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Leperflesh posted:Yeah, odds are that my queen is fine, she's up there in the tree. And I'd have her daughter as a new queen, if we hadn't destroyed the succession cells. Did the swarm eventually move into the box?
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Jul 12, 2011 14:12
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| # ? May 31, 2024 17:59 |
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Whoop whoop, my bees are drawing comb.  It's less terrifying when the bees are doing what my bee books says they should be doing. Wonder how long this will last?
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Jul 12, 2011 18:47
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AFK SWARM OF BEES posted:Did the swarm eventually move into the box? Swarm is still up in the tree. I see an occasional scout bee going into the swarm trap box, but it's impossible to tell if it's from the swarm, or my own hive. They might not like its position, or it might be too small, or maybe the smell of my own hive is masking the smell of the swarm trap. It's amazing to me that that swarm must have been up that tree for at least a week now. I hope it survives, whether it goes for my box or somewhere else.
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Jul 12, 2011 19:26
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I was all excited to extract tomorrow but its going to have to wait. The one medium honey super I have up has 7 good frames of honey, but they are all only about 50% capped. The queen also got into the super and laid eggs in 3 frames. Not sure if I should put a queen excluder on or not. No hurry at the moment since the capped brood in their needs to hatch first anyway. Last bee class tomorrow and I am excited to extract, even if it isn't my own honey!
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Jul 16, 2011 23:34
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Well, the swarm is finally gone; it was still up there yesterday, but I went and looked just now and they're off. Not in my box, either. Disappointing, but hopefully they've found somewhere good to live. Still, amazing that they stayed up there for something like 12+ days! We've had consistently mild weather, no rain and no scorching days, so maybe that contributed. Dunno. But we opened up the hive yesterday and removed the queen cage, the bees were much more relaxed and calm, and they'd already built a bunch of new comb in the gap between two frames we'd made by putting the queen cage in. Removed that, and added a second honey super (first super has one empty frame and one fully combed frame half-full of open honey cells, so it was time).
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Jul 18, 2011 02:58
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I harvested like 9 frames of honey this weekend. It's more yellowish than usual. I miss my drat wildflower honey! We moved to a place that has a lot of the same flowers so the taste isn't as spicy.
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Jul 18, 2011 15:40
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Oh no! Yellow jackets! They're all over my hive! I went down to inspect the bees and see if they had made any progress on the honey super. Not an ounce of new comb was drawn on the frames, no stored honey in the super ...and about 10-15 yellow jackets buzzing around the base of the hive. One or two landed on a frame as I pulled it out, and I tried to buzz them off but they dove for me and tried to sting. Assholes!  None were going in through the front entrance so I'm wondering if they're just hanging around the hive. I haven't been feeding the bees since I put the honey super on, so there is no feeder or sugar water laying about. Anyone had to deal with yellow jackets before? Should I be really worried? I know there are traps you can get to kill them, and of course you can find the nest and blow it up.
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Jul 18, 2011 17:59
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A strong hive can probably drive them off. You can get yellowjacket traps: they're baited with meat (a slice of old lunchmeat is perfect), which doesn't attract bees, so they're quite safe to use around your beehive. I got one at Home Depot a while back, but haven't needed to use it.
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Jul 18, 2011 18:06
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Leperflesh posted:A strong hive can probably drive them off. Good deal, I am going to go pick one of these up. We kicked up a ton of yellow jackets a week or so ago by doing some invasive yardwork, and I'm afraid that might have inspired them to sniff around the hive. We hadn't seen any near the hive until today.
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Jul 18, 2011 18:22
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Since the topic just came up, any tips for getting rid of a nest on your house? I just moved into a new place and there is a yellow jacket nest on the corner of the house. It's baseball sized right now with 15 or so yellow jackets on it. I can't get to it from down below, and it's right next to the window. I don't want to just open the window, smash it, and shut the window, cause I know they will probably attack then.
