Stella's Social Club

[lonnyandrinda]

Wow, that's a lot of hives!

I eventually would like to have another hive as well, but I've got to figure out how to keep them alive for an entire year first. No sense flushing more money than I have to.

Enjoyed your little video clip! We always recommend new beekeepers get at least two hives. Even though it's a little more upfront, it really shortens the learning curve and you spend less on bees- if you have two hives to compare to each other you can more quickly spot when something is "off" and correct it before you lose your bees. If you do lose one hive you just repopulate from the other. For anyone with interest in learning about bees my all-time favorite website is www.basicbeekeeping.blogspot.com. They have tutorials, articles, videos, and even a "search" bar so you can look for specific information. It's fantastic.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

That's a lot of buzzing! Is something used to attract them to the hive?

Most of the time no. If the queen is in there they will want to stay. When you are catching a swarm it is a good idea to bait the box with a frame of comb or better yet a frame of brood- the instinct will be to stay and protect the brood even though it's not theirs. But the most important thing is to make sure you got the queen into the box.

When we replace our queens we kill the old one and add it to a small jar of rubbing alcohol. Over time the queens' pheremones saturate the alcohol and a splash of that can be used as a bait. In a pinch you know what works best? Lemon furniture polish. It most closely mimics the queen's pheremone scent. So if you don't like bees don't polish your outside furniture.

 

[debs_flock]

Our week old goslings.

Following DH down the hallway (he swore he would clean up the goose poop, that one tissue in his hand did NOT do it).

Father Goose

Nibbling on my toes.

Gosling Pedicure

 

[The Sheriff]

Cute Deb. I am jealous!

 

[mlm Mike]

Cute gosling videos.
And now back to basic beekeeping.

 

[Happy Chooks]

That's a lot of buzzing! Is something used to attract them to the hive?

Nope. Not unless you are catching a swarm. I have to leave them alone now for 7-10 days so the queen can be accepted, take her introductory flight to mate and start laying. Funny thing is, a bee "hatches" in 21 days, just like a chicken.

Quote: Cool, thanks!

Quote: Thanks for the link! I'll check it out!

Tell my DH it's a good idea to spend more when I'm not doing well. It's a hard sell, trust me. But now I have a beekeeper willing to help me, so I'm not totally on my own. My bees are New World Carnolians. (think I spelled that right)

Quote: What she said. I didn't know about furniture polish, but now that you say it, it makes sense. I've heard of people using lemongrass to attract a swarm - and every time I've smelled it, it smells like furniture polish to me.

Our week old goslings.

Following DH down the hallway (he swore he would clean up the goose poop, that one tissue in his hand did NOT do it).

Father Goose


Nibbling on my toes.

Gosling Pedicure

That is just too stinking adorable!

 

[BlueWater29]

Kelly, Good bee pictures and video.

Deb, Cute gosling videos.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Kelly let me know how you like the Carnolians after you run them for a year. We've tried Russians and Italians, definitely prefer the Italians for productivity reasons. Russians are NOTICABLY calmer bees but WAY less honey, wasn't worth it to us. We got about 60 GALLONS of honey last year and expect to surpass that this year.

 

[Chickenfan4life]

Our week old goslings.

Following DH down the hallway (he swore he would clean up the goose poop, that one tissue in his hand did NOT do it).

Father Goose

Nibbling on my toes.

Gosling Pedicure

Laughed till I cried (not really) at the first video. SO. CUTE!

 

[Mahonri]

I'm calling the PO early in the morning to see if Kathy's chicks have arrived... So glad I basically have the day off... but with SO MUCH to do. Looking forward to Star War's day Saturday.