Okay I'll start the beekeeping thread (Page 150 of 154)
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Originally Posted By shooter_gregg: Did this come on suddenly or over time? |
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Originally Posted By shooter_gregg: Did this come on suddenly or over time? They started out on the meaner side. Thought it may have been from possibly being queenless and being messed with in a short period of time. Haven’t messed with them in about a month and they came after me with a vengeance yesterday and I was about 30 yards from them. Currently look like my wife hit me in the side of the head with a skillet with my eye swollen almost shut. Was going to see how their temperament did through the season, and requeen next season if it didn’t change. Yesterday has me wanting to go ahead and requeen them. |
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Originally Posted By runs_with_scissors: They started out on the meaner side. Thought it may have been from possibly being queenless and being messed with in a short period of time. Haven’t messed with them in about a month and they came after me with a vengeance yesterday and I was about 30 yards from them. Currently look like my wife hit me in the side of the head with a skillet with my eye swollen almost shut. Was going to see how their temperament did through the season, and requeen next season if it didn’t change. Yesterday has me wanting to go ahead and requeen them. I have had success on eliminating the bad genetics by requeening. If you really want to do it right look for someone that does "temperament testing". No need to pass on more bad genetics. The hives tamed down quickly and the land owner noticed a difference quickly. |
A Nation of Sheep Breeds a Government of Wolves!!!
| I got in contact with a gentleman that raises queens about an hour away. He has some queens coming in next week that he’s going to use in his breeding program. Said they are coming from a very gentle group from out of state. Would be willing to sell me two of them if I didn’t want to wait until next season. He’s way over my head on what he’s trying to do genetics wise. Noticed the same hives flying crazy like they were fighting something on the way home. Went and checked them since it wasn’t late and didn’t look like it was going to rain until tomorrow. They were dragging the drones out of the hive and attacking them. Waiting on a couple experienced keepers nearby to return my phone call. As I was under the impression that is a fall time behavior for my area. Only went into one of the hives and was about out of dry pine straw for my smoker when I got to the last 3 frames. Didn’t see anything out of the ordinary in it. Seemed to have plenty of eggs and larvae. Good bit of honey and had made what I felt was good progress on the new frames. If we miss the rain we are supposed to get tomorrow I’ll find something dry for the smoker and check the other hive. Curious if something is going on that I’m not aware of, and still new. |
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When you know a queen is coming, about a week before she gets there, kill the old queen. Then open the hive about three days later. Kill any queen cells you find. Be thorough. I had a feral hive that hid queen cells everywhere. The day your new queen arrives, don't install her yet. Do another inspection of the hive. Make sure there are no queen cells and make sure there are no new eggs. If there are new eggs you missed something or have a laying worker (unlikely). Once they are truly queenless, open your hive. Set the queen cage on the frames and let them find her. Do they look mad and trying to sting her? Are they trying to tend her? Try pushing a few bees around on the cage. If they are trying to kill her, they will fight being moved off the cage. If they like her, put her between the frames and let them get her out. Make sure the candy plug is accessible to them. Check back in a day or two. If she is still inside, release her. Bees don't always get her out. |
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I checked my hive yesterday for the first time since last year. It didn't look real healthy. I found no brood chambers, a little honey (perhaps 3 full frames worth), never spotted a queen. The population seemed to be a bit low, too. And the wax all seemed to be dark brown. I'm thinking of getting a new queen. Reasoning is that if there's no queen, she should start laying right away; if there is a queen, the extra would die off. But other than a couple of queen chambers i saw no sign of brood at all. This was a 'gift hive.' After I hurt my hip I wasn't able to care for the old hive properly and it died during a cold winter. This was 2-3 years ago; the boxes have been dormant since. Last spring my son came in and said "There are bees in the hive now!" So I fed them plenty of sugar syrup during the summer and fall, fed the commercial bee food over the winter (Hive Alive, 2 pouches worth) and wrapped the hive in the winter; they seem to have survived. So what say you? I consider this hive to be sort of a gift. ETA The hive currently has one active super and an empty one. |
"The Creator may be seen in all the works of his hands, but none so clearly in the wise economy of the honey bee."
