Beekeeper extraordinaire
Never kept a bee in my life but never too old to try something new. Hives are in the field and I have the suit. Btw, it's a small. Now, just waiting on Nucs to be delivered.
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congrats on a new hobby
in the past I thought about it as I would guess many have but your actually doing it good luck
and besides your outfit has a second purpose just add a mask then your ready to go to Walmart and do some shopping0 -
Nice, nothing like home grown honey! 0 -
I have two friends that are bee keepers. I have helped both of them move hives at night to get the hives to a better location for pollinating different crops. I have considered getting a few hives but always think that I got enough irons in the fire. One friend had a local man (new bee keeper) come to him and ask him to come to his place and please take his hive because the bees were so mean. We went to get them and he was correct, that was one nasty hive. I asked why he wanted a hive that nasty. He said come over in 8 weeks, they will be a gentle laid back hive. 8 weeks later, they were not aggressive. OK, what did you do? Ordered in an Italian queen, reached into the hive, squished the existing queen than put the Italian queen in. 6 to 8 weeks later, all the hive has been replaced by the Italian queens offspring. Yeah, bees are fascinating. You are going to have a lot of fun and learn a whole lot of new things!! Good luck and have fun!! 0 -
Did the pink socks come with the suit, or were they an option??? 0 -
When you get up and running you need to sell that Honey here on Gunbroker . I like that cedar table I built one similar to when I lived in MO. 0 -
For temperature reasons I always thought all bee hive were white? I see yours are brown? 0 -
Pink was the color du jour. Hives are a clear coat cedar. They will be shaded during the summer and will absorb heat in the winter to help maintain hive heat. Hoping to get enough honey my first season for son-in-law to make mead.
Should I get an over abundant amount I will take orders. Most keepers don't get much honey their first season as they are just establishing their hives.
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Do you know how many pounds of honey per hive is sort of normal/rule of thumb in your area?? The most honey per hive I personally know of was 212 pounds. That is a lot of honey. This was in an area that 40 to 60 pounds of honey per hive would be what was considered normal. 0 -
I'd put something on my dogs if I were you. (and I'm not talking about your furry friends) 0 -
Flying Clay Disk, no, don't. Got grandson here with me who distracts me at the most inopportune times. Delays my responses.
And you are correct about the pup. Will be keeping an eye on all of them in the first few weeks.
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My middle child decided she wanted to be a beekeeper.....so we had hives for a long time. It was a LOT of work, once she got older and busier she was not as into working the hives, so Larry decided he would just keep it up himself. We both work a lot, so it wasn't long before we gave it over to a friend of ours that has a bunch of hives. We started with one, then two, then four.....the most we had was 12 hives at one time. We have one hive in the field beside our house now. It has 5 supers on it and is busier than ever. We've put a box out with the attractant on it in case it splits. The friend of ours that does the bees is active in the bee keeper's guild that meets at Auburn University and has about 75 hives. He said the money isn't in honey, but selling nucs, boxes and supplies to the keepers. We always got a nice lot of honey each year. Ours has been every color imaginable depending on what was going on when we robbed the hives. I want to give some to a friend of mine that is experimenting with hot peppers. He's been growing various kinds and makes marvelous hot sauce. I saw ads for hot honey that looked wonderful and wanted him to see what he could do with some honey. 0 -
I knew a bee keeper here in my area that made most of their income renting out their bees to local fruit farmers (cherry mostly). This is in northern lower Michigan. The bee keeper would haul their hives down to Florida in the winter months to pollinate orange\citrus groves. One of the farmers here, a late friend of mine owned several area orchards and utilized the bee keepers services every season. One of the benefits besides the pollination that he paid for was all the honey he could ever utilize was given him. He generously gave me a few gallons every year. We did a lot of deer hunting together and back when baiting was legal, he would soak an old tree stump with 5 gal. buckets of honey! 0 -
had a buddy I worked with kept bees for years then the colony collapse hit him hard he had maybe 15-20 hives at his house, farm and few of his neighbors farms. in about 2 years time he was down to 3, he would order new bees and none seemed to make it through summer. He had a small box trailer with all his honey extraction equipment in it and used to travel around the state selling his honey at the local honey festivals. seems he had a small fortune in the extraction equipment and with the loss of hives here locally he wasn't the only beekeeper in area to loose hives I am not sure his wife ever got their money back from the equipment after he passed as there just isn't a market for it anymore........ hope your experience turns out a lot better 0 -
Good for you! Honey bees are good for everyone. I hope it works out well. 0 -
Might want some shoes eventually. 0 -
Susie. I have heard that the Sourwood tree is better for bees than several acres of clover. Grow several and you should not be short on bee food, except in the winter. Try the local cola company for their spilled sugar. Great for bees.
https://rockbridgetrees.com/growing-sourwood-tree/0 -
So far this is what I have flowering on the farm since I picked up my bees: Buttercup, blackberries, clover, multi-floral roses, honeysuckle, and various unidentified wild flowering plants. Bees are very busy all over the yard and field.
I do have boots to wear with my pink socks. The dogs range into the area with the hives with no issue. The bees look like a slammed day at ATL. They aren't taking time out to chase a dog.
ETA: I believe I have sourwood in the area. Will pay attention as the summer progresses.
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Keep an eye on the dog, 12 years ago my big 'ol Rottweiler has killed by bee stings. Anaphylaxis shock or whatever they call it, vet said dogs can be allergic just the same as some humans are.
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Sourwood is some of the most sought after honey.Two things, it is a very slow growing tree, don't get your hopes up, and second if the weather is damp and cold the blossom will not open enough for the bee to get his sucker far enough in to get the nectar.Honey bees cannot get the nectar out of red clover either, but if a bumble bee chews an hole in the bottom of the flower they can siphon out the nectar, so I have been told.
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Supposedly local honey helps people with allergies also! I live near a place called Bee City, really nice people run it and we have discussed getting hives out at our "farm" another "retirement" plan. Good luck keep us posted. 0 -
Yes to local honey. Helps your body resist the allergies of local plants. 0 -
Honey also naturally prevents bacterial growth and it lasts a LONG time.......until it starts to crystallize......then it is like sugar. 0 -
Moisture is what causes honey to crystallize. Heat it a bit and it will turn back to the real thing.Where does the moisture come from? Every time you open the container moist air will get in the jar and most often the honey has too much water it in before it is canned up.
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had colony collapse disorder hit the bees some years ago and looks like now we have the giant hornets coming in on the west coast to kill hives .......other parts of the world get our money and we get their chit 0
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