Chickens and bees?

[Chicken Salad]

I'm going to be busy with a new laying flock (FOUR, count'em FOUR) and 1-2 hives. I'm so stoked...signed up for my beekeeping class last week. I'm planning on top-bar hives that will be about 100 ft from an enclosed run/coop.

 

[Anny]

I'm also planning on getting bees this spring! so exciting!

 

[Guitartists]

Do let us know how it goes.....

I want to get some bees someday, but I also have that instant panic reaction to bees... LOL Ever seen that bee episode of Monk

I'm hoping someday though to overcome it so we can have our own honey and beeswax

Not to mention happy plants

 

[jossanne]

We switched brands of layer feed last week, and the bees are attracted to it. Makes me suspect the new brand is full of sugar...

The bees were going crazy in and around the chicken feeder, the sack of feed, all around the coop. I wondered if the chickens would eat them, but we've been watching and haven't seen the chickens going after the bees.

 

[WGB]

Quote:
Don't want to rain on your parade, but my folks raise bees, and 10 hives sounds like a VERY ambitious number to start with. Study up to be sure what you're getting into. Good luck

And schmije
Thanks for the heads up, I've been looking into it for years, time I my life is right!
Also I have two state bee inspectors within 15 mile, and a supplier 50 minute away.
One of the inspectors is going to mentor me, looks like it was meant to bee!

 

[Lu King]

"African" bees are a lot different than bees natural to this country. They will string you wihtout cause. People have died from being attacked en mass with the African bees. One elderly woman not too far from me was strung over 1,000 times. She lived because help came quickly.

 

[onebuggirl]

My brother in MN is studying bee keeping this summer from some elders after he learns the ropes I will pick it up from him.

 

[Mortimer]

My Delawares will eat any bugs that catch their eye. I've even seen them jump in the air and grab a grasshopper, wasp or dragonfly mid-flight.

I'm allergic to bee/wasp stings so I love it. All the men on my side of the family have terrible bug bite reactions. When I get bit by a mosquito it looks like a bee sting. When I get stung by a bee it looks like I got smacked with a 2x4!

We used to have a LOT of wasps of all kinds on our property. I don't know the names -- red ones, black ones, black/yellow striped ones. And the giant ones as big as your thumb that sound like a Chinook helicopter when they fly by. We'd get them in the house every time we cracked a window without a screen. Drove me nuts 'cause I love to prop open the door to my office when the weather's nice but always ended up with wasps in the house.

I can confidently say since we got the chickens this spring, and they have been free-ranging all summer, the amount I've seen around here has dropped off significantly.

 

[lbrykowski2011]

Is there a way to keep the bees away from your compost pile? I have a small pile in my run and can't stand the bees around it, mainly cuz they go after me once in awhile and I'm allergic.