Okay I'll start the beekeeping thread (Page 151 of 154)
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I got moths for the first time in 8 years this year. Deadout hive from last year, I thought the 6 frames I left were bare, but I was apparently wrong. |
"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 fttam: Sigh. What a mess. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/287916/IMG_3119-3637129.jpg https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/287916/IMG_3118-3637130.jpg Are you going to burn frames and all? Or try to clean them? |
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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i hope to get into bee keeping at some point. so i follow this thread. i hope it's ok to post a link to this team thread. it has a video of a bee removal. https://www.ar15.com/forums/General/HUGE-underground-beehive-in-my-sister-s-backyard-/75-2820858/ |
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Originally Posted By brahm: i hope to get into bee keeping at some point. so i follow this thread. i hope it's ok to post a link to this team thread. it has a video of a bee removal. https://www.ar15.com/forums/General/HUGE-underground-beehive-in-my-sister-s-backyard-/75-2820858/ I will check it out! It would be very unusual for honeybees to be in the ground, but I no longer say never to anything the way the world has spun sideways recently. 
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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 killingmachine123: That's great. It's not for everyone, but so far, it has certainly been for me. Originally Posted By killingmachine123: Originally Posted By Brundoggie: I just signed up for bee school. The property I bought here in NC had a couple of old hives in somewhat crappy condition and about four that were totally rotted out. I cleaned up and restored the one good hive and ended up building a couple of replacement frames so now it is GTG but I need some knowledge as to what to do next. |
an event "of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,"
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Originally Posted By Brundoggie: The property I bought here in NC had a couple of old hives in somewhat crappy condition and about four that were totally rotted out. I cleaned up and restored the one good hive and ended up building a couple of replacement frames so now it is GTG but I need some knowledge as to what to do next. Originally Posted By Brundoggie: Originally Posted By killingmachine123: Originally Posted By Brundoggie: I just signed up for bee school. The property I bought here in NC had a couple of old hives in somewhat crappy condition and about four that were totally rotted out. I cleaned up and restored the one good hive and ended up building a couple of replacement frames so now it is GTG but I need some knowledge as to what to do next. |
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Originally Posted By killingmachine123: If you haven't already, you'll want to contact a bee club in your area. That would be my first step. If there isn't one nearby, just order up some bees and hop on youtube. There's a ton of great info out there these days. Nothing beats the local guys though. I've learned a ton from my local club. Originally Posted By killingmachine123: Originally Posted By Brundoggie: Originally Posted By killingmachine123: Originally Posted By Brundoggie: I just signed up for bee school. The property I bought here in NC had a couple of old hives in somewhat crappy condition and about four that were totally rotted out. I cleaned up and restored the one good hive and ended up building a couple of replacement frames so now it is GTG but I need some knowledge as to what to do next. The local club is the one conducting the bee school. |
an event "of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,"
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Originally Posted By Brundoggie: The local club is the one conducting the bee school. Originally Posted By Brundoggie: Originally Posted By killingmachine123: Originally Posted By Brundoggie: Originally Posted By killingmachine123: Originally Posted By Brundoggie: I just signed up for bee school. The property I bought here in NC had a couple of old hives in somewhat crappy condition and about four that were totally rotted out. I cleaned up and restored the one good hive and ended up building a couple of replacement frames so now it is GTG but I need some knowledge as to what to do next. The local club is the one conducting the bee school. Looks like you're going to be in great shape then. I'm very excited for the spring. Worst case scenario, I'll have four packages which I pick up. Most of my 7 hives were looking really good this past year though, so I'm hoping to have 8-10 out there this spring. I'll probably make a couple of splits and see how that goes too. |
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Originally Posted By killingmachine123: Looks like you're going to be in great shape then. I'm very excited for the spring. Worst case scenario, I'll have four packages which I pick up. Most of my 7 hives were looking really good this past year though, so I'm hoping to have 8-10 out there this spring. I'll probably make a couple of splits and see how that goes too. Originally Posted By killingmachine123: Originally Posted By Brundoggie: Originally Posted By killingmachine123: Originally Posted By Brundoggie: Originally Posted By killingmachine123: Originally Posted By Brundoggie: I just signed up for bee school. The property I bought here in NC had a couple of old hives in somewhat crappy condition and about four that were totally rotted out. I cleaned up and restored the one good hive and ended up building a couple of replacement frames so now it is GTG but I need some knowledge as to what to do next. The local club is the one conducting the bee school. Looks like you're going to be in great shape then. I'm very excited for the spring. Worst case scenario, I'll have four packages which I pick up. Most of my 7 hives were looking really good this past year though, so I'm hoping to have 8-10 out there this spring. I'll probably make a couple of splits and see how that goes too. Yeah, I'm really excited about this. I currently have zero knowledge about beekeeping and it will be fun to learn a new hobby. |
an event "of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,"
| Went and added a piece of foam insulation above the inner cover in 35 of my hives today. Gonna get cold again this weekend so no more procrastinating. Everything that was alive last fall is still buzzing. Tomorrow the next 35 hives. Found 5 that are short on food. will add candy boards and sugar. Added a partial super that one of the overachiever hives had that they would not need. I call it honeybee welfare! |
A Nation of Sheep Breeds a Government of Wolves!!!
