The Honey Factory

[duluthralphie]

Mine had only drank just under a quart from Monday. But mine had some frames with honey and pollen to clean up too.

 

[GodofPecking]

Could you give us a general area you live in?

no

I would over winter my bees if possible.[...]For me to think I can keep them alive and healthy in my first year when these experienced people can’t would be arrogance on my part,

Be the first out of the people you know. You can do this because it can be done.

I will not be bringing the bees into the house. My wife would shoot me, stab me, choke me and then hold a pillow to my face while I slept if I did.

So you seem to be saying she is somewhat hesitant about the idea, that's the impression I'm picking up. You could go on about how crazy people are to keep bees in the house showing her pictures of beehives that are inside people's houses. Crazy they are you'll say, and she'll agree with you. Start searching for display hives. There are quite a few which have glass observation windows in them, or are like a picture on the wall of the house...

Looking at it financially, it’s cheaper to kill the bees than keep them alive and healthy. If you could give me specifics of how I can do that, please do.

I would rather have put it up on my own website, it's easier to deal with that way, but as you ask me, I'll give you some tips. Get an old fridge, turn it upside down so that when you put the beehive inside it, the beehive sits on the flat roof of the fridge. Getting the hive box to sit flat on any wall floor or roof of the fridge or freezer is the easy option. This seems easier to me than dealing with the 'step' many old fridges have on the inside, behind the lowest drawer, where the compressor is. The fridges I use have an internal partition between the fridge and freezer section which I found easy to remove, leaving enough space for several boxes to be placed inside one on the other. the strip of metal the two doors seal to is let in place. If you only have a fridge and freezer section that cant be joined, thats just as good. one box or one colony in each section is just fine.

Ive used small and large fridges and freezers, even chest freezers, I would say the best for me is one that I can open and close the door to get to the bees. This is an upside down fridge freezer. The best for the bees is probably a small fridge on it's back with only room for a single box inside, this minimises the amount of wall area that they have to contend with temperature wise. A small cozy fridge is better than their single box at the bottom of a massive empty fridge. While a single box, small fridge may not be very productive, it is the best for the bees.

I find the box sitting flat on the bottom of the fridge is best, it's easy to then make a hole dead center for the bees to come and go.

The fridge needs to maintain a good seal, to prevent vermin and pests of all sizes entering it. The bees shouldn't be allowed to go from their box into the rest of the fridge. when you open the fridge you will see boxes, not bees. Bees come and go from the bottom.

One of the best colonies I have in is a small freezer or fridge I can't recall which it started as. the fridge sits on it's back. You must screw on a piece of corrugated iron, or other roofing onto the door, larger than the door to keep the door dry. Rain will enter the fridge once it sits out there for a while.In this hive, custom woodwork leads the bees from the bottom of the bee box along and up the side a little way and the entrance is in the stepped part of the fridge body, where the compressor was removed from, so that there is a natural eave formed by the body of the fridge.

These measures address a lot of the problems bees have in harsh environments such as heat and cold and other problems. For cold enviroments, the bees no longer huddle in a football shaped mass inside the hive, because once they have heated their football sized mass inside the hive, they've heated the whole hive, so it's party time in winter. That's why I do it myself, it works very well and prevents colonies starving just a few frames away from a frame full of honey, as often happens in some beekeepers hives. This method also reduces substantially the amount of food bees require to overwinter. This method would be an option for you to consider to overwinter your colony. I suspect it would be rather encouraging for you to be able to do something the other keepers can't, and it would probably get right up their nose too. Unfortunate that. Still you could perhaps make it up to them by selling them some colonies each springtime if things go well.

In relation to the feeders, the feeder can go inside or outside, but is always best inside. Bees get excited about food, and food outside will bring workers from many colonies. Once the food source is exhausted, the workers will check the immediate area and find a hive nearby is easy to rob because there are so many other workers from other colonies with the same idea at the same time who can help overwhelm the single hive. As a result, it's always best to have the food presented to the bees on the inside of their security perimeter. Thats why you get internal feeders and front entrance feeders that feed the bees from an external easy to change over bottle that's easy to check the level on.

