I just wanted to balance the argument.
Regards
Barbara
As a beekeeper of over 16 years with conventional framed hives(British Nationals) and top bar hives, I can see benefits to this system for framed hives, particularly for the hobby beekeeper. I can't see it being economically viable for commercial beeks. From the information I have seen it is unlikely to ever be available for natural comb in horizontal or vertical top bar hives due to the nature of the engineering/mechanism which I have to say I am in awe of..... such a really clever idea. So the target market I would imagine is framed hive hobby beeks and newbies
As with any tool, it has to be used appropriately and with knowledge. I'm sure information will be supplied with the hive/frames regarding it's correct use. I would hope that if people are going to spend large sums of money on this and even more on buying nucs/packages, then they will take the trouble to read that information, but of course you are right there will be some who don't and have disasters with it..... that is not the fault of the designer or seller. Some people are just plain ignorant and you will never change that.
The windows I believe are just for inspection to see if the honey comb is capped and come with covers like any observation hive. I have a hive with a window already and it is a huge advantage to be able to see what is going on without having to open the hive and a great educational tool and the bees undoubtedly cope better with the shutter being removed every once in a while for a few seconds than having the roof lifted off their home and all the heat and nest scent lost.
Robbing occurs in conventional harvesting, so I don't see what the difference is although I admit the promo video does make you cringe a little seeing the honey flowing off the end of the tube into a jar and not a bee or wasp in sight. Bees can smell honey from a mile away or more and will come looking for it. The risk could easily be prevented though by having the tube go through a lid with a hole in it, so that no access could be gained to the honey whilst it is being harvested and the aroma of it, to a large extent, contained within the jar.
As the other poster stated, it is designed to be used in a conventional hive with a queen excluder, so brood should not be in the frames that it harvests.
From what I have read only 3 or 4 of these frames are used per hive and they are spaced between normal frames, so you are never going to rob the hive of more than 50% of it's honey.
I cannot comment on your concerns regarding the price and availability of nucs and packages as I only use natural swarms which my bees produce in abundance and I would be very happy if everyone else did the same, (hobby beekeepers at the very least), as I think the bee package industry is unethical. I have never needed to buy bees in all the years I have been beekeeping and regularly give away 8-10 swarms a season.
I do not believe this design is any more or less likely to encourage people to neglect their bees than a conventional hive, but as someone who is steadily becoming more hands off with my bees, I am finding that my bees are better off for less intrusion..... I have several hives that are now 6 years untreated for varroa and looking good..... there is however a lot more to it than just leaving them alone to get on with it..... I do still do inspections maybe 2-3 times a year and I watch activity at the entrances almost every day, so that I can spot if there is a problem, but for me, the main elements of my success are having locally adapted bees which arrived as a swarm 17 years ago, allowing them to swarm and having good natural forage..... I digress though.
Back to the topic in hand, if they are compatible with British National hives, I am certainly tempted to buy 3 or 4 of these "Flow" frames for one of my hives and give it a go. The cost is the only stumbling block as my funds are very limited at the moment.
Anyway, as an experienced beekeeper I just wanted to balance the argument.
Regards
Barbara
Swarms can be captured when they cluster, by spreading an old bed sheet on the ground below them, shaking the cluster into a cardboard box or similar and then placing it upside down on the sheet with a corner propped up slightly to allow access to the box. I paint the inside of a suitable sized box with molten beeswax at the start of the season and bees can't resist it. Leave the bees to settle and then once Most of them are in the box, gather the edges of the sheet up around the box and fasten tight with a zip tie (cable tie) The bees are then safely contained to be placed in a vehicle and driven to the apiary to be hived. Drop them into the hive just before dusk and if possible provide them with a little old brood comb and they should settle and stay put. If they leave then you need to consider that there is something about the hive that they do not like. It may be that it has an open mesh floor which they dislike or it smells of newly sawn wood, which they often object to.....lightly scorching new wood with a blow torch and rubbing it with bees wax before you install bees will make it smell better.