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Jul 20, 2011 17:42
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Cans of spray. Cans and cans of spray
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Jul 20, 2011 18:48
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Geirskogul posted:Cans of spray. Cans and cans of spray It works even better if you set the spray on fire. True fact.
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Jul 20, 2011 22:21
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Not saying that it's the case with you Capsaicin, but since I started beekeeping the number of people who call anything that flies and is yellow a bee has really surprised me. Trying to get people to understand that wasps, hornets and yellow jackets are not the same thing as a bee and that one group is a bunch of miserable motherfuckers while the others are awesome can be quite frustrating. In other words, Capsaicin, kill those bastards with extreme prejudice and lots of chemicals. Happy hunting.
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Jul 21, 2011 00:31
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The swarm I captured a month ago has been building in my TBH, but they keep attaching comb to the ceiling, not my bars. For instance, a few days ago I found a 2x6" piece of comb hanging off of the ceiling of the hive (in the space between my bars, at least it's straight), so I broke it off and haphazardly "glued" it to the middle of one of my bars, where "glued" means "melted wax a bit and stuck it onto the wood." Looked today, and it seems they've abandoned that piece of comb and are going at it on the same spot on the ceiling again. FFFFFUUUUUUUUUU
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Jul 22, 2011 01:31
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Now, at least for the Philadelphia area, the summer honey harvest is done. Can anyone share what they normally do for late summer/fall and winter prep? I am getting conflicting information from locals. I know for certain I need to check mite population and treat (I plan on using Mite Away quick strips if I need to treat). I am confused about late summer feeding (depending on summer honey stores), and some people are saying to add pollen patties in August to help with rearing the bees that are going to make it through winter. I am very excited for next spring already, and curious to see how it goes. All 3 of my hives are in very different states right now. One is very strong and filled out 24 deep frames and a medium super and filled it with honey. Another hive is finally working on the last ~5 frames of its second deep, and the third just had its new queen released yesterday and still has to fill out 4 frames on its first deep. nesbit37 fucked around with this message at 15:38 on Jul 22, 2011 |
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Jul 22, 2011 15:28
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I've read through some of the first pages from 2009 and didn't see this, but how much is the initial cost usually for a single hive with bees? I think I saw basic kits for about $150, how much more than this does it cost. Also does the swarm grow on its own or is it limited by the size of the hive you build? Great thread, makes for some interesting reading!
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Jul 23, 2011 03:54
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You can get started with bees for as little as $free, or as much as around $450, depending on how much and what kind of equipment you get, how new, and whether you buy a package of bees or get a swarm from somewhere for free. A typical reasonable budget for equipment and supplies is $300. That will get you a hood, gloves, hive tool, smoker, two deep boxes, three medium boxes, frames for each of them plus a few spare frames, a lid, a telescoping lid, and a quality base (all pre-assembled). Then add maybe $85 to $100 for a package of bees with a queen. But you can often find used equipment, especially if you hook up with your local beekeeper association before you buy stuff. The hood and gloves are optional - depending on how brave you are. A smoker can be handmade or improvised. A hive tool is great but you can make do with a big flat-headed screwdriver, a paint scraper, or something like that. Exactly how many boxes/frames you have is variable: if you are willing to harvest several times during the year, you can get by with fewer honey supers, for example. Or if you are handy, you can build your own boxes and use a top-bar style (no frames) hive. And if you sign up on your local beekeepers' swarm list, you may be able to capture a swarm for free for your first bees. So it's all very variable. The bees will expand in population during the spring. How big the hive will get depends a lot on local factors (how much food is available for them, the weather) and what kind of bees you get (italians are the most common, they tend to get quite big hives = more honey, but some other varieties might make smaller hives). Ultimately as a beekeeper you have to decide, if the hive gets too crowded, whether to keep adding more space, or split the hive. If you do neither, the bees will swarm, and you may lose some or most of your bees. The bees will decline in population in late fall, and depending on your weather (does it get cold/snow in your winter?) you may need to reduce the size of there hive, provide insulation, or something. I'm in a mild part of California so I don't need to do much beyond removing empty honey supers (after I harvest them) and maybe treating for mites. Also be prepared to lose your bees. Many of us in the thread are losing hives regularly. Colony collapse disorder is real and with us, and I know of no beekeepers that have been totally unaffected by it. The good news is, you can re-use almost everything, so if your bees all leave and your hive dies, all you have to do is clean up and buy a new package of bees (and try not to be too discouraged).
