The bee keeper diaries
 

It's a great time to buy stock in eppy pens.

This thread is a repository for bee keepers or those interested.

A couple of years ago, a couple of friends an my brother started puttering with honey bees. I didn't buy off because, well, I've never been a big fan of bees or getting stung by them. Last summer I tagged along a couple of times to check their hives and to remove honey bees from a house, public building and an old garage.

I realized at the end of the summer when I was helping them process some, that it's actually pretty interesting, and fits into my expanding "grow my own" logic. I'm not full blown hippy but I see a lot of logic in the self sustaining food thing and I'm doing some of that too.

That said, this thread is about bees, honey bees, bee keeping and bee fighting war stories.

I'm taking the leap and plan to get 2-3 hives this spring and maybe build some bee swarm traps to make it cheaper or to make a few bucks.

Join me and I'll share the real life lessons of an ameture bee keeper. I'm sure I'm going to learn some things the hard way.

Aw yeah
 

In.
3 hives wintering now. I checked them Monday when it was nice, looking good.
Starting my 3rd year.

In.
Several signs in the neighborhood that read "Local Honey For Sale", been meaning to stop and she what she looks like. :D

Last year I think my people got overzealous in removal projects. Some of them are easy and some apparently were a real pain....including one guy taking 50 stings and a doctor trip.

This year I think the plan is to back off of cutting bees out of houses, unless they are being torn down and trying to catch some swarms.

Myself and the others are looking for boxes if anyone knows someone who has some laying around and available.

I'm not going to pretend I know more than I do in this thread...I'm a virgin for the most part. I do have the luxury of friends with a couple of years experience to help me start, and I'm thinking about taking a class starting soon.

Other than being hot, sticky, messy and painful, the limited number of times I helped them get bees last year were pretty good rushes.

I'm here to learn as I go, if you have the knowledge and experience....teach us, starting with the basics.

I loves me some great honey. Best I ever had was Yellow Starthistle honey from Northern California. Worst I ever had I enjoyed tremendously. Im allergic to bee stings.

So you're saying honey is like pussy ? I had some yellow starthistle one time (it certainly felt like it) and the worst I ever had was wonderful.
Apologize for the derail.

I've been watching quite a few YouTube videos of beginner tips, mistakes, bee traps etc...but most of them seem to be in the south where things are different.

I would appreciate hearing some stories and lessons from those of you with some experience.

Good luck Iowanian. Local honey is an excellent allergy preventative. We sell a lot of local honey, $20.00 for a quart. We also have a supplier that uses the racks where you can harvest the honey still in the comb (12.99 for 8 oz), very popular with the customers but much more labor intensive than spinning the honey out of the other type racks and he almost always runs out before the next harvest.

Bees give me hives.

Have any of you used this type of hive ? I remember seeing some tv show about the guys who invented it. It looked and sounded like if was way better than the regular hives.
I think it was called the Easy Flow.

Have you checked with your local extension office? We have a community college (non-accredited local interest type stuff) that offers beekeeping classes in the evenings.

I now buy all my honey on the side of the road by my house, from a Mexican guy and his wife.

The shit is so ****ing legit. It's crazy how much better it is than store bought honey.

Talk to farmers around you. Figure out if they spray for corn borer beetle. That insecticide is hard on bees and it has to be aerially applied so it can move some.

Are you going to plant a pollinator plot? If not I would. The best guys I know that deal in the specialty seed is Green Cover Seed in Bladen NE. greencoverseed.com

I started off with a single pkg of Italians. Not too bright, you should always start 2-3.
The chances of a single pkg hive making it through the winter are significantly lower than having multiple hives. I got lucky with a mild winter.
I didn't take any honey from the hive that year.

I got 2 more pkg Italians last year, and those hives got a boost because I took some frames of capped honey and brood from the primary hive.
The same friggin day I installed those packages the primary hive swarmed. I was able to catch the swarm in a spare deep I had.
Thank god I had some spare lids and bottom boards, because it swarmed again the next day.
I caught that swarm as well. Yay me, I'm a real damn beekeeper now!!

So, that's five hives rolling now. I really went through the sugar this summer.
Feed the 2 package hives, feed the swarm hives a 1:1 sugar syrup.
I put a super on it at the beginning of the summer, but otherwise the Primary hive is own its own.
It should be strong enough and there is good forage for them.

