Posted on 05/29/2007 8:36:43 AM PDT by cposnarkey
It doesn't matter what breeds the beekeeper has, drones come from all over and visit hives and do the mateing flight with any new queen that takes off.
Most bee keepers buy new, bred queens every year or two.
Checkout the pesticide section of your hardware store. Look for termite and carpenter ant killer (contains bifenthrin). It also prevents/kills carpenter bees.
When searching for their hives, take note of storm damaged trees where a large limb has split from the trunk. That part of the tree will often rot and then other birds and bugs will further damage the tree, hollowing it. Bingo, an ideal place for a hive.
If the hive is a small one leave it alone for a couple of years. The bees eat the honey during the winter months, so be sure not to take all their food supply. Then as it expands you should be able to remove 1/4 to 1/3 each year without doing major damage to the hive. The’ll rebuild it each year.
If the weather is tough on the orchard flower crop, resulting in a major reduction of pollen, that is a good year to leave the hive unmolested.
Have fun, enjoy the pure honey.
“There’s some real pip Lefties having coronaries in the comments section for this article. Don’t miss the spectacle, FReepers.”
“Isn’t it a good thing that the inorganic bees are dying?
The thought of artificial robo-bees terrifies me.”
Way far gone in the ozone.
Now this guy is a hoot!
“. No trucks, no antibiotics, we thought good thoughts and gave money to Greenpeace, but they still died.”
That theory is a bit too far-out. But the oversized “industrial” bees and the overuse of fumigants on these bees makes much more sense from a conventional scientific point of view.
I am not convinced about the cell size argument. Those sizes were worked out a long, long time ago and apparently they were not a problem before. I think it’s the mites or maybe some other pathogen.
Have any of you beekeepers tried a top bar hive?
http://www2.gsu.edu/~biojdsx/main.htm
I want to put in a third hive next year, and I’m thinking about trying this.
Bee Feed Tested for Pet Food Taints - (Colony Collapse Disorder)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1836058/posts
How would you feed a wild hive that’s up in a tree in the winter if you didn’t know exactly how big it was? Not something you’ve got in the shed out back where you can check on them every couple of weeks.
btt
Poolside mating games.
Dangerous, when you have to rely on a gypsy beekeeper to pollinate your crops. Better to get your own hives, or get together with some other local farmers and co-op some hives.
We have about 6 or 7 different species of bees on this continent.. The Honey Bee, as we know is was imported by the English when they first settled here. Yes, some of the swarms you have seen may have been some of the original bees to this continent.
Could be you smelled like honey.
“Mason bees are an alternative, but it sounds like they are not a full season pollinator.”
That depends on where you are located and how low the winter temps dip. Every winter I purposely do not cut all of my lavender and rosemary flowers. During mild winters I find Mason bees on them Dec, Jan, and Feb. This past winter I had bees out and about the entire time. The payoff - my biggest crop of peaches ever.
He was talking about the size of the cells in the comb. The organic bee keepers use the size of the cells that are used it it’s natural state to keep the honey bee the size it is supposed to be. The bee keepers who use the larger cells in a comb encourage the “house” bees to feed the larva more which makes a larger honey bee, which dies earlier and because of the size of the cell in the comb mites and bacteria grow easier, because it takes a longer time to close the cell with wax than the smaller cell, therefore killing the larva. When a hive becomes infested with an “unknown” something, the bees will leave.
Honey bees will travel about 5 miles, if they must, to get their nectar. All worker bees (gatherers) will stay in a “field” to gather nectar until it can no longer find any. The “patrol” bees will find a field of clover, or an orchard of blooming cherries and come back and through a “dance” tell the gatherers exactly where and how far the find is. Honey bees are very interesting creatures. The msm is good about telling the horrendous aspect of something without knowing one iota of what they are talking about. They have not taken the time to read about honey bees, only what someone uneducated in the arena of bees have told them. Just my 1 1/2 cents worth. I really like bees, they are interesting.
Thank you, that was very interesting and enlightning.
There was a Canadian beekeeper on another site talking about his hives. He said he thinks it’s pretty much that. He has his average 10% or so loss every year and it’s been holding steady for a long time. He doesn’t stress his bees though which is what he thinks is helping him kee his colonies.
bttt
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