87% of the time, any question starting with "Why..." is answered with "Money."
87% of the time, any question starting with "Why..." is answered with "Money."
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| Also: I discovered that I got a queen excluder with my first hive. How do they get through the narrow openings? Seems that the openings are too small. |
"The Creator may be seen in all the works of his hands, but none so clearly in the wise economy of the honey bee."
87% of the time, any question starting with "Why..." is answered with "Money."
87% of the time, any question starting with "Why..." is answered with "Money."
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Originally Posted By shooter_gregg: Has anyone heard from Kitties lately? I'm here. I was AWOL for a good while but I'm back. Thank you for asking. 
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Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
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Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: I'm here. I was AWOL for a good while but I'm back. Thank you for asking. Your presence was missed young lady... So much so that LA is now in chaos and currently burning... You are not permitted to leave again without permission... 
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A Nation of Sheep Breeds a Government of Wolves!!!
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Originally Posted By DUX4LIFE: Your presence was missed young lady... So much so that LA is now in chaos and currently burning... You are not permitted to leave again without permission... 
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Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
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@DUX4LIFE I've been listening to a guy talking about more sustainable beekeeping (immersing myself in permaculture study as a larger project) and he is using a horizontal hive. I haven't figured out how it works yet but as I consider starting again, I've got to consider my age and my back. Just beginning my look into this, though I've seen several folks on here talk about it. Have you heard any talks/seen anything interesting in your travels to conferences and events? Looking for resources for learning. |
Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
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Horizontal hives, at least 3 designs out there. Single deep horizontal, double deep, and layens. In my experience, I'm not sure the single deep is really sustainable here in southern Wisconsin. I stopped using those. Layens-in my opinion, I'd say my latitude is around the north most one can use these. Just my opinion though. Plus you need a different extractor. Or rather, a bigger one. Double deep: probably a great option for someone with lots of langstroth gear. Cut the ears off the lower frame, use a metal joiner to attach it to a regular lang frame, and there you go. You can use a regular lang extractor too, just remove the clip. I haven't used one yet, but I've got the parts cut out for one |
"You know how butt ugly people are said to have hit every branch on the way down the ugly tree.
Well, the dumbass tree done drilled you in the butt and laid eggs in ya." -RJinks
Well, the dumbass tree done drilled you in the butt and laid eggs in ya." -RJinks
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Originally Posted By rcav8r: Horizontal hives, at least 3 designs out there. Single deep horizontal, double deep, and layens. In my experience, I'm not sure the single deep is really sustainable here in southern Wisconsin. I stopped using those. Layens-in my opinion, I'd say my latitude is around the north most one can use these. Just my opinion though. Plus you need a different extractor. Or rather, a bigger one. Double deep: probably a great option for someone with lots of langstroth gear. Cut the ears off the lower frame, use a metal joiner to attach it to a regular lang frame, and there you go. You can use a regular lang extractor too, just remove the clip. I haven't used one yet, but I've got the parts cut out for one Interesting. I've given away most of my gear but could get some of it back if it makes sense to do so. I admit that I haven't looked enough to understand how the horizontal hives get expanded. I mean I know you can divide off the space so the hive expands to the full box as it grows, and being able to expand only a frame or two is a great benefit I'd say, but once the horizontal box gets full, you have to split? That might be okay. The old days of 13 lang boxes stacked up don't seem practical to me now anyway. ETA: @rCAV8r are you running horizontal hives? Any photos in here of your setups? Ive been so in and out for the past while that I've likely missed some good stuff. |
Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
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Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: @DUX4LIFE I've been listening to a guy talking about more sustainable beekeeping (immersing myself in permaculture study as a larger project) and he is using a horizontal hive. I haven't figured out how it works yet but as I consider starting again, I've got to consider my age and my back. Just beginning my look into this, though I've seen several folks on here talk about it. Have you heard any talks/seen anything interesting in your travels to conferences and events? Looking for resources for learning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd6Bfiz3Guw https://www.horizontalhive.com/email-website-sharashkin/dr-leonid-sharashkin.shtml |
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I tried horizontals for 1 year, didn't like them. Some folks will go through the trouble to make supers and partial roofs to expand upwards like a normal lang, but I thought that kinda defeats the purpose. I have 5 layens hives, plus the langstroth. 4 of them died, plus all the langstroth. Some because I had to move them (long story), some because mites/disease. 1 surviving hive out of 13. I'm back up to 5 now. Anyway, the hive space is controlled by divider boards. You simply move the board when you add frames. When they get full? Hopefully some are capped. If not, store some in a sealed tub, give them back later or use with splits. Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: Interesting. I've given away most of my gear but could get some of it back if it makes sense to do so. I admit that I haven't looked enough to understand how the horizontal hives get expanded. I mean I know you can divide off the space so the hive expands to the full box as it grows, and being able to expand only a frame or two is a great benefit I'd say, but once the horizontal box gets full, you have to split? That might be okay. The old days of 13 lang boxes stacked up don't seem practical to me now anyway. ETA: @rCAV8r are you running horizontal hives? Any photos in here of your setups? Ive been so in and out for the past while that I've likely missed some good stuff. |
"You know how butt ugly people are said to have hit every branch on the way down the ugly tree.