Fast forward through the summer and both pkgs and primary look great.
Swarm hives are a little slower to draw out frames, but that's to be expected because they didn't get any drawn frames to start with.

I went on vacation for one damn week and I'm pretty sure one of the swarm hives swarmed when I was gone. I didn't immediately notice when I got back, so I think everything is ok. Everything is not ok. Wax moths have moved in and set up shop. The wax moths start doing their thing (killing the hive) for a while until I do an inspection and find hardly any bees but tons of wax moths and small hive beetle. ****, that swarm hive is a total loss. Scape off all the comb from the frames (1 deep fully drawn) and shove it in the freezer to kill the wax moth, SHB plus their eggs and larvae. I'll render the wax some day with all of the other old comb and nasty stuff.

By this time, main nectar flow is done. I go out to the apiary one day and it is full on robbing of the remaining swarm hive.
Bees are buzzing loudly as they bounce off each other and wrestle at the hive entrance. They are putting up a good fight, but it's just a matter of time before they are overrun.
The swarm hive is much weaker than the 3 pkg hives. I put on a robbing screen, but it is too late, the bees won't stop at this point.
I bite the bullet and take apart the hive. I was able to save about 8.5 frames of honey so not a total loss.

I had those 8+ frames and the full super from the primary hive to extract. I didn't take any honey from the 2 pkg hives.

I plan on doing some splits of the 2 pkg hives, and I'd bet on some more swarms as well. I just hope I have enough woodware. Shit starts adding up.

Good luck!!

Ive bought a top bar hive and plan on buying bees this spring to try it out. Ive got a pretty good size garden, Ive built a large chicken coop and have chickens going on 3 years now and I figure it's time to start a new self sustaining project.

I certainly wish everybody who does this the best of luck. I keep hearing stories about how bees are dying off everywhere, and that's bad news for everything else.

The guys I'm learning from have had mixed results. One of them lost 4-5 hives at his house this winter but the rest are good in other locations. I think he is blaming the adjacent farm spraying insecticide late in the season.


I'm not a notable hippy but I do believe the bee death is a real thing. Pollinators are vital and if more guys like me try to raise a few hives it will help.

It surely won't hurt my orchard either.

I thought if you feed them sugar water the honey will get all crystalized and nasty. Fact or fiction?

Didn't they figure out the colony collapse problem was mostly related to some kind of mites ?

I'd be real interested in learning more about beekeeping. We have some pasture land; I've thought about putting some hives out there. I know we'd have to fence them off real good to keep the cattle out. Just curious if there is any money in it to make it worthwhile.

Bee numbers are definitely down. But there is a lot of factors. At gets blamed for a shitton of it but objectively nothing has changed in at to promote large scale bee death. But a neighbor spraying definitely could have nuked your local colony.

But the whole talc/seed treatment thing is a joke. Vacuum planters have been on the market forever as has seed treatment. In terms of applied insecticides, the total volume of insecticides applied is minuscule since BT corn was commercially available.

But I'd talk to your neighbors. See if you can get a courtesy call when he is flying insecticide on.

Fiction

Honey gets crystallized due to temperature change for the most part. Setting the honey jar in a pan of very hot water will bring it back to a liquid, you don't want to overheat the honey as that kills a lot of the good properties that folks buy local honey for. A drawback, IMO, in using sugar water is you lose the allergy-releiving properties of local honey if they aren't pollinating the flowers/weeds that are causing the allergies.

No turning back now.

Last night I bought 3 hives and a few extra boxes from someone who didn't want to do this anymore, along with a bonafide bee hat, gloves, smoker and tools for less than half of retail...got a good deal.

For year one I play to buy 2 nucs and keep the 3rd and try to catch a swarm.


Probably a good time to invest in epi-pen stocks.

good luck. my hive died when i bought one without a queen.

I just finished planting a 2 acre pollinator planting on the farm. I figure I have the space and the bees and butterflies can benefit. We are converting another 11 acres from fescue to Native Warm Season Grasses for the wildlife benefits.

Guess deep down all of we farm types are pretty green...

[QUOTE=HonestChieffan;12766022]I just finished planting a 2 acre pollinator planting on the farm. I figure I have the space and the bees and butterflies can benefit. We are converting another 11 acres from fescue to Native Warm Season Grasses for the wildlife benefits.

Guess deep down all of we farm types are pretty green...[/QUOTE

looks good on paper. get paid and never make anything. that is your pretty green.