The very best way to get a swarm is to make your hive or bait hive(s) sufficiently attractive that a swarm moves into it themselves. I have had swarms move into empty hives in my apiary but I also know of quite a few people who had never seen a swarm before in their lives or had any experience of bees, build a hive and bees move in. One lady built 2 top bar hives from old car tyres and 3 swarms arrived in her little garden to move into them in the space of a fortnight. She even had video footage of one of the swarms arriving and moving in.
The very best way to get a swarm is to make your hive or bait hive(s) sufficiently attractive that a swarm moves into it themselves. I have had swarms move into empty hives in my apiary but I also know of quite a few people who had never seen a swarm before in their lives or had any experience of bees, build a hive and bees move in. One lady built 2 top bar hives from old car tyres and 3 swarms arrived in her little garden to move into them in the space of a fortnight. She even had video footage of one of the swarms arriving and moving in.
Quote:
I kept bees years ago and I, too, worried about getting reactions to being stung. Then I did a stupid thing and opened a hive in very cold weather while wearing a bright blue jacket. The whole hive swarmed me. I had stings up and down my legs. The jacket protected my arms and chest, but afterward there were so many stingers stuck in it that I could scrape them off with a knife! I was sore for a couple of weeks. However, I never again had any reaction to being stung. I've read that once you have multiple stings at a time, your system builds an immunity and you are not bothered by the venom anymore. This did seem to be the case for me. Hopefully, it will be the same for you.
I haven't had a hive in about 15 years, but I am thinking about building some new equipment and starting up again. Thinking about it but not quite ready to commit the resources yet, so I'll be following along to see what new things I can learn here. I AM a trifle "rusty" after all.
Rusty
edited to add:
I kept bees years ago and I, too, worried about getting reactions to being stung. Then I did a stupid thing and opened a hive in very cold weather while wearing a bright blue jacket. The whole hive swarmed me. I had stings up and down my legs. The jacket protected my arms and chest, but afterward there were so many stingers stuck in it that I could scrape them off with a knife! I was sore for a couple of weeks. However, I never again had any reaction to being stung. I've read that once you have multiple stings at a time, your system builds an immunity and you are not bothered by the venom anymore. This did seem to be the case for me. Hopefully, it will be the same for you.
I haven't had a hive in about 15 years, but I am thinking about building some new equipment and starting up again. Thinking about it but not quite ready to commit the resources yet, so I'll be following along to see what new things I can learn here. I AM a trifle "rusty" after all.
Rusty
edited to add:
Can anyone tell me how time consuming this is?
I had 3 hives and spent maybe 30 minutes a week for the routine stuff. Maybe twice a year I had supers to extract and then I probably spent an hour or 2. It was not time-consuming at all.
I had 3 hives and spent maybe 30 minutes a week for the routine stuff. Maybe twice a year I had supers to extract and then I probably spent an hour or 2. It was not time-consuming at all.
Last edited:
I have one hive I got last year. I just ordered another 3 lbs of bees to start another. I dont find it time consuming at all. It is a bit of an investment to get started the right way.
I too seem to have had a worse reaction everytime I get stung to the point that the last time I was stung by a bee my whole entire foot swelled. I went out one day not prepared to work the bees but they had been knowcked over by a really bad wind storm, I figured I could just set them all back up right since they had been so docile in the past. Well I guess being knocked over had them all up on guard and I ended up with bees in my pants and getting stung multiple times. Somehow the reaction wasnt all that bad. I havent been stung once to see what happens but I thought for sure with all the bee stings it would have been awful.
I still wouldnt trade having bees for anything the honey is amazing and I enjoy knowing the are out there pollinaing all my trees.