Well, the dumbass tree done drilled you in the butt and laid eggs in ya." -RJinks
Well, the dumbass tree done drilled you in the butt and laid eggs in ya." -RJinks
|
Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: @DUX4LIFE I've been listening to a guy talking about more sustainable beekeeping (immersing myself in permaculture study as a larger project) and he is using a horizontal hive. I haven't figured out how it works yet but as I consider starting again, I've got to consider my age and my back. Just beginning my look into this, though I've seen several folks on here talk about it. Have you heard any talks/seen anything interesting in your travels to conferences and events? Looking for resources for learning. I am in the process of building a Long Langstroth hive for a customer. My experience has been failure of this design. I have talked to several first hand beekeepers that have tried several different designs and not one has had success with this type of hive (St Louis Climate area). Many years ago I did build a long langstroth hive but it was set up as a double queen hive and did allow for additional boxes/supers to be added on top. I posted it on this page way back when. I didn't have a lot of time back then and life interfered so It bot put in the timber and not heard from again. I may revive it down the road. Anyway, The shortcomings I see are that heat rises and it is difficult for the bees to heat horizontally and not vertically. The one I am building has 1.5" of foam on all 6 sides along with a hinged lid. It tool me more time to design a hinge system and cut the stupid entrances that I promised than to build the hive. I can post some pics when I get it done. I explained the shortcomings to him along with some "theoretical" pro's for what I designed. In my humble opinion don't do this unless you are reasonably successful in overwintering langstroth hives regularly. |
A Nation of Sheep Breeds a Government of Wolves!!!
| I have a bottling machine from vevor. I get my bottles off Amazon. They have the induction seals. I also have the vevor induction sealer. Ordering labels can be ordered on Amazon with the labels preprinted. I am debating on an original design so I don't look like everyone else's labels. |
I live in the country because monsters are attracted to cities.
Ego is the anesthesia that deadens stupidity.
Ego is the anesthesia that deadens stupidity.
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Originally Posted By killingmachine123: What are you guys using for bottling honey which you'll sell? What about stuff you're storing for yourself? This is my first year actually getting some honey, and I apparently haven't thought this far ahead. Last year, I got about 360# of honey, and I upped my game to include glass bottles and 5# jugs. Plastic and glass are 1 and 2# sizes. I actually cut my prices cause I have so much honey on hand and a small market. Don't forget about extraction equipment. |
"You know how butt ugly people are said to have hit every branch on the way down the ugly tree.
