Contributors to this thread:
Are there any fellow beekeepers out there. I started 6 years ago and now have another passion besides bowhunting which is still my #1.
I just got my boxes and am looking forward to getting started.
I got stung 14 times once and two weeks later got stung over 20 times. I had all of the damn bees I wanted by then. These were wild BTW. I was wild when it was happening too !
How was your honey production this year? It was a very good year in our area from what many in our club have said.
I’m in year 11 or 12. My girls are working goldenrod heavily at the moment
Pics of your boxes gentlemen Please.
Used and new like yours are fdp
Had the displeasure of having to wipe out a colony of bees while working in Viet Nam. They formed a hive on a branch on a tree outside the shop. Super agressive. Would attack people passing by on their motorcycles. Put one of the Vietnames in the hospital.
The hive hung down from a tree branch and was about 4 ft across and 5 ft down.
Apis dorsata, the rock bee or giant honey bee, is a honey bee of South and Southeast Asia. They are typically around 17–20 mm (0.7–0.8 in) long and nests are mainly built in exposed places far off the ground, like on tree limbs, under cliff overhangs, and under buildings. These social bees are known for their aggressive defense strategies and vicious behavior when disturbed.
Terry
Love Goldenrod honey!
scentman
We researched starting to keep bees a few years ago, and in the process learned that professional beekeepers in our area were looking for landowners to "host" their hives and we jumped on it.
Each April we have between 100-150 boxes placed in one of our fields. They stay in place until they're picked up and moved North to MN or WI (cranberries and blueberries) from there they're brought to CA to pollinate crops then off to FL for citrus.
We get 5 gallons of honey in July (about a week before they move North).
So far we've been able to "sample orange and blueberry honey", and use the heck out of our share.
We've also come to realize that 5 gallons is WAY more than 2 people can consume so it's shared with friends, family and neighbors.
Glad you posted I have a question for you bee experts. I came across this big tree down on one of my trails. I went to move it with tractor and started getting stung. I immediately left came back couple hours later and realized there are 2 huge hives inside the tree. The tree is laying down flat across the ground. There are 2 entrance holes about 15’ apart, both facing up, tree is hollow so that’s all hive in between. There are bees outside both entrances.
I assume it’s too late in the year for them to re-hive (or whatever you call it), both holes are facing up, so they would catch snow/rain etc. I would like to help them out if possible, if I arched some corrugated metal and put over the hole to cover (leaving plenty of room for them to go in and out) would that work? Any other ideas?
I know I can call a local bee guy to come and get them but I’d prefer to leave them on farm if possible.
Can’t answer your question, but we noticed a swarm behind our house last summer when some Folks were weedeating a hillside off for us. After letting them settle down, we located them building on a rock.
We happen to know a young man in college that keeps bees not far from us. We were able to get ahold of him and he was able to gather them all up. We had been buying honey from him for several years and actually just picked some more up this week.
Having no knowledge of bee keeping, it was interesting to see them and watch him gather them up.
Trying to keep rain/snow out would certainly help. Can you roll 90 degrees to get entrances on side a bit? Also, keep entrances clear after snowfall if you can.
The goldenrod flow staining the box
The goldenrod flow staining the box
Woodguy it wouldn’t hurt. You could roll as TMac suggested but they may do more harm than good. It all depends on how the comb is oriented in the tree.
Here’s my current setup
Had a swarm settle on a spruce branch yrs ago waiting for orders... called a local beekeeper to collect the bees. He arrives and asked do want to hold the box or shake the branch?
I explained I was allergic to bee stings he said they're so gorged with their payload they just want to have a place to hive and chill. I shook the branch and 30,000 bees flew all around and on us, not one sting!
Let me tell you guys that was one of the biggest rushes in my life!
My neighbor had bees and you could smell the Goldenrod Honey they were producing this time of year... fantastic! scentman
Fdp. What are your boxes custom made or commercial Love to see what you bought and where you are going to put them
Used to mess around with that stuff and got really great mesquite honey. I've slept a lot since those days
I have been beekeeping for about 7 years now. This year I slowed way down. I was running 7-10 colonies and this year with the weather being so crazy and trying to get my gardens producing and my orchard and my blueberries, and my cherries and all, I just haven't had they time to do more. I still have 55 gallons of honey down in my basement from last year though..... Getting ready for the economy to crash and wanting to keep something to barter with and not get sucked in to the CBDC, ya know?
A quick question for y'all. How many bees can fit in hole that is left when you zip up the hood zipper before you zip the jacket zipper up? The hole that is left is about the size of a dime...... The answer..... 12
A pretty strong colony.