I too seem to have had a worse reaction everytime I get stung to the point that the last time I was stung by a bee my whole entire foot swelled. I went out one day not prepared to work the bees but they had been knowcked over by a really bad wind storm, I figured I could just set them all back up right since they had been so docile in the past. Well I guess being knocked over had them all up on guard and I ended up with bees in my pants and getting stung multiple times. Somehow the reaction wasnt all that bad. I havent been stung once to see what happens but I thought for sure with all the bee stings it would have been awful.
I still wouldnt trade having bees for anything the honey is amazing and I enjoy knowing the are out there pollinaing all my trees.
This is a bit long, but well worth watching to the end.
The people on this thread need to stop prescribing epi-pens.
~~Yes. While you may be fine and recover, it can also cause arrhythmias (irregular heartbeat) and cardiovascular collapse. Epi Pens are lifesaving for those in anaphylaxis/shock, who will die without it. But they can also be deadly themselves if used unnecessarily, especially in high risk populations (young children, those with heart disease, hyperthyroidism, etc.). If you accidentally (or intentionally) used an Epi Pen when not indicated, you are advised to go immediately to the ER. The exception to all of this avoidance warning is if you have anaphylaxis and are not 100% sure if you are having a reaction, but think you may be. In this case, you always err on the side of caution and use your Epi Pen sooner rather than wait to see what happens. Then call 911. In this case, it is always indicated to use your Epi Pen, even if it turns out you were NOT having a reaction, but there was reason to think you were. Do not play with Epi Pens, they are medicine, not toys.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080930040815AAhfaGj
Doctors will sometimes prescribe pens without the patient fully aware of the dangers.
People will sometimes use the pens because someone said it was a good idea and will have a bad reaction or worse, die.
If a pen is used it should be on the way to the emergency room.
If you can't take a little itching from a sting you should not attempt to keep bees.
I may sound harsh but these pens can be a matter of life and death and those of you promoting them should be responsible for your actions.
~~Yes. While you may be fine and recover, it can also cause arrhythmias (irregular heartbeat) and cardiovascular collapse. Epi Pens are lifesaving for those in anaphylaxis/shock, who will die without it. But they can also be deadly themselves if used unnecessarily, especially in high risk populations (young children, those with heart disease, hyperthyroidism, etc.). If you accidentally (or intentionally) used an Epi Pen when not indicated, you are advised to go immediately to the ER. The exception to all of this avoidance warning is if you have anaphylaxis and are not 100% sure if you are having a reaction, but think you may be. In this case, you always err on the side of caution and use your Epi Pen sooner rather than wait to see what happens. Then call 911. In this case, it is always indicated to use your Epi Pen, even if it turns out you were NOT having a reaction, but there was reason to think you were. Do not play with Epi Pens, they are medicine, not toys.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080930040815AAhfaGj
Doctors will sometimes prescribe pens without the patient fully aware of the dangers.
People will sometimes use the pens because someone said it was a good idea and will have a bad reaction or worse, die.
If a pen is used it should be on the way to the emergency room.
If you can't take a little itching from a sting you should not attempt to keep bees.
I may sound harsh but these pens can be a matter of life and death and those of you promoting them should be responsible for your actions.
- Thread starter
- #952
Similar threads
New posts New threads Active threads
-
Latest posts
-
-
-
-
Five day old Chick Swollen Purple Vent area- Latest: knoturavggrl
-
-
Latest threads
-
Bantam chicken trying to lay for 24 hours
- Started by BabeMj
- Replies: 0
-
First Time Chicken Owner- Preventative/precautionary treatments
- Started by MRquail
- Replies: 0
-
-
Sudden change in behavior
- Started by Thorn_shrike
- Replies: 0
-
-
-
Threads with more replies in the last 15 days
-
Checking-In On Peeps - Post Here To Say Hello!- Started by Nifty-Chicken
- Replies: 1K
-
-
-
-
Can I get some help from someone with careless neighbours who own dogs.- Started by RiDaGeckoGuy
- Replies: 102
-