Maine

[kinsey228]

Need any plastic honey bears?

Why? Do you have some?

 

[superchemicalgirl]

My mom and I have Carniolians (I think that is how you spell it) at our houses, and we get them from Swan's in Albion. The Italians my mom had we so aggressive that we couldn't go near the hive w/ out them swarming. The Carniolians are a lot more calm and easy going.

Wow that's the opposite of what I've heard about temperament. I am in need of friendly bees... unfortunately I'm pretty terrified of the whole bee thing, but I'm sure I'll get over it as long as I'm not chased in hot pursuit by the colony.

There's a lady in bath that sells packages of a mixture of the carniolians, russians and italians. Maybe I should get that?

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Need any plastic honey bears?

Not unless they're filled with bee-Xanax.

My goal is to not get anaphylactic shock this year

I have already resigned myself to not getting honey this year, and to probably having my bees die from my stupidity.

You still have your suit and tool? I could use those.

 

[kinsey228]

Wow that's the opposite of what I've heard about temperament. I am in need of friendly bees... unfortunately I'm pretty terrified of the whole bee thing, but I'm sure I'll get over it as long as I'm not chased in hot pursuit by the colony.

There's a lady in bath that sells packages of a mixture of the carniolians, russians and italians. Maybe I should get that?

I am allergic to bees (I know it's idiotic to have bees being allergic to them, blah, blah, blah) and not once have these bothered me. My mom had italians at our house while I was a kid (a while ago) and I couldn't go outside w/out being stung. If you feel more comfortable going w/ the mix, then by all means do it. Whatever you do, buy a bee suit. They all get a little upset when you open the hive. The bees really help the gardens, too.

 

[buckabucka]

DH thought we had Italian Carniolians, which sounds like they may be two different things.

We still have the bee suit, although it may be quite tall for you, SCG!

Most of the other equipment, some kind of honey spinner/extractor thing and other odds and ends were sold on Craigslist, but I believe we have like 90 honey bears or something, if I can get DH to part with them. Not sure why he saved those, unless he anticipated the need for the bee-Xanax sales!

 

[Widget]

We still haven't gotten our fox. Kept the ducks in for about 2 weeks until I (and they) couldn't take it anymore. I figure if the fox comes back it'll help by either reducing the number of males I have or getting rid of the lone female that the boys are fighting over. Ah, it's starting to look like spring.


Those who keep bees - do you have Italian or Russian or a different type? Where did you buy your bees from?

I think mine are Italian. I bought them through a bee keeper in Hope. He goes down south every spring and brings back packages of bees from an apiary down there. He had an ad on Craigslist a few weeks ago.

 

[longgrove]

Before my husband passed, we were getting started in bees. He used an official bee keeper hat and the gloves (essential), his muck boots, and used one of those white disposable paint suits (about $3 at EBS) over jeans and a sweatshirt. He never got stung. The thing is to keep it loose, apparently, even "official" bee suits can be stung through if they are tight against the skin. Put on and off carefully, the disposable suit lasted over 10 uses without notable damage. I'm told, the bees are alarmed by dark clothing (theorized that they have been conditioned by depradations by bears to attack large dark moving intrusions). I had to rehome our occupied hive as I couldn't care for them from my wheelchair, but do have a set of new bee hive boxes we never used if someone is interested, could make a good price.

Have recently added a couple of Silkies and 4 Isbars (2 hens and 2 roos) to the flock. I was concerned that the others would pick on the Silkies, but they are dominant over at least 4 of the other hens! Still working on trying to get the roos to co exist, but the hens are getting along fairly well, tho the 2 Isbar hens heve a strong preferance for their roo (the blue). They perch on his large dog cage and reject the splash roo (he courts the silkies and bantams, mostly, he is young) We only let the roos loose in the same space with supervision. Let the splash and old hens out in the pen, and give the blue roo and blue hens the run of the 8x12 foot coop, then switch later. When we aren't there to supervise, the blue roo goes into the dog kennel. The blue roo is the one who attacks, but, interestingly, each time he starts a fight, the (younger) splash roo has dominated the fracus and the blue roo has gotten the worst of it! They are learning to keep thier distance, hope they will eventualy achieve a detant (there are 11 hens, and plenty of room and food).

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Before my husband passed, we were getting started in bees. He used an official bee keeper hat and the gloves (essential), his muck boots, and used one of those white disposable paint suits (about $3 at EBS) over jeans and a sweatshirt. He never got stung. The thing is to keep it loose, apparently, even "official" bee suits can be stung through if they are tight against the skin. Put on and off carefully, the disposable suit lasted over 10 uses without notable damage. I'm told, the bees are alarmed by dark clothing (theorized that they have been conditioned by depradations by bears to attack large dark moving intrusions). I had to rehome our occupied hive as I couldn't care for them from my wheelchair, but do have a set of new bee hive boxes we never used if someone is interested, could make a good price.

You guys are all very helpful, thank you. The disposable paint suit is a great idea and I'll also check out Mardens to see if they have a less disposable but inexpensive option. Widget, the only ad I see on Craigslist is for nucs. Right now I'm looking for a package. I may change my mind if I can't find a package, but that's the way I'd like to go. Two coworkers are getting nucs this year and I want to do a package to compare how much different the experience and end results are.

 

[MustardTiger]

Newb question: what is a "package" vs a Nuc?
We are debating bees this year or next...and I have only done very preliminary research.

 

[Widget]

Newb question: what is a "package" vs a Nuc?
We are debating bees this year or next...and I have only done very preliminary research.

Packaged bees are not related to the queen and have no brood (babies). The worker bees may are may not be related too.

A nuc has bees related to each other and to the queen. Normally there is also brood present. And the nuc normally comes with drawn comb so they don't have to start the new hive from scratch.

Basically a nuc is better established than a package. I've always done packages. They are slower at getting going but if the weather cooperates it is amazing as to how fast they can get the hive up and running.