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Honey bees

Spysar

Spysar

Well-Known Member
I put this in the farming section just because some farming depends on pollinators. I'm sure a lot on here farm rowcrops that don't need pollinators, but what about orchards and gardens? Lot's of stuff needs pollination...and honey is good.

So does anyone on here have bees??? I do. This winters cold snap killed some of them, but today was warm and they came out to poop! For about an hour they came out, flew around and pooped. I haven't seen a bee fly since early Oct. But they were in there. Hope they make it to spring. Maples will bloom first. We'll see.

Here's the bees coming out:
bees out.jpg

And here's the poop all over the snow, lol mother nature.

bee poop.jpg
 
We kept bees for a couple of years and lost all of them about twenty(?) years ago. The equipment is stored in a shed in case we get a wild hare and feel like getting back into it. When we started, a queen with two pounds of workers was around $40. I've seen prices around $130-150 now for the same package. We started with three hives, caught some swarms, did a split or two and got up to 12 hives at one point. Then they all died one winter.

We had a swarm take up residence in our barn in 2017. We tried to move them to a hive which worked for about a year before they re-swarmed.
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I have bees. Been doing it for 6 years now. Had as many as 10 hives. Down to 3 now, but that is due to selling off some. 3 is about right for me with the amount of work and rewards. I planted apple and cherry trees about 4 years ago, so this year I should see some really good pollenation going down. Fun stuff.
 
It's been on my bucket list. My neighbor has a large hive in her walls and ceiling. She has a hive that was never used and all the equipment. She also had them removed about 4 years ago but their back. This past summer the colony split up with a second queen.

How can I lure the queen out into the hive?
 
You can't lure a queen out of a hive. You have to catch her somehow. Most of the time you have to take the swarm and take it apart and shake all the bees into a regular hive. Most of the time you get the queen. The hive in the wall probably just made another queen. Or it is a desirable place for a swarm to go.
 
JNRBRONC said:
I think I tried lemon grass oil bait for queens without success.


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Lemon grass is kind of bait for catching a swarm. To catch a swarm you put out a trap which is basically an old hive with some comb and lemomgrass makes the scout bees check out a place for a new home. If a hive is swarming, and the scouts like the new spot, they may use your "trap"

Here's a swarm that landed in one of my apple trees. And the boxes I used to catch them.20210605_110109.jpg20210605_112617.jpg
 
One of my old, retired coworkers has bees on my place, it's fascinating but I for sure don't have the time he devotes to them right now.
 
I'm gonna say that bees play a role in deer's lives. I have the bees to pollinate my apple trees. I eat plenty of apples, but I really planted them for the deer. Every year I put in a few more apple trees. They also pollinate things in my garden. They love clover which is also planted for the deer. The honey is awesome too. Soon I'll have to be on the lookout for bears. They'll be in my yard trying to get some honey.
 
Spysar said:
I put this in the farming section just because some farming depends on pollinators. I'm sure a lot on here farm rowcrops that don't need pollinators, but what about orchards and gardens? Lot's of stuff needs pollination...and honey is good.

So does anyone on here have bees??? I do. This winters cold snap killed some of them, but today was warm and they came out to poop! For about an hour they came out, flew around and pooped. I haven't seen a bee fly since early Oct. But they were in there. Hope they make it to spring. Maples will bloom first. We'll see.

Here's the bees coming out:
View attachment 124479

And here's the poop all over the snow, lol mother nature.

View attachment 124480
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Looks like you're using insulation for your winter cover. Have you been having pretty good luck over-wintering your bees with that? Do you have a moisture board inside?
We've been loosing around half our hives each winter.
 
Just insulation. No quilt box. Just an inner cover with the bee gap down to let moisture out. I'm no expert. Last year all my hives wintered. This year half. It's a tricky keeping those bees going. (the verroa destructor mite is hard to deal with)
 
Spysar said:
Just insulation. No quilt box. Just an inner cover with the bee gap down to let moisture out. I'm no expert. Last year all my hives wintered. This year half. It's a tricky keeping those bees going. (the verroa destructor mite is hard to deal with)
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Yeah, part of the reason I threw in the towel, always seems to be something killing the bees. So many bacteria, viruses and pests to watch out for.

I did read recently about a vaccine developed for American Foulbrood in bees. Should be able to click on the earlier American Foulbrood text to open a link.

I was given used equipment by the father of a co-worker. It hadn't been used in a decade, so I took a propane torch to the inside of all the hives, bought all new frames and foundations. The extractor he had was a hand crank unit, only does two frames at a time, need to stop and flip them over, spin again. What a PITA. Wife's grandfather's estate had an electric motor driven radial extractor that I think held 8 frames. It went cheap, really should have bought it, but was tired of all the work associated with keeping bees. I hated suiting up in the hot summer to crack and work a hive. Wasn't man enough to work without a veil/suit.

Also, we had a hive that lost its queen and they were NOT happy. We couldn't step out of the house without them attacking. I ordered a queen which I think they killed. After that hive died, I was instructed to move hives away from the yard. Once moved, out of sight, out of mind and maintenance dropped off.
 
Spysar said:
I'm gonna say that bees play a role in deer's lives. I have the bees to pollinate my apple trees. I eat plenty of apples, but I really planted them for the deer. Every year I put in a few more apple trees. They also pollinate things in my garden. They love clover which is also planted for the deer. The honey is awesome too. Soon I'll have to be on the lookout for bears. They'll be in my yard trying to get some honey.
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Nice. ^^ Although I have no bees of my own, my neighbor at the farm does and I have learned some about them via him. I also purposely plant some things to benefit his bees, mainly yellow clover and buckwheat.

I am in the process of developing a real orchard nowadays and plan on "his" bees helping my pollination for the trees. :)
 
I enjoyed raising bees for 6-7 years but developed severe, life threatening allergies to their stings. After a few close calls I now take monthly allergy shots. I’m already off topic but beekeeping was the most interesting hobby I ever had.
I learned last year that buckwheat and sorghum are extremely attractive to pollinators, and especially honey bees! They were in my small test plots by the hundreds, if not thousands!
 
Also, bucket and sorghum attract honey bees around August, September, when nectar is not accessible as it is during the springtime. This is really important as food sources become somewhat scarce that time of year. Then golden rod becomes important.
 
I see everything using blankets or insulation on their hives during winter? I left my hives with the small gap in the spacer open and didn't wrap them in anything. Will they be ok or do you need to wrap hives for winter?
 
sirrloin said:
I see everything using blankets or insulation on their hives during winter? I left my hives with the small gap in the spacer open and didn't wrap them in anything. Will they be ok or do you need to wrap hives for winter?
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I don't wrap mine. I don't think it hurts, but I haven't and have been fine. I also used quilt boxes as an insulation and moisture absorber up top though. My screen bottom boards stay screen all winter too.
 
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