Kentucky people

[Mrs. Turbo]

Quote:
What type of hive are you planning on using and where are you getting your bees? My husband has plans for a top bar hive that I believe he is going to be building in a couple weeks. I have not decided on buying a swarm or trying to lure a swarm. I read about luring but thats a bit iffy.

I'm getting the assembled kit from Dadant and sons. 3 supers and an entrance feeder. It comes with all the tools and a hood . There's a bee place here in Frankfort which is convenient for us. My coworker (and neighbor) ordered bees for me through them. A swarm costs around $70. We chose Italian bees. 3 of us at work are getting hives this spring. On March 9th, I go to a bee class to meet and learn.
Colby

Kelley Beehive factory is about 20 miles from us. Jerry said his cousin owns it, but i don't know anything about it.

 

[tomlinson]

We got our bees & all accessories from Walter T. Kelley Co. in Clarkson Ky The number is 1-800-233-2899 you can request a catalog from them & ask about their spring/summer schedule.
Last year on June 5 they had a field day with some helpful workshops. On the date our bees arrived they also had some demonstrations on setting your bees.
We have worked with Kelley Bee for about 8 years and found them to be a friendly company with good customer service.

Last year a 3# pckage of bees w an Italian queen was $76, a 3# pckg of bees with a Russian queen were $79. we got one of each and picked them up. There is an additional charge of $2 to mark the queen & $2 for clipping her wings. We have found it to be useful to pay the extra charge. Shipping for us in zone 2 would have been $19.50 for 2 swarms.
It didn't cost that much to drive there & while we were there to p/u our bees we participated in the demonstrations, looked around the store & had complimentary doughnuts & beverages. They happened to have a few damaged pckgs for a discounted price. We picked up a couple of those. When we got home we lost the queen in one of the damaged pckgs. They replaced it for the cost of $5 S/H.

We enjoy going there It is about 1.5 hour trip but worth it once every couple years. I hope this is helpful. We have also been able to capture swarms, but there is no guarantee that you will find one. It is handy to keep and extra hive ready just in case.

 

[kentucky jay]

when i got my chickens from edmonton , they were 5-6 months old ...the lady said she didnt have time for them anymore , traded me for a compressor i didnt use anymore .......... my first chickens were practicly free...... she gave waterers and feeding troughs , i converted an old log shed into a coop , still workin on getting materials to make a run !!!!!!!! my chicken money had to go to fixing the heat ...it happens !!!!! hey coogle sorry i havent gotten back to you , been kinda crazy here lately .......we spent 4 days without heat before i caved and decided to use chicken money ......lol ther are a lot of people in here . i dont know where any of the towns are but some of you must be kinda close to morgantown !!!!!

 

[JCoogle]

It's OK Jay, I can understand. I ended up selling the D'uccle trio thou.

 

[dawnwinds58]

Hi Sydney, how are the donkey babies doing?

I have hens from you as well. A rooster from you would be related to ones I already have. But I'd be interested in some of your Black Jersey Giants come spring. With 2 sets of kids with their spouses and 6 grandchildren in the house, there is no warm place to put a brooder through this wicked cold for young chicks where grandkids wouldn't pester them; all are under 8 and the youngest little indian is 2. But come spring when you are hatching, then it's a different story. Then they can go to my feed room attached to the henhouse.

What would you ask for say 25 straight run of the Jerseys?

Phyllis

 

[HeatherLynn]

I have a couple SLW roo's and a single beautiful gentleman BR Roo that I need to get rid of. The kids just will not eat the babies they have raised. For now on I raise meat birds the kids are not allowed around them at all. Anywho if you are looking for a couple chicken dinners or a beautiful gentleman let me know.

 

[dawnwinds58]

We are also considering getting beehives started on our property. With Colony Collapse Disorder destroying our pollinators, any healthy hive should be worked and protected.

The specific cause is unknown and may be a combination of several factors with the range of theories from a virus, to pesticide, to mobile phone radiation disrupting their navigational patterns. A few dead bees isn't CCD, alot of dead bees may be a disease, but if you wake up to juts a queen, eggs, and some immature workers with all the rest disappeared, it is CCD. The studies have found after abandonment, no other bees, predators, or parasites will come near that hive to even scavenge it. That smacks of contamination reconisable by those species and makes it a "dead zone."

I have a hunch, and plan on planting "Echinacea Angustaflora" the herb. It is a specific variety of the Purple Coneflower which produces the medical herb Echinacea, anti-microbial, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and anti-viral, and annual. Let them pollinate with that for honey and see if they might stay healthy.

See Document on Colony Collapse Disorder, we are in danger here:

Survey Reports Latest Honey Bee Losses
By Kim Kaplan
April 29, 2010
Losses of managed honey bee colonies nationwide totaled 33.8 percent from all causes from October 2009 to April 2010, according to a survey conducted by the Apiary Inspectors of America (AIA) and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). Beekeepers identified starvation, poor weather, and weak colonies going into winter as the top reasons for mortality in their operations.

This is an increase from overall losses of 29 percent reported from a similar survey covering the winter of 2008-2009, and similar to the 35.8 percent losses for the winter of 2007-2008.

The continued high rate of losses are worrying, especially considering losses occurring over the summer months were not being captured, notes Jeffrey Pettis, research leader of ARS' Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Md. ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's principal intramural scientific research agency. The survey was conducted by Pettis and past AIA presidents Dennis vanEngelsdorp and Jerry Hayes. The three researchers said that continued losses of this magnitude are not economically sustainable for commercial beekeepers.

The 28 percent of beekeeping operations that reported some of their colonies perished without dead bees present—a sign of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)—lost 44 percent of their colonies. This compares to 26 percent of beekeepers reporting such dead colonies in the 2008-2009 winter and 32 percent in the 2007-2008 winter. Beekeepers that did not report their colonies having CCD lost 25 percent of their colonies.

As this was an interview-based survey, it was not possible to differentiate between verifiable cases of CCD and colonies lost as the result of other causes that share the "absence of dead bees" as a symptom. The cause of CCD is still unknown.

The survey checked on about 22.4 percent of the country's estimated 2.46 million colonies. The survey reports only winter losses and does not capture colony losses that occur throughout the summer when queens or entire colonies fail and need to be replaced. Those summer losses can be significant.

A complete analysis of the survey data will be published later this year. www.ars.usda.gov/ccd.

 

[spydertoys]

Quote:
Donkey babies?? Not me..lol! Maybe you are referring to the Pygmy babies?? They are grown and two will be giving birth real soon to babies of their own.

Jerseys are $2 each.

 

[dawnwinds58]

MyBad!!! Yup, when I rechecked my emails we'd been emailing about your Muscovies and the Buffs, but you didn't have any right at that time. My apologies for the mix up. That means yours would not be related, but just too young to breed right away. Are you asking the same for Buffs?

Phyllis

 

[Mrs. Turbo]

I am on baby watch for pygmies...... 2 due anytime.