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Jul 23, 2011 20:33
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I'm feeling fancy this weekend. I'm hanging out with Dee Lusby at the 2011 Northeast Treatment Free Beekeeping Conference, I spent a week with Kirk Anderson two weeks ago, my hives are doing beautifully, and two filmmakers I've worked with just released short films featuring me and my students. They did nice work, so please share the love!Borough Bees posted:Brooklyn based beekeeper, Tim O'Neal, talks to zolofilms about the joys & pains of raising bees on a rooftop in NYC. Check out his hand painted hive boxes and busy busy bees! Urban Beekeeping, NYC posted:This short documentary explores the growing urban beekeeping movement in New York City and focuses on the stories of Tim O'Neal, creator of the Borough Bees blog, and Kazumi Terada, a novice beekeeper.
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Jul 23, 2011 21:19
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Thank you for the great and informative post Leperflesh. Yea I live in Chattanooga which has some mountains. I haven't lived there in the winter yet so i'm not sure how cold it gets but supposedly it does not snow much.
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Jul 24, 2011 01:38
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You are quite welcome, Sapper. Your local beekeepers will be the best sources of information about beekeeping in your area. If they're good, they'll know when the best nectar sources are blooming (and what they are), as well as the ideal calendar for winter preparations, and perhaps have a recommendation of bee type to get (e.g., perhaps carniolans are superior in your mountainous region?). By all means, seek them out and attend a meeting or find a master beekeeper willing to show you the ropes for an hour or two. There's no guarantee, but it's likely to be helpful.
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Jul 24, 2011 10:45
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Whilst in France I picked up the most amazing honey soap, now I am determined to make my own! Once again I am very very lucky as my dear old mum used to make and sell soaps professionally so I have the perfect teacher. It's pretty exciting when you start thinking about all the extra things you can produce from a hive. I'm also building a solar wax extractor out of old windows this summer. Once I get started on that project I'll post the results here.
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Jul 24, 2011 13:55
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This summer I tasted raw honey for the first time on vacation, and now I'm determined to find some local. Are there any websites I should check out? I live in middle Jersey.
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Jul 25, 2011 18:17
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Find your local farmer's market, there's often a local beekeeper selling local honey there. Alternatively, any of those hippy-dippy health food stores that sell organic everything and have dozens of bins of bulk grains and etc. will have a shelf full of raw honeys, often including something local. Oh wait: do you mean, New Jersey, USA; or Jersey, United Kingdom? (The Original Jersey)
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Jul 25, 2011 19:06
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Leperflesh posted:Find your local farmer's market, there's often a local beekeeper selling local honey there. Alternatively, any of those hippy-dippy health food stores that sell organic everything and have dozens of bins of bulk grains and etc. will have a shelf full of raw honeys, often including something local. Sorry, I meant New Jersey USA. I think I might have found a local supply at the orchid near my house. That raw honey is mine!
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Jul 25, 2011 19:56
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Wax moths suck. Messing around in the garage I noticed some flies pop up when I dropped a wrench near a cardboard nuke over the weekend. That nuke contained 5 frames from a hive that did not make it through the winter. I took those frames out when we split from our other hive. Not knowing exactly what the problem was I didn't want to move those frames directly into my good hive so early in the spring when we performed the split. So they've just been sitting around until I decode what to do with them. Upon opening the nuke I discover the woodenware, foundation wires, and 2-3" of wax moth poop accompanying a rather unpleasant smell.