Check all feeders to be certain they put out the food in a way that the bees won't drown. Bees get over-excited and drown in a thimbleful of sugar-water or honey. It needs to be shallow or screened so they can't fit themselves into it. They do. sad but true.

 

[GodofPecking]

Wasps can bite, bees don't bite.

they can give you quite a gumming.

 

[R2elk]

Mine had only drank just under a quart from Monday. But mine had some frames with honey and pollen to clean up too.

The reason I stuck a super on the two hive bodies is because it is full of drawn comb with plenty of clean up available.

The two hive bodies have a total of two drawn comb frames so these have lots of work to do.

 

[duluthralphie]

The reason I stuck a super on the two hive bodies is because it is full of drawn comb with plenty of clean up available.

The two hive bodies have a total of two drawn comb frames so these have lots of work to do.

That makes sense as I have more frames that need some clean up.

I am not sure when my tutor wants me to add the frames. I assume it will be when the bottom box gets fairly full of brood. But I dunno.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be warm enough for me to open it up and make sure the Queen has been freed.

 

[duluthralphie]

no



Be the first out of the people you know. You can do this because it can be done.



So you seem to be saying she is somewhat hesitant about the idea, that's the impression I'm picking up. You could go on about how crazy people are to keep bees in the house showing her pictures of beehives that are inside people's houses. Crazy they are you'll say, and she'll agree with you. Start searching for display hives. There are quite a few which have glass observation windows in them, or are like a picture on the wall of the house...



I would rather have put it up on my own website, it's easier to deal with that way, but as you ask me, I'll give you some tips. Get an old fridge, turn it upside down so that when you put the beehive inside it, the beehive sits on the flat roof of the fridge. Getting the hive box to sit flat on any wall floor or roof of the fridge or freezer is the easy option. This seems easier to me than dealing with the 'step' many old fridges have on the inside, behind the lowest drawer, where the compressor is. The fridges I use have an internal partition between the fridge and freezer section which I found easy to remove, leaving enough space for several boxes to be placed inside one on the other. the strip of metal the two doors seal to is let in place. If you only have a fridge and freezer section that cant be joined, thats just as good. one box or one colony in each section is just fine.

Ive used small and large fridges and freezers, even chest freezers, I would say the best for me is one that I can open and close the door to get to the bees. This is an upside down fridge freezer. The best for the bees is probably a small fridge on it's back with only room for a single box inside, this minimises the amount of wall area that they have to contend with temperature wise. A small cozy fridge is better than their single box at the bottom of a massive empty fridge. While a single box, small fridge may not be very productive, it is the best for the bees.

I find the box sitting flat on the bottom of the fridge is best, it's easy to then make a hole dead center for the bees to come and go.

The fridge needs to maintain a good seal, to prevent vermin and pests of all sizes entering it. The bees shouldn't be allowed to go from their box into the rest of the fridge. when you open the fridge you will see boxes, not bees. Bees come and go from the bottom.

One of the best colonies I have in is a small freezer or fridge I can't recall which it started as. the fridge sits on it's back. You must screw on a piece of corrugated iron, or other roofing onto the door, larger than the door to keep the door dry. Rain will enter the fridge once it sits out there for a while.In this hive, custom woodwork leads the bees from the bottom of the bee box along and up the side a little way and the entrance is in the stepped part of the fridge body, where the compressor was removed from, so that there is a natural eave formed by the body of the fridge.

These measures address a lot of the problems bees have in harsh environments such as heat and cold and other problems. For cold enviroments, the bees no longer huddle in a football shaped mass inside the hive, because once they have heated their football sized mass inside the hive, they've heated the whole hive, so it's party time in winter. That's why I do it myself, it works very well and prevents colonies starving just a few frames away from a frame full of honey, as often happens in some beekeepers hives. This method also reduces substantially the amount of food bees require to overwinter. This method would be an option for you to consider to overwinter your colony. I suspect it would be rather encouraging for you to be able to do something the other keepers can't, and it would probably get right up their nose too. Unfortunate that. Still you could perhaps make it up to them by selling them some colonies each springtime if things go well.

