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Posted: 6/24/2010 11:47:28 PM EDT
[#1]
How far can bees see?
Think I'm gonna buy a book. |
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Posted: 6/26/2010 5:05:56 PM EDT
[#2]
Checked on the new queen today and the whole hive seems more populated and active. The queen has escaped her box and hopefully will begin laying eggs right away. The frame of brood I stole from the other hive seems to be ok. I'm optimistic, I guess.
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Posted: 6/27/2010 2:00:57 PM EDT
[#3]
So, is there any honey then?
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Posted: 6/27/2010 7:02:02 PM EDT
[Last Edit: KG5S]
[#4]
You guys are a freakin hoot in the vids !!!!!
Where did you get the package bees and were they shipped to your door ? I tried to order package bees this spring but didn't find anybody that would ship to my door, it was all bulk ship to a location with many other beeks for pickup only ! I have one hive , it's a strong hive but would like about 5 more ! |
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Posted: 6/27/2010 10:06:54 PM EDT
[#5]
Originally Posted By SFENDER:
So, is there any honey then? Of course there is––that's what they use to make the wax to build the combs. They also feed upon it. If you mean "is there any honey surplus for you to take?"––the answer is no, not this year. The colony must be built up and established. Maybe next year, if things go well, and if they don't winter kill, and if there is a good nectar flow, and if the parasites don't get them, and if various virus diseases don't get them, etc. 
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Posted: 6/27/2010 11:39:13 PM EDT
[#6]
I just watched the videos again..that's pretty much exactly how we sound all the time. He yells at me, I ignore him, rinse, repeat. But we have fun.
I didn't get the hive painted. I wonder if I could use some kind of bumper sticker on the outside instead. |
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Posted: 6/28/2010 1:03:42 PM EDT
[#7]
Originally Posted By thebeekeeper1:
Originally Posted By SFENDER:
So, is there any honey then? Of course there is––that's what they use to make the wax to build the combs. They also feed upon it. If you mean "is there any honey surplus for you to take?"––the answer is no, not this year. The colony must be built up and established. Maybe next year, if things go well, and if they don't winter kill, and if there is a good nectar flow, and if the parasites don't get them, and if various virus diseases don't get them, etc. Cool, thanks. I just bought some local honey yesterday at a farmers market. It was a little pricey but worth it. I love that stuff. |
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Posted: 6/28/2010 1:50:54 PM EDT
[Last Edit: PA22-400]
[#8]
Originally Posted By Barbara:
I just watched the videos again..that's pretty much exactly how we sound all the time. He yells at me, I ignore him, rinse, repeat. But we have fun.
I didn't get the hive painted. I wonder if I could use some kind of bumper sticker on the outside instead. I'm sure that all self respecting Arfcom bees can tell the difference between an AR bolt face and an AK bolt face. 39 |
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Posted: 6/28/2010 2:09:48 PM EDT
[Last Edit: iNuhBaDNayburhood]
[#9]
 I'm laughing my ass off @ the commentary!!!
Da nah nah nah nnaaa naanaaaaa na! OH THAT'S SO HOT! You're getting dressed...when are you going to undressed...? 
That was hilarious! Also quite interesting to watch for the beekeeping information too! Thanks for posting the videos! You have Beehavioral issues! You beeheaded him? 
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Posted: 6/28/2010 7:09:08 PM EDT
[#10]
They're very docile. They must not know you. |
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Posted: 7/1/2010 8:09:15 PM EDT
[#11]
Originally Posted By KG5S:
You guys are a freakin hoot in the vids !!!!! Where did you get the package bees and were they shipped to your door ? I tried to order package bees this spring but didn't find anybody that would ship to my door, it was all bulk ship to a location with many other beeks for pickup only ! I have one hive , it's a strong hive but would like about 5 more ! ??? |
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Posted: 7/2/2010 6:54:33 AM EDT
[#12]
I ordered them from Rossman.
Will open up the hive probably Monday to make sure the new queen is doing her job. |
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Posted: 7/3/2010 10:34:44 AM EDT
[#13]
Originally Posted By Barbara:
I ordered them from Rossman. Will open up the hive probably Monday to make sure the new queen is doing her job. Thanks for the info ! I'll check with them in the spring to see if they will ship to my door instead of pickup only. I have brandnew hives just sitting here and they need bees ! |
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TX, USA
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Posted: 7/3/2010 6:22:42 PM EDT
[#14]
Originally Posted By Backstop:
How far can bees see? Think I'm gonna buy a book. Gonna teach them to read? |
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Posted: 7/3/2010 7:14:44 PM EDT
[#15]
Originally Posted By shooter_gregg:
Originally Posted By Backstop:
How far can bees see? Think I'm gonna buy a book. Gonna teach them to read? Well yeah. They need to learn their ABeeC's, and about the birds and the bees. Lame joke, but that's all I got. |
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Posted: 7/10/2010 7:57:17 AM EDT
[#16]
can you recommend a book on bee keeping please. thanks in advance!
