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

[1muttsfan]

I understand there is a way to vacuum bees out of tight quarters, anyone have any experience with that? Would something like that injure the bees?

 

[vpatt]

I get to go help with bees today! Well watch and learn is more like it. I know I'm not likely to move anyplace where I can have bees (at my age). But I can learn and maybe interest my grands and others in the welfare of bees.

This lady is serious about her bees...she moved a couple of hives into her kitchen over the winter. She made openings in her wall so they could go outside and has a hose like setup from the hives to the openings. I don't understand much about bees but hope to learn.

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I was able to watch and 'assist'. I went again today. I realize she did not make holes thru her wall but used a window. I watched her check and look for queens. She added bees and I saw the new queens in their little containers. And I asked lots of questions.

She had a veil I wore. I don't think she would have let me near them without a veil and I was very thankful for that after I saw that they were a bit agitated. I could see that some hives were more agitatated than others. She calls some of them her 'devil' bees. I am still very interested. I thought that maybe I would lose some interest after seeing them up close. I still want my own....

 

[mermaids]

I knew someone who had this done. He ran a shop in a rural location, and bees moved in. They had to go because they were dangerous for customers. He called around--we have a beekeeper's association in the county, and eventually one beekeeper actually volunteered to come do this for free. I don't know what kind of vacuum, I'm sure something specialized for this. They came, vacuumed up the bees, left my friend a sample of honey, and relocated the bees to someone who wanted to keep them. No bees or people were harmed in the process. And the beekeeper wanted to keep the wax for himself

 

[Honey Maid]

http://vac-a-bee.com
There are a lot of sites that show you how to make your own too.

 

[DBerryhill]

Commenting to subscribe. I'm looking at starting this next year. Thanks!

 

[xoxocammyxoxo]

http://vac-a-bee.com
There are a lot of sites that show you how to make your own too.

I tried to go to the vac a bee site and for whatever reason it wasn't working for me.

Side note, I think we've decided that we might consider starting bee keeping next year. Reading all the posts and watching the youtube videos about catching swarms I've realized you probably can relocate bees without completely damaging their lifestyle. But we want to do it next year as I have WAY to many projects going this year. So can anyone suggest any books I can buy through Amazon about bee keeping and hopefully a book or website where I can get plans?

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
Beekeeping for dummies is a really good book.

 

[Honey Maid]

A great forum, if you havent already found it, is "Beesource.com". They also have plans you can download. Get all your gear ahead of time, and plan where you want your hives, and put the hives there, BEFORE, you get bees. Then go visit the hives several times a day, if possible, so you can see how hot, or cool it is where they are, if the shade suits you, etc, etc... Much easier to find out that where you origionally thought you wanted the hives, is not where they should be, BEFORE they have bees in them. It's a lot of fun!

 

[Lapeerian]

Hubby got his hives this weekend! 2 complete hives with medium honey supers, plus a deadout from extreme cold/starvation. This is not an ideal location near our (country) road, but what we could come up with right now. Still contending with snow piles and frozen ground, so could not get the hive stand built where we want them.
Will they be ok to move in about 3 weeks? The site would be 200' back. Yesterday was our first 60* day, nothing blooming yet in Central New York. They both were supplied with a pollen patty by the prior owner on moving day. Setting a couple deadout frames next to them to clean up too.

 

[mak1]

nice!