Looks good Iowa - love what you're doing up there

Just keep the pig weeds out. I hate pigweeds.

That could get really expensive. I'd wait until the EpiPen patent runs out in 2025 so you're not spending around 1,000 bucks each time you need a new pen.

I'm pretty much joking about that. I took more than 30 stings from yellow jackets at the end of the summer. I puked and felt crappy but didn't die....


I'm hoping by going this way(used hives) that actually have most of the frames full of comb, some have quite a bit of honey and pollen, I'll have a head start and a decent chance of actually getting some honey in year one.

http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/ce/ceb35...2252cd3441.jpg

A little last minute arts and crafts. I'm getting bee nukes Saturday.


Also found a tree with a large hive about 15' up in a limb. Don't know what I'm doing other than watching some YouTube videos but I'm going to put up a ladder stand and try to trap that colony. Maybe grab some pics and lessons learned along the way. If anyone has done that I d be open to advice.

I run vertical top bar hives. Caught 3 swarms in the last few weeks.

Cut outs are bad enough. Trap outs are even worse imo. Very low chance at getting the queen. Time consuming to boot. Might as well let it thrive and catch its swarms.

Oh boy, please please get a video of you doing this. I have a feeling you'll bring more laughs to the planet than any poster in history. :D

ROFL

<a href="http://photobucket.com/images/BEES%20GIF" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g332/namebuzztumblr/Oprahs-Bees.gif" border="0" alt="BEES GIF photo: Oprah Bees! Oprahs-Bees.gif"/></a>


(how has this not bee posted yet?)

I've helped with a couple of cutouts last year and they do suck, especially overhead. We did one in an old garage that was about eye level down and it was easy.

We've found another one in an old camper that should be a saw, remove and smash thing so that should be easy as these go.

The tree thing is more complicated. It's in a very large tree that is sentimental to the family, but the hive is near their house/small kids and they want the bees gone. They'd rather we try to get them than poison them.

My thought is we'll wrap it in screen and funnel them out, put a ladder stand next to it with a nuc box and put a frame or two and see what happens. I can get a frame or two with some brood and if the queen doesn't come out, maybe they can make a queen. Then foam the hole shut in the tree.

My guess is a live cam of my bee keeping would be pretty popular online....if there is anyone destined for disaster, it's probably me. Hell, I got stung 30-40 times the last time I mowed the yard last fall BEFORE I got my first honey bee.

Do you vacuum your swarms are shake them into a box/bag?

Do you find most of your swarms by people just knowing you keep bees or do you advertise?


I'm here to learn as much or more than sharing my pending three stooges of bee keeping history.

My first experience seeing someone have a seizure was because of honey.

I worked in a feed store over a summer in high school. We had a local person that sold it and brought in some jars and free samples for customers.

I was there by myself over lunch and this hot chick comes in and takes a sample. All's good for a while and then she hits the deck and starts convulsing violently like she was being electrocuted.

Then the boss shows back up while she's breakdancing and calls the ambulance and later asks me why I didn't grab her tits when I had the chance.

I love honey, but there is no scientific evidence to support the allergy claims

So today was interesting.
I helped with a tree cutout. We had heard about it from the owner of the timber and I was able to find it by listening, you could hear the dull roar. It went really well and took a couple of hours, and we found the queen.

Not bad for my first time.

Yes, I have some video if I can figure out how to get them off of my phone.

.i have some video clips of vacuuming bees, inside the hive, and a bee hatching but I can't get them to share for the life of me.

Dang this is awesome stuff!

I'm ordering some jars of honey when it's ready. Thanks!

Well, that didn't take long.
I received my first call yesterday for a swarm. Bees were boiling in their yard and balling in a tree. I was there with my bother within half an hour...which didn't make brideowanian happy because I was preparing to host a party in 3 hrs....

By the time we got there, the owner had called again and he bees were relocating to a bush on the ground....much better than 15 feet above the ground. Everything didn't go perfectly, Jt we were able to gather the majority of the bees into a nut box, and had them in a new hive in my bee yard in an hour and a half.

After some discussion about seeing it done, I saw my brother take off a glove and stick his hand completely into the swarm. I'm not there yet.

Wow, bee thieves.

A report right after it happened:
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/l...120-story.html

Update from May 16:
http://www.kfbb.com/story/35446097/s...s-make-it-home

I've heard several times to not keep hives visible from the road because people will steal them. I guess if you figure a value of $300/hive and a hundred bucks and not considering the value of honey if it isn't there.