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Originally Posted By DUX4LIFE: Went and added a piece of foam insulation above the inner cover in 35 of my hives today. Gonna get cold again this weekend so no more procrastinating. Everything that was alive last fall is still buzzing. Tomorrow the next 35 hives. Found 5 that are short on food. will add candy boards and sugar. Added a partial super that one of the overachiever hives had that they would not need. I call it honeybee welfare! |
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Originally Posted By killingmachine123: Wow. That's a lot of hives. I made some Burns style feeder boards, but mine use 1 or 1.5" insulation on the top and they're thick enough on the side that I put 10lbs of sugar in each one for the candy. They last pretty well all winter, but it's a hassle, and I worry about the candy coming loose and falling on a queen. We'll see how it works out in the long run. One thing for sure is that the insulation won't hurt. When I cut a deep down to a medium I am left with a 2 3/4" rim. I remove a 1/4" "rim" from this and add 1/2" mesh, then reattach the 1/4" Rim. This allows me to make and add "sugar blocks or cakes" as needed. Can't come off of the screen and smash anyone as it sits on top of the mesh. The bees can crawl through as needed. |
A Nation of Sheep Breeds a Government of Wolves!!!
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Originally Posted By DUX4LIFE: When I cut a deep down to a medium I am left with a 2 3/4" rim. I remove a 1/4" "rim" from this and add 1/2" mesh, then reattach the 1/4" Rim. This allows me to make and add "sugar blocks or cakes" as needed. Can't come off of the screen and smash anyone as it sits on top of the mesh. The bees can crawl through as needed. Originally Posted By DUX4LIFE: Originally Posted By killingmachine123: Wow. That's a lot of hives. I made some Burns style feeder boards, but mine use 1 or 1.5" insulation on the top and they're thick enough on the side that I put 10lbs of sugar in each one for the candy. They last pretty well all winter, but it's a hassle, and I worry about the candy coming loose and falling on a queen. We'll see how it works out in the long run. One thing for sure is that the insulation won't hurt. When I cut a deep down to a medium I am left with a 2 3/4" rim. I remove a 1/4" "rim" from this and add 1/2" mesh, then reattach the 1/4" Rim. This allows me to make and add "sugar blocks or cakes" as needed. Can't come off of the screen and smash anyone as it sits on top of the mesh. The bees can crawl through as needed. |
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Originally Posted By rcav8r: Anyone going to the Midwest honey bee expo? *It's today and tomorrow, Feb 6 & 7 *It's in Madison WI *HERE'S a website for the event |
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Originally Posted By killingmachine123: I've thought about putting some sort of a structure in the feeder which would mechanically lock the candy in place in large enough chunks that there won't be a huge piece to kill everyone if it all lets go, but small enough that it can flow in there easily. Mesh could be the ticket. |
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OK, had the first bee class on Monday and today I drove to Wilkesboro and bought $500 worth of stuff from these guys-> Miller Bee Supply I bought a deluxe beginner kit and 2 additional medium supers. All are unassembled cuz half the fun is building it yourself. The boxes will be easy, the frames are gonna suck. Great folks and I completely recommend them. |
an event "of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,"
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It was warm enough here today, and sunny, for me to see how my bees fared over this really frigid winter. Three out of four made it. I was surprised by the one that did not, it seemed to be really strong when i last checked on them, I guess it was late October or early November . They had lots of honey stored, plus I gave them a feeder board on top with several pounds of sugar and winter pollen patties. There was a bunch on the stoop, dead, some up on the feeder board. I did that want to take too much time on this one since it was the first one I opened up, but it looked and felt like (heavy) there was a lot of honey on the top deep box. They must have died off some time ago given theyreally didnt get into any of the sugar or pollen patties The other three seemed to be in very good shape. I gave them more winter feed patties. One of them had eaten most of what I put in plus a lot of the sugar, and even ate the paper that I pour the sugar on (it absorbs water and the sugar will make like a rock candy.) So while we all hope for 100% to make it through the winter, 3/4 is not bad considering how cold and very windy it got in December and January. I put a tarp wall alround the hive area, and each hive I put the 2" foam insulation board around (a bungee keeps that together), and a foam sheet on the top telescoping cover, plus the feed board and a blanket type board. |
| I was wrong, building the frames isn't that bad except I was shorted two sides for the deep and had to make my own. I used one of the factory cut sides to make a template and cranked them out on my router tables. All boxes are built plus the 10 frames for the deep and I'll knock out the frames for the supers tomorrow. Next bee class is Monday evening. |