Well, the dumbass tree done drilled you in the butt and laid eggs in ya." -RJinks
Well, the dumbass tree done drilled you in the butt and laid eggs in ya." -RJinks
|
Originally Posted By killingmachine123: Thanks for the tips on jars. I have an extractor on the way. I need to dig into this jar filling business more. I like the idea of a jar filler... Just remember, honey is sold by weight, not size. I get my jars and stuff from dadant. They have a store just over an hour from me. Here's my process: I use a scratcher rather than a knife, as the comb heights vary so much. I do the scratching over a bucket, using platform that fits on the bucket edge, with a notch that holds the frame. I then put the frame in the extractor until I've filled all the slots. Spin all the honey out from both sides-i may switch the frames around for better balance if the extractor shakes a lot. I drain the honey from extractor to a bucket, no screens at this time. When bucket is full, I put a lid on it and set it aside and move onto the next bucket. I let the buckets sit overnight. The reason for this is the bits of wax and stuff will float to the top. I use a cooking strainer with a handle to then skim off as much of the wax as possible, and put it in the bucket I used for the scratching. Make sure the 2 buckets are next to each other cause that strainer will drip. You are not straining the honey with it though, it's basically a giant scoop (I found my strainer at a flea market. It's big, and more importantly, it doesn't have hanging hooks on the rim). Then I pour what left of the honey bucket through a regular honey strainer into another bucket, with a honey gate on it. I then bottle from that bucket. Put it on the counter so the honey gate overhanging the edge, and fill bottles by hand. Then I get to the bucket(s) with the wax cappings. Pour that into the honey gate bucket with the honey strainer. The downside is that the strainer may fill up fast with the cappings, and slow things down. You can either clean it out (put the cappings in yet another bucket with strainer and let the honey drip out in its own good time, or just try to "make a hole" in the cappings in the strainer.) My method probably sounds more complex, but I don't want to buy professional equipment, but I have a lot to process by hand. |
"You know how butt ugly people are said to have hit every branch on the way down the ugly tree.
Well, the dumbass tree done drilled you in the butt and laid eggs in ya." -RJinks
Well, the dumbass tree done drilled you in the butt and laid eggs in ya." -RJinks
|
Originally Posted By rcav8r: Just remember, honey is sold by weight, not size. I get my jars and stuff from dadant. They have a store just over an hour from me. Here's my process: I use a scratcher rather than a knife, as the comb heights vary so much. I do the scratching over a bucket, using platform that fits on the bucket edge, with a notch that holds the frame. I then put the frame in the extractor until I've filled all the slots. Spin all the honey out from both sides-i may switch the frames around for better balance if the extractor shakes a lot. I drain the honey from extractor to a bucket, no screens at this time. When bucket is full, I put a lid on it and set it aside and move onto the next bucket. I let the buckets sit overnight. The reason for this is the bits of wax and stuff will float to the top. I use a cooking strainer with a handle to then skim off as much of the wax as possible, and put it in the bucket I used for the scratching. Make sure the 2 buckets are next to each other cause that strainer will drip. You are not straining the honey with it though, it's basically a giant scoop (I found my strainer at a flea market. It's big, and more importantly, it doesn't have hanging hooks on the rim). Then I pour what left of the honey bucket through a regular honey strainer into another bucket, with a honey gate on it. I then bottle from that bucket. Put it on the counter so the honey gate overhanging the edge, and fill bottles by hand. Then I get to the bucket(s) with the wax cappings. Pour that into the honey gate bucket with the honey strainer. The downside is that the strainer may fill up fast with the cappings, and slow things down. You can either clean it out (put the cappings in yet another bucket with strainer and let the honey drip out in its own good time, or just try to "make a hole" in the cappings in the strainer.) My method probably sounds more complex, but I don't want to buy professional equipment, but I have a lot to process by hand. Originally Posted By rcav8r: Originally Posted By killingmachine123: Thanks for the tips on jars. I have an extractor on the way. I need to dig into this jar filling business more. I like the idea of a jar filler... Just remember, honey is sold by weight, not size. I get my jars and stuff from dadant. They have a store just over an hour from me. Here's my process: I use a scratcher rather than a knife, as the comb heights vary so much. I do the scratching over a bucket, using platform that fits on the bucket edge, with a notch that holds the frame. I then put the frame in the extractor until I've filled all the slots. Spin all the honey out from both sides-i may switch the frames around for better balance if the extractor shakes a lot. I drain the honey from extractor to a bucket, no screens at this time. When bucket is full, I put a lid on it and set it aside and move onto the next bucket. I