In relation to the feeders, the feeder can go inside or outside, but is always best inside. Bees get excited about food, and food outside will bring workers from many colonies. Once the food source is exhausted, the workers will check the immediate area and find a hive nearby is easy to rob because there are so many other workers from other colonies with the same idea at the same time who can help overwhelm the single hive. As a result, it's always best to have the food presented to the bees on the inside of their security perimeter. Thats why you get internal feeders and front entrance feeders that feed the bees from an external easy to change over bottle that's easy to check the level on.

Check all feeders to be certain they put out the food in a way that the bees won't drown. Bees get over-excited and drown in a thimbleful of sugar-water or honey. It needs to be shallow or screened so they can't fit themselves into it. They do. sad but true.

Thanks for your input.

I understand, your desire to remain anonymous, and thus not reveal your “area”.

I hope you will understand this,

I am retired, I was born and raised on the same farm I live on and live on in north central Minnesota.

I “farm” because I enjoy it and I like being semi self sufficient. I would have liked to have been a farmer my whole life. That was not a possibility as my Dad was only 23 years older than me.

When I got out of high school, my Dad was too young to retire, the government had just stolen via eminent domain the majority of our land to make a goose refuge 200 miles from a goose flyway. ( yes bureaucrats are arrogant enough to think they can get geese to fly a different path)

Money for buying farms was near impossible back then, so I entered college and after a few miss starts ended up in a decent career that allowed me freedom to live rurally most the time.
I farmed on the side on small farms.

I found what worked on the farm I grew up on did not always work on the farms I owned in other areas.

My Dad told me 40 years ago, “don’t try to farm here, like I do, talk to farmers around here to see what works and what doesn’t”

To me that was wise old sage advice. I used that most my life and it worked well, I take advice from everyone, then adapt that advice to my goals and situation.

I weigh advice based on what I perceive the person’s experience to be and how similar their situation is to mine.

I freely admit everyone here has more experience with bees than I do.

I was a workaholic most my life, I had a full time job, most here know what I did, I had a part time/ side job both these jobs required a fair amount of education and training. In addition, my wife and I would buy distressed businesses and turn them around, selling them once they were “fixed”.

I have been involved in politics and local government for 40+ years. I still am involved in politics, as most here know. Many people know me on here. I am a public figure so it’s harder to remain anonymous for me.

I truly understand, your desire to be anonymous, heck you might even be in the witness protection program. (That’s a joke, I like joking and kidding around with people)

I say all this hoping you understand I will read everything you write, I will digest it and apply what I think applies to my situation, but I weigh the information.

Not knowing where you live, what your climate is and more about your background, means I will discount some of your advice regarding over wintering bees.

I am not a PETA person, to me at this point, bees are like seeds, I plan to plant them annually harvest and replant next year.

That does not mean I won’t change my mind and look at them as a perennial crop in the future.



One of the most telling pieces of information here came from the guy from Ohio, while trying to get me to over winter them stated “75% of the bees die over winter in Ohio”.. Ohio is a tropical paradise to us.

I will not attempt to over winter until I am assured of a better than 25% chance of success.

Sorry this got long. Thanks and please stay here and advocate for your position and advise myself on others and what works for you.

 

[blackandtan]

Thanks for your input.

I understand, your desire to remain anonymous, and thus not reveal your “area”.

I hope you will understand this,

I am retired, I was born and raised on the same farm I live on and live on in north central Minnesota.

I “farm” because I enjoy it and I like being semi self sufficient. I would have liked to have been a farmer my whole life. That was not a possibility as my Dad was only 23 years older than me.

When I got out of high school, my Dad was too young to retire, the government had just stolen via eminent domain the majority of our land to make a goose refuge 200 miles from a goose flyway. ( yes bureaucrats are arrogant enough to think they can get geese to fly a different path)

Money for buying farms was near impossible back then, so I entered college and after a few miss starts ended up in a decent career that allowed me freedom to live rurally most the time.
I farmed on the side on small farms.

I found what worked on the farm I grew up on did not always work on the farms I owned in other areas.

