The Beekeeping Thread (Pic heavy)

[Anianna]

Subscribing! Bees are probably a couple years in the future for us, but my parents' next door neighbor has three hives. I've been inspired after watching the bees for a while. Garden, fruit trees, then bees!

My research indicates that clover is great for nectar and crepe myrtles are great for pollen. We have a lot of clover and the bees love it. We just added several crepe myrtles, so I'm not sure yet how the bees like those.

[Tater Raider]

Clover makes some of the best honey.

[Resolute]

I'm a fan of locust honey myself

[offcamber]

Good stuff, great to see other bee keepers on here.

I caught my first swarm from our back hive this spring and successfully placed them in a new hive body. It was pretty exciting!

Some stuff we have learned that might be helpful for those just getting started:

1. We split a hive (a process of moving a frame of brood/bees with a queen cell to a new hive body) too late in the season last year, the new hive was strong through the fall but did not have the number to survive until spring.
2. We have given up on treating for mites, providing water/ sugar water, etc. we have found that the hives are much stronger with a hands off approach. This goes completely against what all books/pros on the subject suggest though, so take it as you will.
3. If you are just starting, we had great success with obtaining local hives instead of ordering a nuc from a breeder and having them shipped by mail. They seem heartier, healthier, and more adapted to the local region.
4. We originally started with a couple different varieties of bees, but after three years, our Italians seem to be the most successful.
5. Our worst enemy at this point is wax moths, we lost a hive to them in the early spring before we had opened them up from the Winter.
6. We started killing skunks on the property as they were sitting in front of the hive entrance scooping up bees and eating them when they bearded on the front of the hives in the evening.
7. As much as it is painful to watch, letting a hive occasionally swarm seems to be good for the health of the hive if taking a hands off approach. The local old timer adage is "swarm in July, let em fly".
8. Don't keep old frames/gear on your porch, lol. The bees will be there everyday picking them over.
9. A decent honey extractor is worth its weight in gold and does less damage to the wax/frames. Just make sure you are in an enclosed space. We did it in our kitchen the first year with a door open for ventilation. A couple bees came in at first, but by the end the place was full w/ bees trying to take their honey back, lol.
10. Always have an extra hive body on hand and prepped to go in the case you want to capture a swarm. Running around in a bee suit trying to piece everything together in a rush sucks.

Anyway, we are by no means pros at this yet, but I thought this info might be helpful. Its definitely a trial and error process until you get it down.

We have found that bee keepers are wonderful people and will help new folks to the hobby. The old timers around here feel that the younger generation doesn't do it as much and will bend over backward to help you learn the ropes.

We also joined our local bee keeping association for info on the larger bee community etc.

[Anianna]

Thanks, offcamber, that looks like some pretty good information. Our methods of reducing mites is the bottom board that catches them and the Honey Super Cell frames that reduce their ability to breed because of the forced cell size. We haven't seen any incidents of moths yet, knock on wood. We did get our bees locally and did not order them through the mail. Our bee guy showed my hubby the queen in each nuc, too, and when he couldn't find her in one, he got my husband another nuc. He has been very helpful when we have questions, too. It's a lot better than mail-order, imo.

We haven't found any swarms in the last couple of years on our property or our neighbors' properties. The number of bees foraging our property other than carpenter bees has been minimal, also, but my husband is interested in gathering wild swarms at some point.

Our bees have been slow to cap with all the humidity we have been having. It is taking a lot longer for the honey to dry to their liking. Have you noticed this? Also, which beekeeping association did you join? Feel free to PM me, if you prefer, I think we are both in VA.

My husband started reading the first volume of the Practical Beekeeper series that promotes organic methods of keeping bees. I asked him to write up a review for me when he is done with it.

[Tater Raider]

You should have a state organization there in VA. I'd start by checking them out, but that's me.