an event "of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,"
| As of yesterday both of my hives have made it so far. I saw them bringing in pollen yesterday and noticed that my neighbor's silver maple tree is blooming. Last year I harvested 4.5 gallons of honey from those two hives. I had three hives but one of them swarmed back in June after a split. |
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Originally Posted By Brundoggie: OK, had the first bee class on Monday and today I drove to Wilkesboro and bought $500 worth of stuff from these guys-> Miller Bee Supply I bought a deluxe beginner kit and 2 additional medium supers. All are unassembled cuz half the fun is building it yourself. The boxes will be easy, the frames are gonna suck. Great folks and I completely recommend them. Did they sell you the frame assembly jig thingy? |
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 mountainsurvivor: As of yesterday both of my hives have made it so far. I saw them bringing in pollen yesterday and noticed that my neighbor's silver maple tree is blooming. Last year I harvested 4.5 gallons of honey from those two hives. I had three hives but one of them swarmed back in June after a split. I keep watching the treetops, waiting for that flush of red that signals budding, but so far they're not putting out. I'm glad. I'm worried we'll get another awful blast of arctic air. |
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: Did they sell you the frame assembly jig thingy? Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: Originally Posted By Brundoggie: OK, had the first bee class on Monday and today I drove to Wilkesboro and bought $500 worth of stuff from these guys-> Miller Bee Supply I bought a deluxe beginner kit and 2 additional medium supers. All are unassembled cuz half the fun is building it yourself. The boxes will be easy, the frames are gonna suck. Great folks and I completely recommend them. Did they sell you the frame assembly jig thingy? No, I didn't see the need for it. Frame assembly wasn't that bad and once I figured out the technique I was able to crank them out pretty quickly. |
an event "of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,"
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All 7 of my hives are alive and well. I will need to get 4 more to house the packages I've ordered up if they make it the next month or so. We'll see. ETA: Do you guys make your own hives, or suck it up and pay for them? I'll need more at this rate and don't want to keep shelling out a ton of money each year on the hives. I'm hoping to get it up to about 20-30 hives total by the time I'm at what I consider to be full capacity. |
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I make everything but the frames. I have an incra finger/box joint jig that I use on my table saw with a dado stack. I buy 1x pine from a local home center / hardware store. Sometimes the selection is really poor and lots of sorting through the racks are needed. I buy the unassembled frame kit packages from Mann Lake. The amish can make them so much cheaper and quicker than I can. So I just glue them and brad pin them together. |
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Originally Posted By killingmachine123: All 7 of my hives are alive and well. I will need to get 4 more to house the packages I've ordered up if they make it the next month or so. We'll see. ETA: Do you guys make your own hives, or suck it up and pay for them? I'll need more at this rate and don't want to keep shelling out a ton of money each year on the hives. I'm hoping to get it up to about 20-30 hives total by the time I'm at what I consider to be full capacity. I make'em... It's my retirement job... 
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A Nation of Sheep Breeds a Government of Wolves!!!
 Came home to this yesterday. Hive stand had sunk in the mud as we start to thaw out. Finally got enough lean that the hives fell off. I will need to add feet to the legs as there are just pipe currently. Both hives were still full of bees which was a good sign. Atleast it happened on a warm day. As long as I didn’t accidentally squish queen putting it all back together I think they will survive |
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Originally Posted By kubota82: https://i.postimg.cc/BvLNdXHq/IMG-6030.jpg Came home to this yesterday. Hive stand had sunk in the mud as we start to thaw out. Finally got enough lean that the hives fell off. I will need to add feet to the legs as there are just pipe currently. Both hives were still full of bees which was a good sign. Atleast it happened on a warm day. As long as I didn’t accidentally squish queen putting it all back together I think they will survive I put a strap around the entire stack of boxes to keep them together as a unit should they fall over like this. It's not 100% but it is pretty close. You are lucky it wasn't raining or the results could have been fatal... I also am not a fan of concrete blocks for hive stands. They tend to move at different rates during the freeze/thaw cycle. |
A Nation of Sheep Breeds a Government of Wolves!!!
