I have a couple questions for backyard bee-keepers. This is something I'm thinking about doing bees next year. 1. Do you use a Top Bar or Langstroth hive? 2. What strain of bees do you raise? 3. Do you ever notice problems with mowing the yard and getting stung? 4. Where do you buy your bees from? 5. What all care do they need? 6. PICS PICS PICS of your setup and bees. Thanks all!
1) Langstroth for extracted honey, top bar for comb honey. 2) Italian here. 3) Nope. Have one hive in our garage and one in the yard. If you walk barefoot when the clover is out you'll get stung now and then though. If they turn mean buy a new queen and kill the old one BEFORE putting new in . 4) Gotta ask husband that one. We usually increase our hives by division and picking up swarms. Haven't bought bees in the past 4 years,...maybe not ever lol. www.beesource.com is full of information . 5) Have to apply mite killer once a year, need to add supers with additional foundation or comb as the bees grow and make more honey. Need to rob the honey in fall and be sure to leave 90lbs in the hive to carry the bees through the winter, or else you will also have to feed them. May need to feed them in especially cold springs anyhow. At times to prevent swarms you may need to divide, or else lose half of the bees in that hive. All I can think of now, but I'm not the beekeeper, DH is. If you plan to have regular (not comb) honey, you'll also need an extractor or find anothe keeper close that will extract for you .
Im thinking about just doing a Topbar or two. I love comb honey. So is there a certain month you shoud collect honey so they have enough time to make enough from themselves? THANKS!
Quote:Topbar. We buil them ourselves. Quote:Italian. Quote:Nope. My husband tends the hives and doesn't use a smoker or veil. He has not been stung yet. Quote:Walter Kelly's Quote:Not much. We feed them and check the hives to be sure things are going well. Quote:I have a thread on our bees - https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=53663&p=1 Photos on pages 1 and 4
Langstroth. Italian. Stings - not while mowing, but I dont mow around the hives on a hot day, that'd get them in a bad mood. I do use a smoker, headnet and long pants/shirt when I go in the hives. Bees are not a lot of work and the rewards are great, but be careful, it is a bit addictive ... kinda like chickens. Edit: added this: There is tons of good beekeeping info on the net, and I've purchased bees from several of the bigger supply houses, its always worked out fine for me.
Yah I think 1-2 top bars would fit me best....because I dont really want to buy a BIG extractor. Is it possible to do langstroths without extractor? Thanks all!