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Posted: 7/13/2010 9:05:33 AM EDT
[#17]
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Posted: 7/13/2010 9:55:11 AM EDT
[#18]
Originally Posted By winddummy82:
can you recommend a book on bee keeping please. thanks in advance! The Walter Kelley Co. has several––I recommend "The Hive and the Honeybee" by Mr. Kelley. |
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Posted: 7/13/2010 11:24:17 AM EDT
[#19]
What would be the initial cost of what Barbara did in her video?
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Posted: 7/13/2010 5:53:40 PM EDT
[#20]
I finally got bees after several years of wanting them. A local bee keeper captured ten swarms this year. He buys a pheromone, sets a special hive in tree lines and captures bees when they swarm. He said that the last few years have produced a lot of food for the bees and that has caused so many swarms and that many people had called him about getting wild swarms off their property. Plus I have located a bee tree and next year we will set a bee hive out for them. It is one of the most fascinating hobbies, I really like it. The bee keeper will rob my hive next year and give me a few pounds of honey from my hive and next spring I will buy another hive and when he catches a swarm he will give it to me ( I had to force him to take money this year). He has 20 hives and all of the equipment, he is teaching me about bees and eventually I will buy the equipment to rob the hives and let him do the extracting. If you're thinking about getting bees, don't wait. I wish I had done this 10 years ago. If you want bees put an add in the paper, tell them you will buy the hive, bees and etc. and you will let them get the honey for a few pounds in return. Four days after I got my bees and telling a few friends that I had gotten them, one of my friends called after a storm and a large tree in his yard had fallen over and there were bees in it and he wanted to know if I wanted them. I called the bee keeper and two hours later we were chainsawing the tree and trying to get the bees. Unfortunately, they had swarmed leaving the honey, two 5 gal. buckets of comb. He will take most of it to feed some of his bees. He did set a hive out with comb and brood, to see if they would swarm back, but no luck.
Good luck, BravoCharlie |
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Posted: 8/2/2010 7:43:02 PM EDT
[#21]
I think the one hive is just toast. The last time I had it open, the queen was alive and laying but there's just not much activity..the other one, though, is teaming with bees. Maybe I need to write it off and try again next year..its too late in the year to do much with it. Anyone have thoughts on this?
I haven't opened it up because its been very hot and the bees were hot and grumpy last time I did. I |
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TX, USA
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Posted: 8/4/2010 11:00:59 PM EDT
[#22]
I started two new hives this year. New hive bodies, frames, etc. Got the two new colonies by mail, got them going, supplemental feed and all. Good for about two weeks, noticed the east hive doing very well and the west hive declining. Got hurt and spent time in the hospital and recovery and didn't get to check hives for about three weeks. Population in the west hive still going down and the east still thriving Now the west hive is dead. I made the mistake of setting the hives about two yards apart facing the same direction, painted the same (white). I believe that there was something wrong with the queen in the west hive, I saw bees moving larvae out of the hive and dumping them over the edge. Ideas on that? East hive is strong. ???
So, I have access to a wild hive that I can get and move to the now empty hive. I'm in Texas, first freeze usually won't be till second week in Nov. Should I get the wild bees now or wait till spring? Any advice would be appreciated. GM |
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Posted: 8/5/2010 12:08:25 AM EDT
[#23]
Originally Posted By GM15:
I started two new hives this year. New hive bodies, frames, etc. Got the two new colonies by mail, got them going, supplemental feed and all. Good for about two weeks, noticed the east hive doing very well and the west hive declining. Got hurt and spent time in the hospital and recovery and didn't get to check hives for about three weeks. Population in the west hive still going down and the east still thriving Now the west hive is dead. I made the mistake of setting the hives about two yards apart facing the same direction, painted the same (white). I believe that there was something wrong with the queen in the west hive, I saw bees moving larvae out of the hive and dumping them over the edge. Ideas on that? East hive is strong. ??? So, I have access to a wild hive that I can get and move to the now empty hive. I'm in Texas, first freeze usually won't be till second week in Nov. Should I get the wild bees now or wait till spring? Any advice would be appreciated. GM It's much too late––wait until Spring (April).