On a positive note...bees are swarming and we nabbed 2 more easy swarms in the past day and found a cemetery with a bee tree issue.

I've filled what I have and need to buy some more parts. I now understand how it happens....

I did another tree cutout last Friday. A storm knocked a tree down on a house and a power line and they couldn't fix power and remove tree until bees were gone. Got 1 sting on the thumb trying to take a pic....but other than that it was easy.

I learned of another tree near me that's had a known honey been hive since 1990. We'll probably try to get it cut out sometime this week when time and weather allow. I'm getting more of a charge out of doing this stuff than I ever figured I would.

sounds cool, iowa...pics are great, too.
sec

We had calls for 2 swarms tonight gut and went to get them. The one I went to grab seemed easy enough...they were in a pine tree about 5' off the ground and seemed docile. Got them in the box and with the exception of a sting on the back, I literally drank a beer and watched them go into the box.

Dropped the, off at the bee yard of choice...everything was fine and then after checking s couple of boxes d cited to leave. Not exactly sure what happened but when I was taking off m Oompa Loompa suit some bees gave you the shoe you have been praying for on video...but it wasn't on video. I took a hit to th chin, a couple on the nose, one on the on the neck

The landowner texted an hour after I left and said a swarm flew over the house, so I think they flew away.

As a consolation prize I am giving you this picture of my finger in a bee hole.

Bees have always been interesting to me, but I've never taken the plunge into playing with them.

Have an old farmall H in a fence row that has a hole in the side of its rear tire. It's been occupied for at least three years now. A hickory tree in my father's back yard has a hole about 20' up that has been occupied for several years as well. Both hives work the clover field between the two when it's in bloom and it's quite interesting just to sit and watch how deliberately they come and go.

Why the **** would you poke the bear?

Men who wouldn't wear a romper might ask....why wouldn't you?


Sometimes when a kid learns to ride a bike, the ride over jumps because th have seen people with years of experience do it. It feels cool to do it at the time, but you know you're going to land on your chin sometime.

Good luck with that, let me know when you start selling honey.

That's ****ing cool.

Yeah, I have a problem with always poking the bear.

Honey is supposed to be a really healthy food. Some antibiotic properties as well as cardiovascular health. I was reading the other day there is a honey that comes out of a particular bee in Brazil that cures cancer.

The old old house I grew up in had a pretty large hive under the eaves in the rear. Dad wouldn't allow anyone to mess with it and that hive was still there when we moved out.

We kids just learned not to play near it but they never bothered us at all.

Yeah, well, maybe those weren't pimples you were always broke out with.

Mixed bag today. Raced a rain storm to grab a swarm this morning that was low to the ground. Checked my hives for the first time this year and they seem to be doing ok.

On the way from my brothers house I saw a swarm in a neighbors tree. I went back for it a little later and it was probably the event some of you have been waiting for...I spread out a tarp under the swarm, cut some limbs from below it. I tossed a weighted rope over the limb and tugged. Yeah...I pulled a rope on a limb with 5lbs of bees directly above my head. About half of they dropped basically how I wanted but far too many went airborne.

So...there I was, in a bee suit and rubber boots, climbing 20' up a pasture scrub tree and hanging on a limb....cutting a 5-6" limb with a folding saw....with bees th at were already mad from shaking them. I got the limb dropped and bees shook off and thought I had most of them in the box....and then I looked up....obviously missed the queen as I noticed the bees boiling out of my box and flying 30' up the tree into a fork I had no chance of shaking them out of.....it was a hot, sweaty, painful...dismal failure.

I atrapped a box into the tree and left to see what would happen.

I can see where this could be addicting. Hard to believe there are so many bee swarms you are finding. really cool.

They are going nuts right now. I literally saw the last one hanging in a tree from the road. We have some cutouts to do lined up...an old camper, a big hollow tree, a tree too high off the ground to be fun and maybe a house or two. I want to avoid houses that aren't being torn down.

I'd you had told me a year ago I would be doing this I'd have said you were nuts. It is addicting...maybe it's an adrenaline thing...but it's strangely calming to just watch them.

Well yeah, something that could ultimately Kill you yet you can lasoo it in and contain it. I think its awesome.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MU1eoXYN2Rc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Business is boomin in the bee business lately. Had a couple of swarm calls yesterday and 2 calls for swarms and a cutout today. Wasn't able to do all of them because if the holiday.