let the buckets sit overnight. The reason for this is the bits of wax and stuff will float to the top. I use a cooking strainer with a handle to then skim off as much of the wax as possible, and put it in the bucket I used for the scratching. Make sure the 2 buckets are next to each other cause that strainer will drip. You are not straining the honey with it though, it's basically a giant scoop (I found my strainer at a flea market. It's big, and more importantly, it doesn't have hanging hooks on the rim). Then I pour what left of the honey bucket through a regular honey strainer into another bucket, with a honey gate on it. I then bottle from that bucket. Put it on the counter so the honey gate overhanging the edge, and fill bottles by hand. Then I get to the bucket(s) with the wax cappings. Pour that into the honey gate bucket with the honey strainer. The downside is that the strainer may fill up fast with the cappings, and slow things down. You can either clean it out (put the cappings in yet another bucket with strainer and let the honey drip out in its own good time, or just try to "make a hole" in the cappings in the strainer.) My method probably sounds more complex, but I don't want to buy professional equipment, but I have a lot to process by hand. Thanks for that detailed description. I'll need to come up with some space in my basement to do all of this. I'll also need a bucket with a honey gate on it, now that you mention it. |
| You don't have to do it my way. If you've got just one or 2 hives, you could drain from extractor to bucket with honey gate and the honey strainer. |
"You know how butt ugly people are said to have hit every branch on the way down the ugly tree.
Well, the dumbass tree done drilled you in the butt and laid eggs in ya." -RJinks
Well, the dumbass tree done drilled you in the butt and laid eggs in ya." -RJinks
|
This is what I have. Bottling machine . It is accurate to about 3grams. You can get a better deal going to Vevor's website. It is light weight and easy to set up. |
I live in the country because monsters are attracted to cities.
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Originally Posted By DUX4LIFE: I am in the process of building a Long Langstroth hive for a customer. My experience has been failure of this design. I have talked to several first hand beekeepers that have tried several different designs and not one has had success with this type of hive (St Louis Climate area). Many years ago I did build a long langstroth hive but it was set up as a double queen hive and did allow for additional boxes/supers to be added on top. I posted it on this page way back when. I didn't have a lot of time back then and life interfered so It bot put in the timber and not heard from again. I may revive it down the road. Anyway, The shortcomings I see are that heat rises and it is difficult for the bees to heat horizontally and not vertically. The one I am building has 1.5" of foam on all 6 sides along with a hinged lid. It tool me more time to design a hinge system and cut the stupid entrances that I promised than to build the hive. I can post some pics when I get it done. I explained the shortcomings to him along with some "theoretical" pro's for what I designed. In my humble opinion don't do this unless you are reasonably successful in overwintering langstroth hives regularly. Good advice! Thank you! I'm going to get the guy's books I think but I may just try applying his practices to lang hives with all mediums. God willing, I will never lift a deep body again. (I used to have an extra deep box that I kept on my little beekeeping wagon. I just moved all the frames out of the deep boxes so I could more easily lift them during inspections anyway) But I'm trying to be open about different methods that might make me more likely to be successful when I start again. |
Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
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Originally Posted By killingmachine123: Thanks for that detailed description. I'll need to come up with some space in my basement to do all of this. I'll also need a bucket with a honey gate on it, now that you mention it. I have Five words for you. Rolled Plastic Tape Shoe Covers Buy a roll of 6 mil plastic. cover your basement floor with it. Tape it down at the edges. You WILL drip honey. It is not possible to do this without dripping honey. No matter how careful you are, you will drip honey. You will step in the drips. Because you won't know you've dripped. You will track sticky honey all over your home. You will spend days cursing and cleaning and failing to get all the sticky off your floors. A box of cheap paper shoe covers will be your best friend cuz you will have to pee at some point. Which means walking outside your plastic-covered area. I was fortunate to have good mentors who told me to do these things when I first extracted. I blew off the plastic floor covering one year. I paid the price. I will never blow off the plastic again. There is no sticky like honey. |
Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
|
Thanks for the tips. I'll order that up now, as I can see how it's clearly a great idea. My tip for everyone is that one should never get Loctite near acrylic. I thought that since honey extractors are surely going to vibrate that I should put a little Loctite on the screws which hold on the lid. I had this thought after I gently put them together, so I used some green Loctite to wick into the threads. Unfortunately, it wicked behind the flange and touched the acrylic. That caused the acrylic to shatter with no help from we in the 5 minutes I walked away to put up my tools. I was sorely disappointed and I'm now working with the vendor to get some new lid pieces. Good times. |