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MI, USA
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Posted: 8/5/2010 2:41:02 AM EDT
[#24]
Originally Posted By thebeekeeper1:
Originally Posted By SFENDER:
So, is there any honey then? Of course there is––that's what they use to make the wax to build the combs. They also feed upon it. If you mean "is there any honey surplus for you to take?"––the answer is no, not this year. The colony must be built up and established. Maybe next year, if things go well, and if they don't winter kill, and if there is a good nectar flow, and if the parasites don't get them, and if various virus diseases don't get them, etc. What is a winter kill, just a prolonged period of cold weather? What temps can a bee withstand when they are dormant, and for how long? |
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TX, USA
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Posted: 8/5/2010 5:40:59 AM EDT
[#25]
Originally Posted By Backstop:
You should paint one with an AR boltface, the other with an AK boltface. Let's see how smart they really are. This cracked me up! Good luck with the bees Barb! I've often wondered about getting a hive brcause I enjoy making meads and honey-brown ales,and honey ain't cheap! Also,I never realized you could get so much honey from them! |
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Posted: 8/5/2010 7:04:44 AM EDT
[#26]
Sounds like the one hive is doing well. Nice work! My father just got back into beekeeping this year. He used to do it back when he was a kid. Just started back with one hive this year but it is doing very well. Have it down with the garden. My son is helping out with the beekeeping, learning a lot, and having fun! They just put the second super on this week. Bees are doing so well, dad thinks we'll be able to pull a little honey from them this fall. He's already gotten some people calling with bee trees that they want him to get the swarm from. Probably have three or four hives next year.
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Posted: 8/5/2010 7:25:22 AM EDT
[Last Edit: thebeekeeper1]
[#27]
Originally Posted By TheOtherDave:
Originally Posted By thebeekeeper1:
Originally Posted By SFENDER:
So, is there any honey then? Of course there is––that's what they use to make the wax to build the combs. They also feed upon it. If you mean "is there any honey surplus for you to take?"––the answer is no, not this year. The colony must be built up and established. Maybe next year, if things go well, and if they don't winter kill, and if there is a good nectar flow, and if the parasites don't get them, and if various virus diseases don't get them, etc. What is a winter kill, just a prolonged period of cold weather? What temps can a bee withstand when they are dormant, and for how long? Bees are kept up into Canada. They "cluster" to maintain adequate warmth to survive. They will also begin raising a small patch of brood in February––and this requires a temp of 97* F. 
They are able to do this via their instinctive ability to generate heat via vibrating their wings (muscle activity) and then using their bodies (and honey) to insulate and maintain said heat. They constantly rotate the outside bees to the inside in order to avoid losses. A honeybee will die when their body temp goes below about 43* F. So far, this is the limiting factor on the spread of the Africanized honeybee, as they lack the genetic predisposition to cluster, and therefore cannot tolerate cold temps. Edit: Forgot to mention––"winter kill" just means a hive that died out over the winter. The causes are many, but if they are weak in the fall they have little chance to survive. Often the strongest ones die too. I don't know why that is. Disease, mites, etc. take their toll. 
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Posted: 8/6/2010 6:07:12 AM EDT
[#28]
What do you think I should do with the hive that's very weak. There's no way it will make it through the winter, but the other one seems very strong and is full of happy bees. Just let it die out on its own? How do I clean it out when that happens?
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Posted: 8/6/2010 8:36:53 AM EDT
[#29]
Originally Posted By Barbara:
What do you think I should do with the hive that's very weak. There's no way it will make it through the winter, but the other one seems very strong and is full of happy bees. Just let it die out on its own? How do I clean it out when that happens? If it's VERY weak in numbers then it is a truly hopeless situation. At this point you will then want to save the comb, as it is very valuable. I wish I were closer, but from here I'm going to say to open it and inspect––make sure you don't have foul brood (capped brood with a sunken appearance). If not, and there are a fair number of bees, you can feed them heavily, while putting the entrance reducer in place. If there is just a tiny number of bees, then set the hive body on top of the strong colony. They will fight for a day or two, and you will see dead bees in front of the hive, but it's of no consequence. 
The strong colony will accept the hive body, and its contents, as part of their colony.
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Posted: 8/9/2010 7:34:35 PM EDT
[#30]
I'll open it this weekend. Its been so hot and humid here, and the last time I opened the hive, the bees were very grumpy. But I don't believe there are enough to make it viable for the winter.
What happens to the queen in the smaller hive? |
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Posted: 8/9/2010 8:39:08 PM EDT
[#31]
Originally Posted By Barbara:
I'll open it this weekend. Its been so hot and humid here, and the last time I opened the hive, the bees were very grumpy. But I don't believe there are enough to make it viable for the winter. What happens to the queen in the smaller hive? She either dies, or is already dead––hence the failure of the colony. Success or failure depends almost exclusive on the ability of the queen to lay 2000 eggs per day during the season. She was obviously lacking.
