Maine

[striperon]

I have a neighbor... country neighbor that is, who is recently trading honey for eggs. good arrangement all the way around. I'm going to have him look at my property and advise whether a hive would be appropriate for my yard. I'm sure it would, the biggest issue is that I have a lot of ground clover, great for bees, not so great for my 7 y.o. who runs through that clover and might get stung. She has multiple allergies, so, bees would perhaps bee a blessing and a curse, I'm thinking that honey from local bees would help desensitize her to the outdoor pollen allergens, but a bee sting, could be more problematic for her than it would for the average child. Perhaps I'll get her tested before proceeding further. My neighbor may park a hive in my yard next year.

I'd love to learn how to make skin lotions from the bees wax... again a way to help my little one with her allergies.

Unless your 7 yo steps directly on a bee with a bare foot, they will not bother her. Their entire focus is collecting pollen and nectar. Additionally, most allergies to stings are from wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets. If she has allergies, you probably have an epipen handy anyway.

 

[IZZYBELLA]

Congrats on your bee order. I also keep bees. They are endlessly fascinating. I don't know where you live, but my advice is to look up the local/county beekeepers' association, join it and participate. There are mentors to help, forums for your questions, meetings with other beekeepers and informative speakers. You will feel much more confident about your husbandry when you have support from experienced beekeepers. It is much like this forum where you can get help on almost any topic.

You will begin to think more about weather and its impact on the bees, which flowers you should plant that help with feeding them, and a seasonal rhythm surrounding them.

Our coop is on one side of our storage shed, the hives on the other. Our dogs share the same fenced yard as the bees and hens. We live on Hickory Lane, so we have Hickory's hens, hives, and hounds.

I'm taking the intro to beekeeping class now at the cooperative extension school in my county. It is helpful, but I am glad that I have a few seasoned beekeeper friends who are willing to come give some hands-on lessons. I'm sure reading about it in a textbook is nothing like actually doing it yourself. I ordered two nucs, based on the same advice you received, that it is recommended to start with 2 hives. Thankfully the neighbors are all on board.

I like your "Hs"! We keep joking that we are working on Bs... birds, beds (in the garden), bees, and bats. (Just installed a bat house for the ones that were evicted from my attic!)

 

[Widget]

Heads up for all the new bee people. First I would strongly recommend taking an into course. Also join a local club. I know both Cumberland and York county have very active clubs. There is also the state club. As for supplies there are local bee keepers who also sell supplies but quite often during the month of December many of the online vendors offer free shipping. This is a great savings when it comes to shipping the boxes and frames that make up the hives.

 

[lazy gardener]

Some wonderful friends helped me gather leaves from an elderly lady's lawn this afternoon. I now have the equivalent of 3 p/u truck loads, plus 20 contractor bags stuffed... this in addition to the remaining leaves from my trees. i'm guessing that I'll have enough mulch for the garden and chicken coop to last the winter! Will use the bags to bank around their coop. Had a hawk circling today. Crows have been busy keeping him out of the area. I'm thankful for the crows and blue jays. They sound a good alarm. I'm purposely leaving stuff throughout my garden area to discourage the hawks, so they will have to work hard if they want to dive bomb a chicken.

 

[CoopChick719]

Every Christmas, one of my co-workers brings honey in for us from his wife's hive. My daughter has started calling in Christmas Honey. I was not a big honey person before tasting this golden nectar. So different than what is in the grocery stores.

 

[blueseal]

i lost 3 of my pullets to a hawks last Thursday and Friday. lost 2 barred rocks and 1 black sexlink 8 months old. looking to replace them anyone know of any barred rocks or sexlinks forsale.

 

[Jazor]

Hey guys, got a chance to snap a close up of the "rare exotic" and you can get a good look at colors here!

Ideas??

 

[anyasmifya]

Hey Jazor,

It looks like a barred rock to me.

 

[hoppy]

Hey guys, got a chance to snap a close up of the "rare exotic" and you can get a good look at colors here!



Ideas?

 

[lazy gardener]

Barred rock roo.