This morning something cool happened. I was attending a Memorial Day event at a local cemetery. Just before the 21 gun salute a couple of ladies approached and said there was a bee issue. I had seen a cedar tree with a hive in it 30-40 yards away when we arrived but this was near the speakers and honor guard. There wasn't much to do but after the salute and prayers I walked over in time to see bee swarm boiling out of another cedar tree and they were swarming all around the honor guard...I mean a shitload of bees surrounding these guys who stayed at parade rest. One of them was an old bee keeper and told them to be still....and I pointed to some tombstones near them with a prediction.....the swarm gathered on one of the oldest veterans graves in the cemetery a couple of hundred yards from where my grandpa rests. I left to get my stuff and returned with my daughter to gather the swarm and bring them home.


If this isn't interesting I can not share more, I just thought some of you might like this stuff.

Keep the stories coming , but you know we're all waiting for the attack video where you're running around flailing about. It's good to hear there are so many hives around. I remember several years back the news reporting the Bee population was dying off. fake news I guess.

I think worldwide and nationwide bee death is a real thing. The guys who are helping me all lost several colonies this winter.


I also think we all know that I'm going to get my ass handed to me at some point...and we also know that my history here is to share th agony of defeat as well as the thrill of victory.

www.lidcam.com :D

I just know when I was 2 or 3 years old, I got stung on the thumb and according to my parents almost died. They rushed me to the emergency room with my eyes rolling back in my head. I haven't been stung by a bee but have been nailed by a hornet and a yellow jacket since, so maybe it was just the young age, still, I try to avoid them.

Oh, it's real all right.
I lost the 3 remaining hives I had wintered. I'm fairly certain it was varroa.
I was able to salvage the honey, but the hives themselves are a total loss.

I started 2 pkg hives this April, and they seem strong. These are the most chill bees I've worked with, I don't even wear my suit most of the time.

Sounds like you've really got it rolling up there, Iowanian. Enjoy the ride and don't forget to do a mite check!

They died over the winter?

My understanding was they die during the year. People were blaming it on insecticide treated corn where the insecticide would get on the talc and get airborne through the vacuum system. (Even though vacuum planters have been around for 30 years and this is a new phenomenon).

This thread came in very useful. I was just in Florida helping my daughter and SIL paint their new house. They had just taken possession and didn't notice a giant hive in one of their plum trees.

A quick Google search turned up a group of local beekeepers that relocates bees for free.

Thank you sir.

I walked by that old tractor with the hive in the rear tire yesterday and thought of this thread and you poking the bear. The whole back tire was one giant swarm of bees that acted like they was looking for some dummy to come play with them. LMAO

Also noticed they're constantly pulling water from a stock tank that's up on top the hill in the shade. Guess the fresh rural water is better than the pond they have to fly by to get to it??

Is it honey bees for sure?

They're pulling water to cool the hive.


I've got 5 of my own now. One of my nudes and one of the swarms are my strongest hives. I have a honey Super on one, 2 boxes on three and one of the swarms is a little behind. I'm on track to have honey this year so that's good. Work has been crazy and I'm gone a lot but I've got to get three more cutouts done by July if I'm going to do it.

Of course they came and picked up the swarm....swarms in trees are really easy to get if they are close to ground. It's like you told them there was a hundred dollar bill hanging there to pick up.

Glad it worked out.

This thread is awesome. While I don't have the space for bees, I do have a fledgling butterfly garden that seems to be coming along.

But this intrigues the hell out of me. I like the idea of trying to something positive and garnering honey in return.

Well done, IWN

They're definitely honey bees. I put a board in the tank so the bees who end up falling in can crawl out easier. Seems to have helped as I haven't seen any dead floaters since throwing the board in there. Helps the reeruned squirrels get out of the tank too.

I've also noticed when the cows go down and stand around the hive in the shade the bees work their face and eyes. The cows act like they are benefiting from it in some way. I guess the bees would keep the biting flies away??

Pure speculation but maybe there is pollen on the hair of their faces from grazing?

Never noticed it before and have no answer other than that guess

This has probably been mentioned but the flow hive system almost fished me in again. I raised bees in Overland Park at 12ish and was completely fascinating to me. Well until I got stung 26 times trying to take a super off on a hot muggy day without enough smoke.

Ran for 2 blocks. Damn bonnet came untucked then sleeves, then started running and everything came undone.