A pretty strong colony.
This is from a couple years ago. I actually ended up with 6 honey supers before I pulled honey. Up here in way up NY, I extract only once at the end of the goldenrod run. If you pull twice, the early run, usually the bassswood and clover, you get a really sweet, runny honey the crystalizes in a second, the you end up with just the late goldenrod, which here tastes and smells like old gym sneakers. But if you pull only late and mix both honeys, early and late combined.... That is some damn good tasting honey.
I have bees here. I had a vacant hive and a swarm moved in. I have a feeling though they are Africanized. They are mean!! If I do something next to the hive I will get chased out of there. A handful will chase me 50yds into the garage. They don’t give up the chase. By the time I get into the garage I’d better have killed them.
I've got a top bar box but no bees in it. I baited it and wanted a local swarm to take it over but no such luck (yet). In fact up until 2yrs ago I saw bees all the time. Now I never see them at home. I'm fairly certain the locals left or died. Sometime wonder if the guys farming the fields across the highway changed their practices and it affected them?
I don't know if this has been discussed before but couple yrs ago farmer sprayed something in his fields, wind blew from that direction about 1/4 mile away... killed my neighbors hives, I believe. scentman
Pesticides and mites are some of the biggest issues bees face. I treat 4 times a year for the varroa mite which kills bees. I haven’t experienced hive loss due to pesticides yet. That’s a nice little honey shed you have Jay. I currently extract in my basement which is nice and cool in July but a bit of a pain in the ass humping full supers down the stairs. This year I had 220 lbs of honey from 5 hives my best yet and I left all hives with quite a bit for winter. The three I did not extract from were splits, first year hives, that I left alone so they have plenty of honey for winter.
Do any of you guys do Tupelo honey, by chance? I tried it for the first time in Florida, recently, and it was the best honey I've ever tasted. I plan to haul some home the next time I'm down there.
TMac, thanks, The shed is really nice to extract in, after I used to foam sealant. The first year that I had it to extract in was,,,interesting. It is made out of wet rough cut and it shrunk quite a bit in the drying. What was nice and tight in the Spring, had gaps and openings in the Fall. When I pulled my boxes and started extracting, every bee within a mile came trying to get their honey back. I was just doing the deal and then I realized that I had prolly 1,000 bees in the shed along with me. They weren't aggressive mind you, they were just on a mission to get honey. The problem was, they got on everything and got stuck to everything..... Go to grab my capping knife, grab a bee and get stung. Got to switch out buckets under the extractor honey gate, grab a bee and get stung. Scratch and itch, grab a bee and get stung. LOL I ended up getting the spray foam and it worked out really well. I get very few bees in there and usually it is from the door gasket where the extension cord goes under it for the extension cord. The picture is deceiving though. Usually there are about 15 deep boxes and 20 honey supers with frames, winterization kits, top feeders, suits and all the other beekeeping bells and whistles in there that I have to move out to extract. I am running so few bees this year that I may just pull my extractor out along with a flod out table and spin the frames in my garage, using speed to get the honey out befor ethe bees know what is going on..... That is the plan at least. :-) JayG
Looking at getting started next year. Anybody have experience with those Flow Hives?
Jay my first year I spun in my garage and had bees everywhere although I had maybe only 15 pounds of honey as I took very little from first year hives but did not get stung even with no protection. It was a great learning experience that all the bees wanted was food and were non aggressive. I was hot to get a 12x16 shed but extraction went so well in the cool basement that I’m thinking of building a slide for the bilco stairs into basement and send boxes down on slide.
I've talked to roofers, gutter installers, tree surgeon's, they all say this time of year bees are aggressive at the hives... bee careful.
scentman
Honeybees become more protective in the fall season here in the northeast because they are defending their hard earned assets (honey, pollen and nectar) against robbers ie wasps yellow jackets etc. I can observe from inches from the hive with no bother but if I remove the top you can be sure I have a veil and protective gear on.
So I don't know what it is with Ex-SF guys going in to beekeeping... It must be the calm and the zen that bees bring,,, especially when they are stinging the shit out of you. One of my buddies, he's a retired SF SGM, he owns The Bee Store, down in VA. He put out a video, and in it, he is in a hood, and shorts. God bless him because he finished the video, but the whole time, he was trying to be cool calm and collected, and he was if you were just watching.... But if you were REALLY watching, he was getting lit up by those bees. He got stung based on how he was moving and twitching at least a dozen times. It was too funny. JayG
Beeman on Bowsite is full time bee keeper