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Posted: 8/9/2010 9:23:45 PM EDT
[#32]
I think she just got a late start. The 1st queen died and I wasn't experienced enough to realize it soon enough. I think by the time I got the replacement, so many bees had died of old age, she just can't keep up now.
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Posted: 8/9/2010 11:02:45 PM EDT
[#33]
Originally Posted By Barbara:
I think she just got a late start. The 1st queen died and I wasn't experienced enough to realize it soon enough. I think by the time I got the replacement, so many bees had died of old age, she just can't keep up now. It takes a good number of worker bees in order for a colony to make it. There is a tipping point where they just don't have enough "hands on board" to accomplish all the necessary tasks of a successful colony. It happens––not your fault, not their fault. It happens. I'm sorry––but I hope you don't give up.
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Posted: 8/10/2010 3:48:40 AM EDT
[#34]
Nope, not giving up. The other hive is doing great as far as I can tell. I'll start this one again in the Spring.
I don't know anyone here that keeps bees and the local bee club seems to have meetings only very rarely and then with little notice, so I'm mostly winging it..wish they'd both made it but can't complain. |
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Posted: 8/10/2010 10:27:21 AM EDT
[#35]
Originally Posted By Barbara:
Nope, not giving up. The other hive is doing great as far as I can tell. I'll start this one again in the Spring. I don't know anyone here that keeps bees and the local bee club seems to have meetings only very rarely and then with little notice, so I'm mostly winging it..wish they'd both made it but can't complain. You can spend the winter reading, then you will be all ready for the new season.
If you wish I can give you my phone number in case you have any questions needing a quick answer. Shoot an IM if you ever wish. I'm far from a master beekeeper, but I had bees for over twenty years, so I'm sure I encountered (at least) 95% of the stuff one deals with.
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Posted: 8/10/2010 10:55:52 PM EDT
[#36]
I may take you up on that. Let me open up the hives this weekend if its cooler and see what's what.
Thanks for all your help..very, very much appreciated! |
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Posted: 8/10/2010 11:08:37 PM EDT
[#37]
Originally Posted By Barbara:
I may take you up on that. Let me open up the hives this weekend if its cooler and see what's what. Thanks for all your help..very, very much appreciated! You mentioned them being a little difficult above. That is normal as soon as the heavy nectar season is over (around the Fourth of July here). Just use a little more smoke––smoke the entrance, then crack the cover and blow a little smoke inside. Remove the cover, then smoke across the top bars. That should do it.
IM me anytime and then you can call any time you need help.
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Posted: 8/11/2010 9:22:49 AM EDT
[#38]
Sorry to hear about your second hive Barb
Like many others here I greatly enjoyed watching your videos, and I really appreciated all of the questions and answers provided in this thread. Beekeeping is a dream of mine, and this thread continues to be inspirational. My wife and daughter really enjoyed watching Barb's Bees™ as well
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Posted: 8/11/2010 9:28:34 AM EDT
[#39]
Keep up the fight Barb.
Watching this thread is like keeping up with a soap opera.  |
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Posted: 9/17/2010 5:49:01 PM EDT
[#40]
Any news??
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Posted: 9/17/2010 8:14:07 PM EDT
[#41]
I combined the two hives almost two weeks ago. Haven't opened it up since but will do on Sunday. Will let you know but they still seem busy so I take it that's a good sign.
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Posted: 9/17/2010 8:45:12 PM EDT
[#42]
Originally Posted By Barbara:
I combined the two hives almost two weeks ago. Haven't opened it up since but will do on Sunday. Will let you know but they still seem busy so I take it that's a good sign. Time to feed now.
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Posted: 9/17/2010 9:10:28 PM EDT
[#43]
What do you recommend? I've been giving them sugar water and they drink it up..is there something else?
Do they like pancakes? I'll make extras.
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Posted: 9/17/2010 9:24:48 PM EDT
[#44]
Originally Posted By Barbara:
What do you recommend? I've been giving them sugar water and they drink it up..is there something else? Do they like pancakes? I'll make extras. You use an entrance feeder (second best) or, ideally, feed inside of a deep hive body. To do this you add an empty hive body and invert several half gallon canning jars of sugar water. Make sure you mix the sugar right––2 parts sugar to one part water––heated and stirred in well. A weak solution is worthless. You should feed at least two gallons per colony. If the hive isn't too heavy to lift off the stand (the back half, not the whole hive) by the middle of October they don't have a chance of surviving.
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