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Jul 25, 2011 20:48
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(It's "nuc," short for nucleus.) The advice I got was, when you have frames you aren't using, either store them outside and exposed (so not in a box, but on a rack), or (better) seal them in plastic. We got some gigantic ziplocs from Target... each one can hold like 10 frames, and they're sealed.
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Jul 25, 2011 20:55
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Ugh. We did a hive inspection just before leaving for vacation and couldn't find any eggs or larvae. By that point there wasn't enough time to do anything about it. Two weeks later when we got back still no signs of a queen, but there were a couple supersedure cells and several swarm cells and there did not seem to be as many workers. I ordered a new queen and hopefully that can sort things out. I felt bad about leaving for two weeks and not being able to do anything about the problem and hopefully it's not too late to help them out.
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Jul 25, 2011 20:58
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nesbit37 posted:Now, at least for the Philadelphia area, the summer honey harvest is done. Can anyone share what they normally do for late summer/fall and winter prep? I am getting conflicting information from locals. I know for certain I need to check mite population and treat (I plan on using Mite Away quick strips if I need to treat). I am confused about late summer feeding (depending on summer honey stores), and some people are saying to add pollen patties in August to help with rearing the bees that are going to make it through winter. I live in West Chester, so you and I should be doing the same things at the same time. I don't treat for anything (well, I don't have mites, and even if I did, my hive would have to be close to death in order to treat them). I know everyone has an opinion about treating for things, and it seems that my club is starting to lean towards no/minimal treatment. Although, there are still a lot of people who have a treatment schedule and swear that is the only way to go. I know, that was very helpful, wasn't it? As for feeding, I have two hives (that I split out of one in April). The original hive has gone gangbusters, and I won't start to feed them until September (maybe mid to late September). The newer hive is doing well, but still needs to draw comb. I'm going to start feeding them next week (August). I'll only be feeding sugar syrup to both hives.
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Jul 26, 2011 10:53
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Thanks, emanonii, that helps. I want to be as chemically averse as possible when it comes to treating, but I also want to help the bees to make it through the winter. I thought the first year would be a lot more simple than it was, but two of the hives had so many problems with queens, and now I have been seeing some deformed wing virus in the hives. A lot of the Philly Beekeepers guild like to go fully natural, so much as to go foundation less to avoid latent chemicals in wax and plastic foundation. At least for now, the strategy of the bee class teachers I have had, which is to treat when you have to but be wary of what you use, seems a bit better until I am more comfortable with what I am doing. That helps with the feeding, too. Two of the hives are still trying to fill out their two deep boxes so they have food on them for now, but the third one sounds like it should be good until September based on what you said about your hives. Thanks!
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Jul 26, 2011 12:09
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emanonii posted:Although, there are still a lot of people who have a treatment schedule and swear that is the only way to go. I know, that was very helpful, wasn't it? This is pretty much all beekeepers. A local group swears against one thing, while another local group says that you should do the exact opposite and if you don't, your hive will die. "Ask three beekeepers, get three different answers."  The hive has fought off the yellow jackets. I went down there yesterday to get a peek at their activity and they're doing fine. They haven't built any comb or honey in the honey super I put on 3 weeks ago, so I'm just going to leave it be. It's a dearth season here in GA right now, I guess, so that means no honey for us this year.  Next year, though!
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Jul 26, 2011 16:04
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I went into my backyard this morning to check on my plants, and noticed a lot of insect activity near one of the crape myrtles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagerstroemia for those who don't work at an arboretum). I cam closer, and to my delight I spotted . . .  BEEES!  and not the bumbly kindAs a wanna-bee who's thinking of starting a hive next year I'm really excited to see honey bees "in the wild" and in my own backyard. I'm also happy because I've read mixed stories about whether honey bees will work crape myrtle flowers. I think they came because it's that time in the summer when they're getting desperate for food sources.  Just look at those pollen baskets! Can anyone help discern what kind of lineage they might be?
