So- this was by design & behind that is a bee hive box of some type?Looks like I captured a swarm yesterday afternoon and put them in a hive I had in storage. Lifted the lid for a peak today and they are drawing out comb
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JNRBRONC
Well-Known Member
The swarm landed on the barn door. Took my bee brush and swiped them into a container with a lid. Dumped them into hive I had ready.
Bees have been robbing honey out of an old hive right inside the barn door, figured it was only a matter of time before a swarm showed up.
Two weeks ago, there were bees buzzing around the farm house checking out holes. I figured it was a scout team looking to relocate. Last Sunday I fixed a spot on the roof of the house that they had been investigating. Might have done that just in time to stop them from starting a hive in the attic.
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Bees have been robbing honey out of an old hive right inside the barn door, figured it was only a matter of time before a swarm showed up.
Two weeks ago, there were bees buzzing around the farm house checking out holes. I figured it was a scout team looking to relocate. Last Sunday I fixed a spot on the roof of the house that they had been investigating. Might have done that just in time to stop them from starting a hive in the attic.
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Bucksnbears
Well-Known Member
Do you raise bees? The more I read about them the more interesting they are.
Really cool. Would love to get into.bees.but I dont have enough bandwidth at moment. Maybe someday
Bucksnbears
Well-Known Member
^^^. Lol.
JNRBRONC
Well-Known Member
About 30 years ago, started with 3 hives, grew to 12 hives then they all died. Kept about 15 hives worth of equipment in the shed.
Back then, ordering a queen with 3 lbs of workers was around $50. Last I looked, the price was around $150. I’m not spending that coin. I’ll buy local honey to support those guys because I know what’s involved.
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Bucksnbears
Well-Known Member
Gotcha, thanks.
A fella 1 mile away has bees.
I have a couple small clover plots. Breaks my heart when I need to mow them knowing I'm running over some of them.
A fella 1 mile away has bees.
I have a couple small clover plots. Breaks my heart when I need to mow them knowing I'm running over some of them.
JNRBRONC
Well-Known Member
Some think that there isn't much to do with bees, but they need a fair amount of attention, which I didn't give them years ago and is why I lost all my colonies.
T_Max
PMA Member
Curious here. I always wondered what would happen if I put out a few hives and just let them go. You think they would all just die? What kind of attention would they require? I would like to have bees on my place just for the sake of having them. I’d love to do it and still buy my honey somewhere else local.
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JNRBRONC
Well-Known Member
Find a local beekeeper and offer to let them put a few hives on your property!! Best of all worlds, none of the work and the deal might get you some free honey. If you want a hive, rough budget is $500/hive (bees and gear) and you are just going to let nature take its course? Might get a honey crop the first year, then most likely end in failure following years.
My view: Where did the swarm I captured come from? A neighbors' hive? A swarm from a feral colony in the timber across the road next to the river? When the orchard was in bloom earlier this spring, I could stand in it and watch the bees pollinate the flowers. So somehow we have a local bee population, whether domestic or feral. Thems my kind of bees.
My honey extraction equipment is very entry level and spinning honey is currently a terrible job. I passed on an electric radial multi-frame extractor at a relative's auction, not wanting to be tempted at growing an apiary.
Youre absolutely correct. Good friend of mine has alot of boxes and sells honey.
Bucksnbears
Well-Known Member
.what ever happened to those big black n yellow bumblebees.
They were everywhere when I was a kid. Maybe see one a year now.
They were everywhere when I was a kid. Maybe see one a year now.
Slick
Well-Known Member
I have had bees each year for a long time. 1 or 2 hives each year. At this point because I have the equipment its the cost of the Bees each year if the hive dies out. About $150 for 3 pounds and a queen. I usually get about 7 gallons of honey from each hive so in my mind well worth it. We eat it every day either cooking with it or directly. They fascinate me, could watch them for hours.
Daver
PMA Member
Bee related...I can't remember if I shared this already, or not. We are in the process of building a new house and shop and I put in a nice, large pond late last summer. (It is not yet full, as we just can't seem to get any amount of rain to fill it up, drat.) It is probably a surface acre though now.
A couple of weeks ago I ran into a gent that I know that is/will be a neighbor to us once we get moved in, which should happen in the next 2-3 weeks...I hope.
But the neighbor, and his wife, are avid bird watchers AND he is a beekeeper. He commented that they are seeing more and varied songbird varieties this spring and they think it is because of my new pond, about 300 yards away from their house.
Also, they are watching their bees come and go and quite often as it relates to the pond. He thinks the bees are using the pond too...OR...something about the new pond is causing a change in the neighborhood bee patterns. Huh? So, I am also going to planting a variety of things to REALLY ramp up the bee attractiveness on my place.
Who knows...someday I may get a hive, etc.
A couple of weeks ago I ran into a gent that I know that is/will be a neighbor to us once we get moved in, which should happen in the next 2-3 weeks...I hope.
But the neighbor, and his wife, are avid bird watchers AND he is a beekeeper. He commented that they are seeing more and varied songbird varieties this spring and they think it is because of my new pond, about 300 yards away from their house.Also, they are watching their bees come and go and quite often as it relates to the pond. He thinks the bees are using the pond too...OR...something about the new pond is causing a change in the neighborhood bee patterns. Huh? So, I am also going to planting a variety of things to REALLY ramp up the bee attractiveness on my place.
Who knows...someday I may get a hive, etc.
203ntyp
PMA Member
I have a hive the neighbor gave me a couple years ago but haven't set it up yet and wanting to get into bee keeping for a few years. Not sure where to start but I'd like to get it set up soon. The neighbor is 94, her deceased husband bought it 40 years ago from TSC. She has had honeybees in the walls of her house for quite a few years and had someone come a few years ago to remove them but they came back the following year. Whoever removed them never sealed up the outside wall! They found a huge amount of combs/honey in her walls and eve in the ceiling above her bed!
There have been two swarms that split from that colony the past 4 years, one tried to start a hive under our sunroom, fortunately I caught them in the act and plugged up the hole and they left. Here's one swarm in her yard.
Guess I need to learn really quick how to attract them to my hive.
There have been two swarms that split from that colony the past 4 years, one tried to start a hive under our sunroom, fortunately I caught them in the act and plugged up the hole and they left. Here's one swarm in her yard.
Guess I need to learn really quick how to attract them to my hive.
