A BEE thread....for those interested in beekeeping.

[bibliophile birds]

Quote:
the smoke works in a few different ways. it makes them think there is a forest fire, so they prepare to evacuate the hive. to do that they gorge themselves on honey, which actually makes them sluggish. it's like a post Thanksgiving meal grogginess. also, with their abdomens full of honey, it makes the muscle action involved in stinging more difficult. it also masks the pheromones released by guard bees so the rest of the hive isn't alerted to an attack.

no ill effects.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
We are planning on getting into beekeeping in the spring. I've read Beekeeping for Dummies and I think it does a great job at explaining everything. (to someone that hasn't done it before) According to the book, honey bees can fly for 3 miles to get pollen. It also talks about placement of the hive: not in direct sun, not in complete shade (cool in summer warm in winter) and away from high winds. The hardest part seems to be learning the timing of when to do things to the hive.

A friend of ours gave us some honey from their first harvest. It's really sweet and delicious. It's orange blossom honey, I can taste the orange in it.

 

[Sumatra503]

My favorite honey is the wilder darker honey. I like my honey to be thick and dark as mollasis. that's good honey to me.

I think by getting bees I'll be helping out the wild plants and berries in my area, as well as my fruit trees. Bees around here will be a good thing.

If the wild bees are having problems won't my bees have problems as well?

 

[Carols Clucks]

My dad used to place his hives in several different areas and offer the different flavored honey.

Back in the day....Strawberry fields and Lemon orchards in Oxnard provided a super pale incredible honey.

Avocado orchards will get you that dark molasses one, Eucalyptus will taste like butterscotch, wildflowers can vary sage-buckwheat etc.



FYI we still have vintage bee keeping stuff (maybe even an old hand crank extractor) wooden frames that were never assembled etc. Shoot me an email if you are interested in used/old/vintage stuff and as I dig it out and can shoot you a photo. Hopefully you pass this way and can pick it up at some point.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Ours will technically be wildflower honey. We have a variety of fruit trees, our garden, blackberries, manzanita flowers, not to mention what else they find in our area.

Our friend says he has never had such a heavy crop as he does on his orange trees this year. My husbands grandmother had a neighbor that had bees, and they had a huge impact on their fruit trees and garden as soon as the bees were sold. (due to him leaving in a divorce)

 

[bibliophile birds]

Quote:
a hand crank extractor!

where are you located?

 

[Dragonfly Ranch]

I posted this as a spearate thread but didn't get any replies so thought I post here and see if anyone knows the answer

I have been trying to find an answer to our question on the Internet but no luck so hoping someone here might know.

We have two honey bee hives and we want to also encourage Mason bees on our property since we have a fruit orchard. But the question we have is: Will the Mason bees compete too much with the Honey bees for pollen? We know that Mason bees visit approximately 1000 flowers a day to the honey bee's 400 a day. We obviously don't want to hinder the honey bees.

Any opinions or answers would be appreciated

 

[Sumatra503]

Does anyone know of a good place to get some starter bees and maybe a hive? I think I've decided to get the honey bees.

Is there any way for me to make my own hive or is it really complicated to make?

 

[sgtmom52]

Quote:
It depends where you live. I recommend contacting your local beekeeping club or county extension office. They should be able to give you some ideas.

You also might want to join Beesource Beekeeping forum. It is almost like a BYC forum for bees.

 

[havi]

Quote:
I dont have bees, so you might ask someone who does. But when I first started looking into keeping bees I wanted(still do) Mason bees. Since DH said no to honey bees. I read in lots of different books and also online, that the honey bees and Mason bees pollinate at different times. People who have orchards should look into getting MB as they are the ones that come out and pollinate first. When the blooms are just starting to show. And its later in the season when HB start coming out. From what all I read, you shouldnt have a problem with the two.





Quote:
If you find out, please let me know. I want to get started with bees as well. Ive been reading up on the Top Bar Bee Hives and plan to make my own hive. Ive read lots of info on the two different bee hives and for me, the Top Bar Hive will be better. Plus I can build it myself. Which mean cheaper for me.