The Honey Factory

[R2elk]

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!

Just wait until you try to steal honey!

 

[duluthralphie]

Just wait until you try to steal honey!

I won’t be stealing honey, I will be collecting rent. When I explain that to them they will understand.

I just got off the phone with my tutor, he asked how it went. I told him they got a little excited when I pulled the Queen cage out.

He said almost the same thing you did. He said wait until you start taking the honey and you have 60,000 upset bees.

 

[R2elk]

I won’t be stealing honey, I will be collecting rent. When I explain that to them they will understand.

I just got off the phone with my tutor, he asked how it went. I told him they got a little excited when I pulled the Queen cage out.

He said almost the same thing you did. He said wait until you start taking the honey and you have 60,000 upset bees.

In my experience, bees do not understand the concept of paying rent. They do understand the concept of stealing as some varieties are more inclined to steal from other hives than they are inclined to make their own honey.

Another personal experience indicates that at least some kinds of Russian bees hold grudges. I had one particular Russian bee that took offense to me opening up the hive. It waited for me on the deck for 3 days in a row. On the third day it accomplished its mission with a suicide run and stung me.

 

[duluthralphie]

@GodofPecking

I see you deleted your last post here. Luckily I read it and just did not have time to respond.

I choose to ignore what you said about Farmers and Morons.

I found it telling when you said your Temperatures dropped to around -5c.

That puts your winters on part with Florida. Your winter might be a week or two long.

We go three weeks at a time not getting above 0F.

Or about -18 C. Our winter season is about 8 months worth of bees feeding. Right now we have 7 days of cold and snow forecast before we get a day I dare open the hive and check my bees.

It will not get above 40 degrees the entire week with most the temps below freezing.


While I have not made a final decision yet, I am leaning to destroying the bees.

My brother in law finally had a hive make it through the winter. He has five hives, this is his first to make it. He has had them 7 years.

He had 3 others alive in February. 1 died earlier.

I am trying to figure out how much honey they ate between October and February.

Do you think 8-10 pounds a month is a fair average?

That would mean it cost about $40 a month to feed the bees.

40 x 5 = 200

So he spent $200 feeding the bees to have them die. And now needs to buy new at around $150.

So in effect he has spent $350 on bees for this season.

Where as had he killed them in September he could have sold that honey for $200, Used the time to clean/disinfect the boxes and bought back new bees. He would be $50 ahead instead of $350 behind.

 

[duluthralphie]

It was a good bee day, they were out early and are still out.

I sat and watched them with a pocket telescope from about 10 ft away. They were coming back loaded with pollen. I have no idea where they are getting it but they are.

This will be their last outing for about a week.

Its amazing how much pollen they can collect on their legs.

 

[Kgbao]

It was a good bee day, they were out early and are still out.

I sat and watched them with a pocket telescope from about 10 ft away. They were coming back loaded with pollen. I have no idea where they are getting it but they are.

This will be their last outing for about a week.

Its amazing how much pollen they can collect on their legs.

Sir,

I am by far anything close to a bee keeper, or ever will be.. I can’t stand the idea of even a dozen mad bees trying to kill me. With that said, I am filling your thread, and have been laughing so hard that my ribs hurt. You have an excellent way to tell a story, thank you, and I will keep following.

As for your umm you say winters, I say arctic freezing, must be nuts to live there, season. You can keep it lol... I have family in Wisconsin and Wyoming been there at the wrong times so, I’ll keep my butt down here in the Georgia Alabama red clay..

 

[duluthralphie]

Sir,

I am by far anything close to a bee keeper, or ever will be.. I can’t stand the idea of even a dozen mad bees trying to kill me. With that said, I am filling your thread, and have been laughing so hard that my ribs hurt. You have an excellent way to tell a story, thank you, and I will keep following.

As for your umm you say winters, I say arctic freezing, must be nuts to live there, season. You can keep it lol... I have family in Wisconsin and Wyoming been there at the wrong times so, I’ll keep my butt down here in the Georgia Alabama red clay..

Welcome to the thread, Southie.

Have seen the Southie thread? We explain the hazards of okra, possum and other Southie food.

 

[Kgbao]

Welcome to the thread, Southie.

Have seen the Southie thread? We explain the hazards of okra, possum and other Southie food.

No I have not seen that thread yet. I will try to find it.

I’m only southern by the grace of Uncle Sam, been here most my adult life so it’s all good, and I love it. Most parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Wyoming etc, are the same life still just with a lot of snow..

 

[R2elk]

It was a good bee day, they were out early and are still out.

I sat and watched them with a pocket telescope from about 10 ft away. They were coming back loaded with pollen. I have no idea where they are getting it but they are.

This will be their last outing for about a week.

Its amazing how much pollen they can collect on their legs.

Other than being overcast, the day started out nice enough. It got up to 58°F. I managed to remove the empty queen cage without any incidents. No bees tried to follow me to the house.

Currently the wind is howling in from the north bringing a mixture of rain and ice pellets which will soon turn to snow. The temperature has dropped to 32°F and is still falling.

 

[duluthralphie]

We have a non-bee friendly day here today.

Barely above freezing, Overcast and breezy.

I did check the feeder today. It looks good enough for a few days.

It was so great to watch them on Saturday filling up on pollen and bringing it in.

When I looked at them today I noticed a few dead bees lying on the landing, half a dozen I am guessing.

Is this something I should worry about? I told myself for. A critter with a short 6-8 weeks and with a 3 pound package having 10-12000 bees, 6 dead a day is not many.

Am I right?