[Anianna]

Beekeepers and others interested in the health and well-being of bee populations (and we all should be since no bees = no food) may be interested in majorhavoc's post about the "Zombee Apocalypse". Several organizations are working in cahoots to track incidents of a parasite attacking bees that could be associated with Colony Collapse Disorder. They are looking for "citizen scientists" to help by watching for incidents of the parasite attacks and providing the evidence they need to study the incidents. Check it out and see if you'd like to become a Zombee Hunter and help out.

[Anianna]

It's that time of the year when we check the hives and see how the bees fared over the winter. 25% of captive hives die over the winter. We only have two hives and while one is healthy and growing strong, the other hive, sadly, has perished.

Happy Hive
Most of the frames in our living hive look about like this one. You can see they have plenty of capped brood but not much honey. You can see a little bit of capped honey in the next frame still in the hive. They are nearly out of honey, so we gave them some sugar water.




Bee Graveyard
This is an example of a frame from the dead hive. These bees starved, which is evident by the lack of capped anything - brood or honey. The cells are empty of anything but bees. We fed them before the frost set in, but it just wasn't enough, apparently. It appears that many of the bees crawl into the cells face first, most likely trying to get the last bits of food from the cells before they die. Many dead bees were piled in the bottom of the hive, as well.




Blooms
One of the fruit trees we planted last year and our old plum tree are already blooming. I love these pretty pink flowers! The surviving hive should be amassing honey for themselves very soon as spring gets to rolling through these parts.

[Tater Raider]

Loss of hives always sucks.

Are you considering splitting the survivng hive?

[Anianna]

Loss of hives always sucks.

Are you considering splitting the survivng hive?

We had considered it. The plan was to get two more hives, which would give us four total. The idea was to split the survivors between two of the hives and get nucs for the other two. We ordered the nucs (if you wait too long you don't get any), but something came up and we were only able to purchase one additional hive, so I guess we'll have to not split at this point unless I can find some cash somewhere for another hive.

[Halfapint]

A couole things I haven't seen posted on this thread.

Pest control: Mites and other pests can really destroy a hive. A simple solution for mites is just to have a small grate on the bottom that the bees crawl over and the mites get scraped off. But there are other pests that need to be treated with chemicals.

Feeding: sometimes hives get weak, my dad and I had a massive die off last year nearly 3/4 of the hive just started dying, the bees were dying off so fast that the live ones had to spend all the time moving the dead out of the hive, and not foraging. Also sometimes after a long harsh winter the winter bees go though their honey supply gets low and they need something a little extra. Making a batch of sugar water can save your hive from dying off. We use about a 1:1 ratio maybe 1.5:1 ratio of sugar to water. We try to buy organic sugar but it got expensive the last few years so we've switched to pure cane sugar.

My dad and I have been doing this for about 5-6 years now and it's a lot of fun. We have some pretty good knoledge if anyone has questions feel free to ask.

[Anianna]

A couole things I haven't seen posted on this thread.

Pest control: Mites and other pests can really destroy a hive. A simple solution for mites is just to have a small grate on the bottom that the bees crawl over and the mites get scraped off. But there are other pests that need to be treated with chemicals.

Feeding: sometimes hives get weak, my dad and I had a massive die off last year nearly 3/4 of the hive just started dying, the bees were dying off so fast that the live ones had to spend all the time moving the dead out of the hive, and not foraging. Also sometimes after a long harsh winter the winter bees go though their honey supply gets low and they need something a little extra. Making a batch of sugar water can save your hive from dying off. We use about a 1:1 ratio maybe 1.5:1 ratio of sugar to water. We try to buy organic sugar but it got expensive the last few years so we've switched to pure cane sugar.

My dad and I have been doing this for about 5-6 years now and it's a lot of fun. We have some pretty good knoledge if anyone has questions feel free to ask.