My Dad told me 40 years ago, “don’t try to farm here, like I do, talk to farmers around here to see what works and what doesn’t”

To me that was wise old sage advice. I used that most my life and it worked well, I take advice from everyone, then adapt that advice to my goals and situation.

I weigh advice based on what I perceive the person’s experience to be and how similar their situation is to mine.

I freely admit everyone here has more experience with bees than I do.

I was a workaholic most my life, I had a full time job, most here know what I did, I had a part time/ side job both these jobs required a fair amount of education and training. In addition, my wife and I would buy distressed businesses and turn them around, selling them once they were “fixed”.

I have been involved in politics and local government for 40+ years. I still am involved in politics, as most here know. Many people know me on here. I am a public figure so it’s harder to remain anonymous for me.

I truly understand, your desire to be anonymous, heck you might even be in the witness protection program. (That’s a joke, I like joking and kidding around with people)

I say all this hoping you understand I will read everything you write, I will digest it and apply what I think applies to my situation, but I weigh the information.

Not knowing where you live, what your climate is and more about your background, means I will discount some of your advice regarding over wintering bees.

I am not a PETA person, to me at this point, bees are like seeds, I plan to plant them annually harvest and replant next year.

That does not mean I won’t change my mind and look at them as a perennial crop in the future.



One of the most telling pieces of information here came from the guy from Ohio, while trying to get me to over winter them stated “75% of the bees die over winter in Ohio”.. Ohio is a tropical paradise to us.

I will not attempt to over winter until I am assured of a better than 25% chance of success.

Sorry this got long. Thanks and please stay here and advocate for your position and advise myself on others on what works for you.

Not to pry but does your desire to eradicate dux stem from the goose sanctuary issue?

 

[duluthralphie]

Not to pry but does your desire to eradicate dux stem from the goose sanctuary issue?

It very well could, I am a displaced human by an invasive dux...

 

[duluthralphie]

I have just come in from visiting my bees.

First off, the bee store guy lied to me. I asked for friendly bees. He said he would give me the friendliest ones he had.

He lied.

I opened the lid, peered inside and saw lots of bees around the base of the feeder. To quantify the term “lots” I will make an educated guess.

~2.5 million.

Well, it seemed like it. They were extremely hungry, I would guess there were a couple hundred around the feeder.

They had almost emptied it from yesterday. I was shocked at how much they drank. I removed the feeder.

They did not seem to care for this much. I had several bees flying around me. A few landed on me, one was on my shoulder staring me in the eye. I gently brushed him away. No idea if that is right or wrong.

Some followed the feeder, most followed me.

I then very gently removed the inner cover, this seemed to tick off the ones on the cover even more.

They were circling me and dive bombing. It was intimidating, but interesting as they all didn’t come after me, some just crawled down into the frames somewhere.

I pulled the queen cage out. The queen had escaped, so I assume she is somewhere in the hive. I needed to even out the spaces between the frames. I moved a couple a little but was afraid to move them more as they were really stuck in there well. I was afraid I would squish the bees to move the frames too much.

Also I did not have my hive tool with me so I had to use brute force. I have learned, always bring a hive tool with when opening the hive.

I put the inner cover back on, this seemed to calm the bees a lot. I still had bees circling and riding on me, but was like the anger was gone from them.

I put the holder for the feeder back in place, even this upset a couple bees. I told them I was giving them more food, but they did not listen.

I put the rest of the feed I had mixed up in the feeder, Drained the liquid to get a vacuum and put the feeder in place. Some bees immediately started feeding. Others kept a sharp eye on me.

I closed the lid, put the weight on it, picked up the Queen cage and headed to the house. A couple bees followed me 25 ft or so but not many and they weren’t aggressive.

I did notice a strange phenomenon, when I was almost to the house I thought I heard all the bees buzzing around me. I looked and saw none.

However, I was a little nervous to open my nice safe bee suit. I actually went into the bathroom and checked myself in the mirror. I was bee free and Removed the suit without incident.

whew.. what a rush!

 

[duluthralphie]

The empty queen cage