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

[vpatt]

Thank you....I think I will ask....nothing ventured - nothing gained. Well I may wait until I'm sure she really wants my help and then ask her. I turned the question around on myself. If it had to do with chickens and someone wanting to keep a few with my birds and learn from me and help me......I would be good with that with a few stipulations and such. So when I get to know her I will ask. Thnx

 

[PirateShipp]

Newbie to bee keeping here. About to order my hive and my bees. I'd like your advice on my plan...

Was planning on ordering an all mediums kit from Kelley Bees. I'm thinking of starting with all mediums after research on the weight and standardization. Debating on the Pine or Cypress. I was going to order my bees from them as well but since I have started my research, they sold out for the season

That leads me to ordering bees. I found from Spille in Morning View KY. Figure order from the climate I live in. They're a few hours away from me. I can't find any reviews online about their bees, only the honey they sell in stores. Has anyone ordered from them before? Was thinking of ordering the package of Italian with marked Queen as I've seen a few places recommend them for newbies like me.

I've already ordered my tools and such but they were delayed because of our awful weather the past month!

Any advice or input is greatly appreciated!

 

[Kendrain]

I would just like to chip in here so that inexperienced beekeepers and novices understand that all this business of feeding pollen patties and sugar cakes is not an essential part of beekeeping, but more a commercial practice that has been passed down and become accepted practice at hobby level, without any real consideration of the necessity. 

In 16 years of beekeeping (and I have the original strain of bees I started with) I have never fed my bees a pollen patty or sugar cake or fondant block and only a handful of times have I fed them syrup. I catch the swarms from my hives in the summer and put them in an empty hive and leave them to get on with it and they thrive....last year I even used an old apple crate that I fitted with top bars. I particularly wanted to keep that swarm (I had given away 12 others) and I didn't have a spare hive ready.... it is happily flying today and will get transferred to a proper hive when the weather is warmer. If I get a very late cast swarm then I may feed them syrup to boost stores for winter but it is rarely necessary. However I don't harvest much honey from them and I always leave them plenty to over winter on.

Just wanted to throw that out there so that people don't feel they "should" be doing these things. Artificially feeding the bees at this time of year (unless they are starving because they were not left with enough honey for winter) encourages them to brood sooner, so that the colonies grow larger and have more foragers to collect nectar when there is a flow. That may not sound bad, but one of the effects of this is that varroa mites also start to breed more rapidly and can overrun the hive.... so then the beekeeper needs to treat them.... Or there is a cold spell and there are not enough adult bees to cover the brood and it gets chilled, leaving it vulnerable to disease.
  
I suppose in some ways it is similar to keeping chickens.... if you want to get maximum egg production.... you stimulate with artificial light in the winter and give them the optimum nutrition. They will however still lay eggs (but less of course) and be quite happy if they don't get these conditions and may even live longer. 

Bees are a very ancient creature though and being in rhythm with the seasons and the landscape(flora) and local climate is an integral part of how they have existed and survived the millennia. Artificially stimulating them knocks that rhythm out of sync, which in my opinion is one (granted, a small one) of the MANY reasons why bees are not thriving in many parts of the world today. 

I appreciate that honey bees are not native to the American continent and that bees are shipped across the world each year to get there and are therefore already completely out of sync with their environment, but I do believe that they can adapt if they are given the opportunity. Getting locally raised bees in the first place is the best way to start though rather than buying mass produced packages.

Hope I haven't offended anyone. Just wanted to make people think about what they are doing and why.

Regards

Barbara       

I'm glad you put this other information out there. I am trying to read as much as I can before diving in. I appreciate hands on ideas and experience.

 

[mak1]

I have a question for all you beekeepers. I don't think I asked already...if so please forgive me.

I have decided not to keep bees due to living in bear territory. But the lady down the road has twenty or so hives and already has electric fencing. I had volunteered to help her at times if she lets me know when. She said she might take me up on it. My question is.....I would like to offer to buy some bees to keep at her place and be able to care for them and learn from her. Do you all think that is an ok thing to present to her? I know it is her decision and she may not care to do that...but do you think it is presumptuous of me to ask? It would make me more a part of things and should not cause her any financial isuue for me. Or are there aspects that I am not seeing because I do NOT have bees of my own? I would first see if she is serious about me helping and learning from her....and then see how I feel about asking this of her. In other words we would get to know each other first.
thnx for any advice

she might not like that idea because you will be taking her honey on the other hand we put around 40 hives per bee yards

 

[mak1]

packages or nucs?

 

[vpatt]

she might not like that idea because you will be taking her honey on the other hand we put around 40 hives per bee yards

That would be something we would have to negotiate from the beginning.......I am interested in honey.....but we would set limits.....she has already told me that she does not get lots of honey.....I think it had to do with the area....not sure.....I am interested but it is not my primary concern. I'm still not positive about this...will have to know her a little better first. Actually she said something like if I was interested in lots of honey I might be disappointed ...this was when I still thought I would keep bees here at my house. She has had these for two to four years I think and this winter has been really bad for her/them.

 

[mak1]

If I were you I would drive around your area where you see lots of wild flowers and might be a good honey harvest. Ask the owners, transport the hives and the electric fence.

 

[xoxocammyxoxo]

Ok so, question. I want to have bees but I've come to the conclusion that starting one now in a place I rent just to move it later isn't a good idea. So, an alternative I was thinking of is...

What flowers can I plant in my garden to promote bees coming to my property?

 

[sunflower4you]

Ok so, question. I want to have bees but I've come to the conclusion that starting one now in a place I rent just to move it later isn't a good idea. So, an alternative I was thinking of is...

What flowers can I plant in my garden to promote bees coming to my property?

This website talks about design/layout. It also says you should plant bee-friendly plants that are native to your area. The best reference would be a local botanical garden to find out what plants are native and attract bees. Hope this helps!

http://thehoneybeeconservancy.org/act-today-2/plant-a-bee-garden/

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I'm happy to report that my bees seem to have made it through the winter! This was my first year with them, and I've enjoyed them, but keeping alive through the winter was something that concerned me. I guess I was overly paranoid. I've seen them flying about when we've had warm snaps. I didn't feed them anything, either, but they did have two full honey supers going into the winter.
I'm eager to pop the top on their hive to see what's going on in there, though!
When do you all do your first hive checks? I'm in TN, if that helps. I don't want to open them up too early