Colorado

[Ashdoes]

Oh hold the phone, you have hives?  Talk to me!  Last year we were intent on setting up a couple of hives, and then the more we read, the more complicated it sounded, and we decided maybe we weren't up to the task.  In the end it would probably not have been a good year to have bees here (too dry for a lot of blooming), but I still think maybe I got dis-persuaded too soon.  Is it difficult/complicated to maintain them?  Do they require a lot of attention/time?

I so love this forum - there is no limit to knowledge, experience, and willingness to share, and I've never been so glad to have found a community!

I've also been looking at adding a new "item" to our hobby, and was thinking bees might be more fun then goats. How much work are they?

 

[pichuris]

Nice summary!   So one thing I was wondering was whether it smells strong and whether the smell will permeate the house?  The only other thing was can I cover it with cheesecloth or something if I want to try in the barn for now - in winter no way I could do this in the barn, it isn't heated or insulated and isn't completely enclosed, so would have to do in the utility room, thus the question about the smell.

I just read an Ussery article about mixing poultry feed at home, which kind of piqued my interest.  I don't think it would save money but would give more control over ingredients.  Food for thought.

The smell is strong when I have the four collanders draining but when I had just one it was fine. Yes it does smell different and the first day I wasnt sure I could do it. I have mine setup in our walkout basement so I can easily open the door to air out. I have 3 different buckets going layers, 5 weeks old pullets and 6 day old broilers. It wouldnt be so bad if I didnt have so many different feeds going. But my husband did come down to the basement yesterday and said "what is that smell". I told him and said "just as long as it doesnt start smelling upstairs." So right now its only confined to the basement when Im straining the feed. Cause i had him check this morning before i uncovered the buckets and said he didnt smell anything (coming from someone who believes animals should never be inside and hates the smell of animal feed).

Yes thats one part I left out was covering. Cheese cloth is wonderful because it allows your feed to breath while fermenting and doesnt allow the bugs to get in. The barn for me is too far from the coop so thats why i chose the basement. Some people talked about still ff'ing outside but I cant remember what they said but I was going to try a cooler. The ff is naturally a warm process so if you insulate right and only add warm or hot water to it you maybe ok. I guess trial and error.

 

[Minchi]

Did someone say something about tasting honey....

Made a Carmel Apple Pie Jam, so far everyone who has had it or smelled it says it taste/smells like Christmas. I even had a girl serving us offer to buy some. No clue what to charge, still getting over the 'you want to pay for the stuff I made' part.

Wendell...
How is Beth? Still home and happy I hope.

 

[maggiemo]

I do have 4 hives. This is my second season of beekeeping. I just harvested 8 gallons of honey from three of my hives. I think the most important thing about beekeeping, like chicken keeping, is to have a support system. A mentor or a message board. You can read all you like but experience is key. Also, local experience is better.

Off topic of bees, but back to chickens; I am off to harvest 50 freedom rangers this morning. I work at a farm and we are seeing if we can make any money selling freedom rangers. We found a guy who is USDA certified and he is showing us how to slaughter our chickens.
GACK! Wish me luck!
mo

 

[Pozees]

I do have 4 hives. This is my second season of beekeeping. I just harvested 8 gallons of honey from three of my hives. I think the most important thing about beekeeping, like chicken keeping, is to have a support system. A mentor or a message board. You can read all you like but experience is key. Also, local experience is better.

Off topic of bees, but back to chickens; I am off to harvest 50 freedom rangers this morning. I work at a farm and we are seeing if we can make any money selling freedom rangers. We found a guy who is USDA certified and he is showing us how to slaughter our chickens.
GACK! Wish me luck!
mo

I will be interested in hearing how it went and what the farm thinks. I've only read a tiny blurb about Freedom Rangers, still at the stage of persuading DH that whether it's ours, raised kindly and humanely, or a producer's, which probably isn't, a chicken has to die if he wants it on his plate, so isn't it better to eat those you know were treated and fed well? Oh well.

If you can point us to a useful message board we would appreciate it. 8 gallons from 3 hives? That sounds like a pretty good harvest!

 

[Pozees]

Did someone say something about tasting honey....

Made a Carmel Apple Pie Jam, so far everyone who has had it or smelled it says it taste/smells like Christmas. I even had a girl serving us offer to buy some. No clue what to charge, still getting over the 'you want to pay for the stuff I made' part.

Wendell...
How is Beth? Still home and happy I hope.

Mmmmm ... can you be talked out of the recipe? That sounds wonderful!

What to charge - make sure you cover ingredients and container, add in something for use of utilities and your time. I know elsewhere I've read of folks asking something like $8 for a pint of jam and not being able to keep up with demand, and being flabbergasted. Might have been at least partly because of where they lived, and no I can't remember where it was Still, if you can at least closely approximate what it cost you to make the batch, including your time, then divide by the # of jars you made (or could have made if you didn't use the capacity of your canner) then you should be able to figure out what you have to charge to break even, and then add some profit. In the restaurant biz it is common to multiply base cost by 3 for most things, knowing that some things you will barely break even on because you can't multiply by 3 and still sell it, and some things you will make a killing on just because of prevailing pricing in the area. Dinner is expensive to serve, breakfast is cheap. Other industries vary widely - in the construction biz, they are cheering if they make a 15% profit.

I know, not much help, huh?

 

[wsmith]

Wendell...
How is Beth? Still home and happy I hope.

She is home. We are going to make another attempt at chemo, probably next week sometime. If things go south again, no more chemo. (Three attempts at chemo, three hospital stays.) If she tolerates it without going to the hospital with all the associated issues, we may have a chance to push back.

 

[jardog1820]

Must be something in the air my rooster went off at 4:00am a couple of days ago. It was still pitch black out. I know cause I went out and knocked him off the roost. He stopped after that and hasn't done it since. I can justify him crowing at dawn but not 2 hours prior. Now that it's cooling off his voice is carrying further and although my neighbors haven't said anything I'm trying to keep them happy. Anyone have any suggestions or advice?

 

[wsmith]

Must be something in the air my rooster went off at 4:00am a couple of days ago. It was still pitch black out. I know cause I went out and knocked him off the roost. He stopped after that and hasn't done it since. I can justify him crowing at dawn but not 2 hours prior. Now that it's cooling off his voice is carrying further and although my neighbors haven't said anything I'm trying to keep them happy. Anyone have any suggestions or advice?

Roosters do what roosters do, unfortunately. I have no idea of how to break a rooster from crowing at weird hours. Ours have been doing that as well. With our however, it hasn't become a habit, it is only once in a while.

 

[wsmith]

Got 3 eggs yesterday!