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Attached File I am making these stands for all of my Apiaries. The plan is to run a 2x4 under each hive and run the strap around the hive and 2x4 to keep it fastened to the hive. I plan to fill the main area between the 2x6's with lime or gravel so nothing grows inside and also the entire rack won't turn over in the wind. |
A Nation of Sheep Breeds a Government of Wolves!!!
| I wa every lucky that it was a nice day and didn’t happen the week before when it was single digits. I may run a strap around the whole thing as mentioned. Not sure I could lift the whole thing back up onto a stand but atleast they wouldn’t be exposed to the elements. |
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..approx 45 years ago, I learned about bees in Central Florida. Attached File With over 1000 hives it was not unsual to get stung 10 - 15 times a day (on a good day). One day I stopped counting at sting number 52.. Bees are cool. Respect is always there for the honey bee. |
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Originally Posted By 1st-Armored-Division: ..approx 45 years ago, I learned about bees in Central Florida. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/190821/118532931_3332732990098373_5741566875836-3717644.JPG With over 1000 hives it was not unsual to get stung 10 - 15 times a day (on a good day). One day I stopped counting at sting number 52.. Bees are cool. Respect is always there for the honey bee. |
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I was never that tough. I know some girls who work bees in shorts, tank top, flip flops and a bee veil for their faces. I ain't like them. 
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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
| Me either. Getting stung is one of the reasons I have no desire to start beekeeping. However, I'm subscribed to the thread because... maybe... |
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Bee class again tonite. Club is selling 3lb bee packages (w/ marked queen) the end of March so I will be submitting my order tonite. |
an event "of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,"
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Originally Posted By Brundoggie: Bee class again tonite. Club is selling 3lb bee packages (w/ marked queen) the end of March so I will be submitting my order tonite. What are they charging for a package this year? |
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 turtle2472: Me either. Getting stung is one of the reasons I have no desire to start beekeeping. However, I'm subscribed to the thread because... maybe... If you get a good bee suit and use it, you shouldn't get stung much. I mean, a honeybee sting hurts but it's nothing like a wasp sting. |
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: If you get a good bee suit and use it, you shouldn't get stung much. I mean, a honeybee sting hurts but it's nothing like a wasp sting. Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: Originally Posted By turtle2472: Me either. Getting stung is one of the reasons I have no desire to start beekeeping. However, I'm subscribed to the thread because... maybe... If you get a good bee suit and use it, you shouldn't get stung much. I mean, a honeybee sting hurts but it's nothing like a wasp sting. |
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Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: What are they charging for a package this year? Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: Originally Posted By Brundoggie: Bee class again tonite. Club is selling 3lb bee packages (w/ marked queen) the end of March so I will be submitting my order tonite. What are they charging for a package this year? $125 for club members. |
an event "of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,"
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I saw an ad on Nat Geo channel tonight that they will be running a "series" starting Mar 31 st, about bees. Looks like it should be pretty good, at least wrt the cinematography  Secrets of the Bees | Official Trailer | Narrated by Bertie Gregory | National Geographic |
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I'm really liking bee school and learning alot and feeling more confident in getting into this hobby. I spent the last two Saturdays in club member apiaries learning some hands on stuff and I gotta tell ya you can look at dozens of pictures but it isn't real until you hold the frames in your hands and see the real thing. We get our nucs/packages in two weeks and part of tonight's class was how to introduce them into your hive. I'm really stoked to get my bees. |
an event "of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,"
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This is a local (Pittsburgh area) news story. A couple weeks ago a commercial honey producer lost fifty hives due to arson. The location of the hives was out near the OH PA state line near Midland or Shippingport PA https://www.observer-reporter.com/editors_pick/2026/mar/03/thousands-of-bees-killed-in-arson-at-bedillion-bee-yard/ No news that any persons of interest have been found. I saw were several people are contributing more to the reward $ amount. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s some Karen that lives nearby. Upset that the bees are a threat to her defective kids who are allergic to bee stings or just some crazy peta type. The family has a nice store down in Hickory Pa, a nice old small town north of Washington PA. They sell honey of course (they sell their honey in many local Giant Eagle grocery stores stores) and most of all for me they sell lots of supplies and I have bought some nucs and queens there a few times. I haven’t needed to buy any honey for a while since I have bees. But I did buy some nice knotweed honey from him. Don’t have much knotweed out my way so far. Really makes great honey - I don’t care that it’s terribly invasive  |
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Anyone using broodminder sensors? Thinking about using one of their cell network hubs and sensors to monitor some swarm traps I have set near the park that’s too far to drive regularly to check. Planning to use the temp humidity sensors to watch for when a swarm takes up residence. |
| My night move to relocate my two hives did not go well. First hive went in the back of my truck no problem. Second one went to the ground. Went against my original plan trying to take advantage of it being dry enough to get my truck to them and their new place. Apparently hives that are two deeps tall are too much for me to safely handle. The dropped hive is where it landed and sitting on its bottom upright. Other is at its new home. Going to figure out a game plan for it when there’s some daylight. Originally planned to split them to 4 hives with just one deep then move them. Ended up with four stings 2 on one knee cap, 1 on the other, and one on the back of my thigh. Currently sick as a dog from the stings. Which has me thinking that I may need get out of bee keeping since that’s how the signs of my shellfish allergy started. |