Feel the Bern(ie Sanders)!
Posted on 07/29/2015 9:10:45 AM PDT by rktman
Wow!
This is one of the most interesting threads I’ve seen lately. I didn’t realize that so many Freepers had experience keeping bees...
-JT
LOL! Well, the lawn mower passing within inches hasn’t set ‘em off yet. Yet.
I got my first hive in April, the Super is 80% full and I’m ready to add the honey super.
The experts here tell me this almost never happens in the first year.
Means my bees are doing great, and the Queen is working overtime.
I got into bee keeping about three years ago. SO much to learn but the people within the bee keeping community are fantastic people and very friendly. In February (around my parts) there is a bee keeping seminar where you can network and get on some good e-mail lists as well as check out vendor’s latest wares. You should check it out in your area.
Awesome. Hope you’re not allergic to bee stings. OUCH!
I used to run around barefoot every summer (hated putting my shoes back on for school-torture) and so I was very conscious of flowers and bees. Still look for them. Saw two so far this summer. The bees must be busy elsewhere.
Ha!
2 weeks ago I got Black Widow bite and bee sting on the same day.
Fortunately, no reaction to the bite.
Sting was due to honey dripped on pants and bee up pant leg... swatted....stung on knee...not many nerve endings there...
I’ve sent a couple of widows to the other side recently. Nasty little buggers. Some folks have BAD reactions to them and others not so much.
I will have to read up on this one.
Cutting grass on a dry spell will do it. Two weeks without rain and stay away from your bees. A good test is to open the outer cover. If the attendees standing guard are plentiful and point their little arses up at you and buzzz, place the cover back on and go drink beer instead.
Its difficult to explain in words. There are some good video’s out about Flow that “show” it far better than anything I could explain. But in a nutshell, you can operate on individual frames and when you crank the internal shaft, it splits the cells and the honey drains out. Once done, the bees clean up the rest par usual and get busy filling it up again; at least, that is the pitch. I won’t know until next season for certain after I use mine.
November thru March is marked by the pounding and building of new frames and equipment and the sweet anticipation of that first red maple bloom busting open on a sunny day with the snow still on the ground, but the bees grabbing all they can.
In many cases the decline in wild pollinators has been made up for by relying on commercial operators but the commercial keepers are having a hard time keeping up with demand.
"Go, Go, Beezilla"....Nope. Doesn't have the same ring to it.
I’d like to learn, but my retirement bucket-list is long: ham radio license and veggie garden come first ;-)
I once lived next door to a house whose owner was ill and had been confined to the first floor for a long time. Nobody ever went upstairs, until one day her caregiver had some reason to. She found something dripping from the attic door, and the attic had been taken over by bees. They had to hire professionals to clear it all out. I don’t know what kind of bees, but they made honey!
One of the most beautiful and fascinating little books I’ve read is Maurice Maeterlinck’s ‘The Life of the Bee’:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4511/4511-h/4511-h.htm
-JT
No, I haven’t seen that. Thank you!
Just use discretion. Wouldn’t want anything bad to happen. Thanks for your service.
It was pretty heavy. LOL
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