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Anyone used these to get rid of extractor wobble? Pricey but if it works.......... HillCo Spring Foot Assembly Video at the link. |
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Originally Posted By Gourami: Anyone used these to get rid of extractor wobble? Pricey but if it works.......... HillCo Spring Foot Assembly Video at the link. I doubt it would work that well for me. However, this reminds me of the method by which Speed Queen isolates their washers. It's different than this and reportedly much better. It's also something I could weld up pretty easily, and I bet the springs would be good to go. I'm thinking the water would weigh more than most all the honey a guy could fit in an extractor.  2018 Speed Queen Top Load Washers - Out of Balance Explained by Engineers |
| Well my bees have made it longer than my first go around a few years ago. Seem to be going strong and calmed down some. Last couple times I’ve mowed the area around them they weren’t even phased by me being there. Didn’t come after me even when running the weed eater around the hives. So I guess I’m not going to requeen them after all. |
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Originally Posted By killingmachine123: I doubt it would work that well for me. However, this reminds me of the method by which Speed Queen isolates their washers. It's different than this and reportedly much better. It's also something I could weld up pretty easily, and I bet the springs would be good to go. I'm thinking the water would weigh more than most all the honey a guy could fit in an extractor.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1Ayfzk5e48I haven't watched the video yet but I did just buy a Speed Queen washer (after three cheaper washers in ten years) and I can confirm that it is not only a life changer, but it does not walk or rock or anything. It's amazing. |
Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
| Thanks to all for the tips regarding the honey extraction. I learned a lot of lessons in the process. The plastic on the floor and the shoe covers were life savers to say the least. Even more so in that a 7 year old and a 10 year old were helping to spearhead the process. |
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Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: How did you do? Pics?  |
| This lack of pictures seems to be a reoccurring theme with me. I wish I had a camera with me today, as the creek which runs by my apiary was a butterfly garden today. The variety and overall number of them was incredible. It was such a gorgeous day. I just filled the top feeders and only received two or three stings for my efforts. I love this hobby. |
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Originally Posted By killingmachine123: This lack of pictures seems to be a reoccurring theme with me. I wish I had a camera with me today, as the creek which runs by my apiary was a butterfly garden today. The variety and overall number of them was incredible. It was such a gorgeous day. I just filled the top feeders and only received two or three stings for my efforts. I love this hobby. Are you not wedded to a cell phone like the rest of us?
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Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
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Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: Are you not wedded to a cell phone like the rest of us? Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: Originally Posted By killingmachine123: This lack of pictures seems to be a reoccurring theme with me. I wish I had a camera with me today, as the creek which runs by my apiary was a butterfly garden today. The variety and overall number of them was incredible. It was such a gorgeous day. I just filled the top feeders and only received two or three stings for my efforts. I love this hobby. Are you not wedded to a cell phone like the rest of us? |
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Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: I have Five words for you. Rolled Plastic Tape Shoe Covers Buy a roll of 6 mil plastic. cover your basement floor with it. Tape it down at the edges. You WILL drip honey. It is not possible to do this without dripping honey. No matter how careful you are, you will drip honey. You will step in the drips. Because you won't know you've dripped. You will track sticky honey all over your home. You will spend days cursing and cleaning and failing to get all the sticky off your floors. A box of cheap paper shoe covers will be your best friend cuz you will have to pee at some point. Which means walking outside your plastic-covered area. I was fortunate to have good mentors who told me to do these things when I first extracted. I blew off the plastic floor covering one year. I paid the price. I will never blow off the plastic again. There is no sticky like honey. I have something better at cleaning up honey drips. Just make sure anything you do in your basement or area you work in isn’t carpeted . It is a dog. He will clean up every drop of honey on the floor. And he will attempt to clean up the frames too, taking a big chomp out of the comb. This was a rough year for my bees. I lost two hives over the summer. Absconded I believe The fist hive I lost earlier in the summer was completely empty. Any honey they left got cleaned out by robbers Then within the last two weeks, based on some uncapped brood on a couple frames, another nearly all left. Only a handful of dead bees on the bottom board. I put those frames plus any that had honey and pollen stored on them in another hive that I made a split, and only had one deep. It was a very hot summer. Lots of rain early but hot, then a dry hot late July and august. But so far lots of knotweed blooming, and seems like the goldenrod is blooming early. I have four hives left. They seem to be doing well. I just put formic pro pads inside this weekend. It was way too hot to do that until maybe two weekends ago. |
Born with a low tolerance for bullshit
Joined:
Feb 2007
Posts:
53262
EE: 0% (0)
KY, USA
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Originally Posted By killingmachine123: I don't own a phone, or a car made in this millennium. It's very freeing, though I feel time has passed me by. Due to the nature of my work, and the fact that I've been relatively blessed genetically, I'm stuck in a perpetual youth which also dulls the passing of time. I hope I can pack in everything I'd like to accomplish before I sign off. Getting a large amount of honey out of some hives is high up on that list, as I've wanted to do it for years. We'll see if next year is the year. That's very cool. I would like to say "do a youtube channel about not having a phone and being free of all that." But then you'd be wedded to THAT, so.... I do suggest getting a little action video camera of some kind. You can carry it with you, grab screen shots from the video, and share some of your amazing, unusual life with folks like us.
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Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Born with a low tolerance for bullshit
Joined:
Feb 2007
Posts:
53263
EE: 0% (0)
KY, USA
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Originally Posted By JQ66: I have something better at cleaning up honey drips. Just make sure anything you do in your basement or area you work in isn’t carpeted . It is a dog. He will clean up every drop of honey on the floor. And he will attempt to clean up the frames too, taking a big chomp out of the comb. This was a rough year for my bees. I lost two hives over the summer. Absconded I believe The fist hive I lost earlier in the summer was completely empty. Any honey they left got cleaned out by robbers Then within the last two weeks, based on some uncapped brood on a couple frames, another nearly all left. Only a handful of dead bees on the bottom board. I put those frames plus any that had honey and pollen stored on them in another hive that I made a split, and only had one deep. It was a very hot summer. Lots of rain early but hot, then a dry hot late July and august. But so far lots of knotweed blooming, and seems like the goldenrod is blooming early. I have four hives left. They seem to be doing well. I just put formic pro pads inside this weekend. It was way too hot to do that until maybe two weekends ago. It's an odd year here. The walnut leaves should be falling fast and furious, but they are drifting down as they normally would in early August. Normally the big green walnuts would be hitting my roof like cannon fire. I've had two drop. So they are late. The goldenrod is about on time for here. It's not fully bloomed out yet but about to bloom. Lots of other things are behaving oddly. I blame the increased solar activity and the impending (already started) magnetic pole shift. That's going to eff up a lot of things. I'm not sure how to prepare for it, but it's concerning me. At some point, I fear electronic communication may go away for a very long time. For bees, bugs and plants that are all insanely sensitive to magnetic fields, I worry a lot. I don't know anybody who's lived through one of these, after all. 
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Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
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Decently made manual extractor that won't break the bank? My bee mentor let me use his, a Lyson Miodarka made in Poland, for my first-ever harvest last week. What an incredibly smooth stable operation THAT was! But then I looked at the pricing of them...ouch So, i don't want total junk obviously, something middle of the road maybe. And i don't need a huge one either. A 2/4 frame one would suit me fine. Thanks in advance for recommendations |
| Whichever one you get, make sure the drain port is flush with the bottom of the tank. The first one i got was a cheapo with a plastic drive handle and gear train. The drain was above the tank floor. |
I live in the country because monsters are attracted to cities.
Ego is the anesthesia that deadens stupidity.
Ego is the anesthesia that deadens stupidity.
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Originally Posted By shooter_gregg: Whichever one you get, make sure the drain port is flush with the bottom of the tank. The first one i got was a cheapo with a plastic drive handle and gear train. The drain was above the tank floor. Oh wow, that doesn't sound ideal |
