Washingtonians

[Chicken Rustler]

Quote:
Are they large?? If so yes most likely they are bumble's. Bumble bees are also very good and while they do pollinate they aren't able to do as good due to thier size. And while they do produce honey it is a very small amount. A hive of bumble's will only be about 100 or so bees where honey's will be 40,000 - 60,000 or even more.

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Quote:
If they knew anything about bees they would realize that when swarming that bees cannot sting (at least that was what I was raised to believe) because they are so full of what they are carrying. Is this true. I have never been afraid of honey bees when there is a swarm because I know their luggage is packed and they are moving.

Well you are kind of right. YES THEY CAN STILL STING !!!! However they probably won't because they have thier honey belly full and are on the move. They are very mellow at this point. And of course everybody knows that when a honey bee stings you the stinger is torn from the abdomen and the bee dies. But did you know that a Drone (male) has no stinger and that the Queen does not loose her stinger and can sting more than once!

 

[renart]

Quote:
10 years ago, the farm would be just covered with honey bees, and bumbles, but lately things seem to have slowed down for their activity here. Mayhaps when/if we move out to the parental units property we might want to learn about having our own hive of honey bees.

It's really strange, here on the farm we seem to have lots of hornets and wasps, where at the DW's parents in Quilcene, you hardly see those types of insects and more honeybees and bumbles.

 

[4cats3kids1hubby2many]

Quote:
If they knew anything about bees they would realize that when swarming that bees cannot sting (at least that was what I was raised to believe) because they are so full of what they are carrying. Is this true. I have never been afraid of honey bees when there is a swarm because I know their luggage is packed and they are moving.

Well you are kind of right. YES THEY CAN STILL STING !!!! However they probably won't because they have thier honey belly full and are on the move. They are very mellow at this point. And of course everybody knows that when a honey bee stings you the stinger is torn from the abdomen and the bee dies. But did you know that a Drone (male) has no stinger and that the Queen does not loose her stinger and can sting more than once!

I did know that the drone did not sting...also know that the drone does no work (hmmmm sounds like some men in my house

) - sorry had to add that.

But I did not know that the queen could sting multiple times. It was a very long time ago that we had honey bees and I have probably forgotten lots and did not learn all (I was a kid). We had a stainless steel cylinder that we would slide the frames into and then hand crank it to spin out the honey. It was a mess, but it was so cool having our own honey.

 

[Chicken Rustler]

VelvettFog I am WAY short on hives and other parts but due to the distance it would probably be to expensive to get them here. And since I HATE working with wood I will probably have to try to scrape up the $ and go to town and buy some boxes.

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Quote:
Yes but IF a Drone mates with the queen then he dies

and if a drone doesn't mate then at the end of the season he is kicked out of the hive to be homeless and die when the weather turns bad. What a life.

 

[VelvettFog]

Quote:
I'm willing to work out a swap -- like, I bring two hives that are empty and take one home that is full

Or something else that is fair. DW and I really enjoy road trips. We'd pack a picnic and the fly-rod. It is June yanno

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Quote:
I'm willing to work out a swap -- like, I bring two hives that are empty and take one home that is full

Or something else that is fair. DW and I really enjoy road trips. We'd pack a picnic and the fly-rod. It is June yanno

Sounds like that might work BUT I am not positive I have one that is strong enough I am willing to trade it off. Also there is the bottom board, inner cover frames with foundation and telescoping top.

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Velvettfog I think I need to clarify that. See I only have one hive that is real strong. It was my first and I need to keep it just to keep me going. The others I have are all from swarms and since they have not been here long They are not well established. I don't want to trade off a box of bees that may not make it.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Raining. Just what I want to deal with while crocheting my Tower of Solitude for the Hamburg cockerel, but what can you do?

I'm to the point when my ribs only hurt when I'm getting out of bed (or hiccoughing, sneezing, or coughing, ouch hiccough again, ouch) but I expect my doc would have been happier if I'd been a little more accurate when following the "no bending, twisting, lifting, stretching, or carrying heavy objects" part of her instructions.

Life, man, what can you do?