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Jul 27, 2011 21:00
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Looks like pretty typical italians to me, but of honey bee varieties, I'm only familiar with italians and carniolans.
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Jul 27, 2011 23:10
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Leperflesh posted:Looks like pretty typical italians to me, but of honey bee varieties, I'm only familiar with italians and carniolans. I'm not well versed on the physical differences between varieties, but based on a GIS for Italian bees I think you're right. Carniolans seem to have darker bodies. It's a shame that it's late July and these are the only honey bees I've seen all year, though I've seen lots of bumble bees. According to my dad they've actually been buzzing around all week, but I didn't notice since I was at work during the day. I can't help but wonder if they are feral or if some lucky beekeeper will be tasting notes of crape myrtle in his or her honey this year
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Jul 28, 2011 05:09
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Since I've started beekeeping I'm now seeing honeybees everwhere! Once you got bees on the brain you really notice what you never saw before. Got my bee themed soap moulds today, these pictures give an idea what my soaps will look like. Tomorrow I make my first batch, pretty excited.   
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Jul 28, 2011 20:40
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I can find raw honey, I can find local honey, but I can't find local raw honey. I just want yummy honey for my toast. 
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Jul 29, 2011 22:16
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Isn't most honey considered "raw" anyway? I don't think you should assume that local honey not explicitly labeled "raw" is pasteurized or cooked. e. Yeah, on doing research, there's no standard at all on this. One site claims that honey can only be raw if it's unfiltered, which is ridiculous: passing honey through a sieve to remove bee legs and bits of wax can't possibly be doing anything bad to it. That site also claims that raw honey is cloudy/crystallized: that's also blatantly untrue, as any honey will crystalize if it drops below a certain temperature, or loses water content; the variable water content of honey is why it is sold by weight, not volume. Just about the only claim that makes any sense is that raw honey isn't heated or pasteurized in any way. I'm skeptical that letting honey get up to a temperature at which it will clarify (like, 85 or 90 degrees F or so) is in any way harmful to it, given that the bees themselves keep the interior of their brood chamber at just such temperatures, and on hot days, despite shade and ventilation the honey supers on a hive can easily hit 100 degrees F. So I would just look for local honey, and maybe if you're super concerned, contact the provider and ask how they process it. As long as its unpasteurized, you're golden. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 00:10 on Jul 30, 2011 |
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Jul 30, 2011 00:03
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Leperflesh posted:So I would just look for local honey, and maybe if you're super concerned, contact the provider and ask how they process it. As long as its unpasteurized, you're golden. Thank you! I honestly had no idea what it was all about. I'm a bit clueless in the ways of honey. I got some nice local honey at the county fair this weekend. My toast is going to be so awesome now
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Aug 1, 2011 17:24
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My new bees are eating so much right now. I'm putting 2 litres (0.52 us gallons) into each hive every week. With 6 hives dad and me are hauling 12 litres of sugar water down to the island every week. It's heavy stuff, I hope my bees appreciate me. I worry about feeding them, but the bee farmer down the road is doing the exact same thing and I'm taking his advice. Out of curiosity, do any of you post on any dedicated bee forums? I joined a UK one recently and made a tentative post about my new bees and was greeted by a load of stuck up, sneering tosspots tripping over themselves to tell me how much of an amature I am. I know SA can be harsh at times, but man do I appreciate it all the more whenever I try out other forums, which doesn't happen often.
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Aug 2, 2011 16:25
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Dr Scoofles posted:My new bees are eating so much right now. I'm putting 2 litres (0.52 us gallons) into each hive every week. With 6 hives dad and me are hauling 12 litres of sugar water down to the island every week. It's heavy stuff, I hope my bees appreciate me. I worry about feeding them, but the bee farmer down the road is doing the exact same thing and I'm taking his advice. Beesource is alright, but anywhere you go there will be 'experts'.
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Aug 2, 2011 16:32
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| # ? May 31, 2024 17:59 |
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gently caress
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Aug 7, 2011 20:33
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