The Honey Factory

[BirdsBeesTrees]

I was visiting with the UPS driver and asked him were his wife buys her bees. He said she gets them from a place a little over an hour from me that overwinters here in Iowa. I'm very interested in them but she was sold out already, but put me on a list. She only sells nucs.
In the meantime my bees got here today from Georgia. Queen was marked which is nice. Almost all of the bees were alive, less than 15 dead ones.

 

[R2elk]

 

[ColtHandorf]

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So for those of you with multiple hives, do your various hives get along if they are different varieties? Do the wild honey bees and bumble bees give them any grief? And do any of you live where there is a possibility of your hive becoming Africanized?

 

[duluthralphie]

So for those of you with multiple hives, do your various hives get along if they are different varieties? Do the wild honey bees and bumble bees give them any grief? And do any of you live where there is a possibility of your hive becoming Africanized?

Mine get along great. They get together on Thursday nights for poker and have movie night on Saturday.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Old entrance is on the right, the new entrance is on the left. I'm so glad I decided on making the new entrance as they definitely prefer it.

 

[duluthralphie]

So for those of you with multiple hives, do your various hives get along if they are different varieties? Do the wild honey bees and bumble bees give them any grief? And do any of you live where there is a possibility of your hive becoming Africanized?

I had some bees a couple years ago that turned mean with a queen change. I can’t say for sure they were Africanized.

My bees have co-existed just fine. I have been fortunate and not had any robbing.

 

[Apis mellifera]

So for those of you with multiple hives, do your various hives get along if they are different varieties?

If you raise a Rhode Island Red and an Easter Egger in the same coop they will get along just fine. Both are chickens, they're just bred for different purposes. Similar with honeybees.

Do the wild honey bees and bumble bees give them any grief?

Feral bees could cause a problem if you have very weak colonies during a dearth. But mostly they spread disease and varroa mites. If my colonies rob them out (and they do), they will bring back both mites and disease. Thats one of the reasons why it's so important to do routine mite counts. I hate to see bumble bees try to get into hives, guard honeybees will kill them.

And do any of you live where there is a possibility of your hive becoming Africanized?

I dont have to worry about it, but southern beekeepers in Africanized areas do. Some southern beeks keep all their queens marked and if the marked queen is replaced by the workers, they will purchase a new queen and requeen that colony. Or if the colony becomes overly defensive, they will requeen. Africanized bees are no joke, Ive talked with apiary inspectors that couldn't see out of thier veil when coming in contact with them.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Good thing I put several quarts of syrup in the beehives, we are apparently going through a monsoon season right now.
My fruit trees are ready to blossom out so hopefully, everything will still be ok.

 

[jerryse]

Monday I set out my 3 swarm traps . Mostly to catch my own bees . Some swarms reported south of me a bit . Weather has been cool and I have not done a thorough inspection yet . I think a nectar flow has started as lots of activity .

 

[duluthralphie]

I opened my bees finally. I was pleasantly surprised with the brood and number of bees I have.