I did not detail pest control separately, but it is mentioned in the original post that we use a bottom board with a mesh to trap varroa mites, the plastic frames are designed to reduce cases of wax moth, and the small size of the cells in the Honey Super Cell frames is designed to make varroa mite infestations impossible because they don't fit in the cells with the bees. These are chemical free treatments of common pests in the hive and we watch them throughout the spring and summer to determine if additional treatments are needed. So far, these methods have been effective against pests. We do have an ant problem we need to address and are looking into methods to keep the ants out of the hives. One method of building a base with legs and putting the legs in a dish of vegetable oil looks promising. Ants do not like crossing oil.

My husband is adamant about feeding our bees. They were fed sugar water the entire season last year up to the point of frost in order to get them established in the hive. We did not harvest any honey last year. This year, we are feeding them early in the spring to help them get their own honey supplies back up and then we'll stop feeding them prior to the expected honey flow so that we can get some honey from them. We will feed them again after the honey flow before the frost.

We did not open the hives during the winter to check on the bees because of the risk of the chill getting into the hive. Do you check your bees and feed them when the temps are below 50 degrees Fahrenheit?

[ZH10950]

I don't know jack shit about bees or bee keeping except that honey and mead are pretty awesome things. But, all this talk about bees has scared the daylights out of me.

Thank you. I think...

So, let me get this straight, the cell phone thing is BS but its the fertilizers we are using that's killing off the bees? Why isn't the Dept. of Ag involved?

[Halfapint]

Haha man I completely failed to see the second page to this thread.

On point though looks like you have the pest issue covered pretty well ill have to ask my dad but I think there's also a fungus that gets in the hive (I'm terrible with remembering terms and names), that's what we use the chemicals for.

We do actually check them during the winter the winter brood are hardy little buggers. Also the cold wont really effect them in the hive that much because how they act. When it gets cold they move to the middle of the hive you won't see many bees on the outter couple cells. They sit in the middle and just vibrate to keep warm they can actually create a lot of heat to keep the brood warm and the queen from getting a chill. With that said I wouldn't open the hives everyday once a month to just check how they are doing wont hurt. We actually don't remove the cells just open the hive make sure they are active and healthy if they don't we do some investigation.

In the years we've had bees we've lost a total 3 hives on my parents property (we keep at least 6 hives and 10 at the most). We've lost 4 that we've kept off site (at other relatives place) because they don't feed them or check them as often.

I'll answer the best I can if I can't ill ask my dad as he lies on the property I just come down and visit a few times a week.

[Halfapint]

I don't know jack shit about bees or bee keeping except that honey and mead are pretty awesome things. But, this thread has scared the daylights out of me.

Thank you. I think...

So, let me get this straight, the cell phone thing is BS but its the fertilizers we are using that's killing off the bees? Why isn't the Dept. of Ag involved?

You think the government actually regulates things? They just passed a bill that protects the biggest GMO company in existence. /endrant

Fertilizer may have some small effect the bigger threat is pesticides and monocrops. Montisano developed pesticides that actually cost the seed and as the crop grows it basically becomes a growing pesticide crop. Well bees are "pests" so when they land on the crop and do thur business it starts to effect their brains. That's one theory that I'm pretty partial to believe.

[Anianna]

Do you feed them in winter temps? Wouldn't the sugar water freeze?

I don't know jack shit about bees or bee keeping except that honey and mead are pretty awesome things. But, this thread has scared the daylights out of me.

Thank you. I think...

So, let me get this straight, the cell phone thing is BS but its the fertilizers we are using that's killing off the bees? Why isn't the Dept. of Ag involved?

You think the government actually regulates things? They just passed a bill that protects the biggest GMO company in existence. /endrant

Fertilizer may have some small effect the bigger threat is pesticides and monocrops. Montisano developed pesticides that actually cost the seed and as the crop grows it basically becomes a growing pesticide crop. Well bees are "pests" so when they land on the crop and do thur business it starts to effect their brains. That's one theory that I'm pretty partial to believe.

There are some studies that show when the coated seeds are planted, some of the pesticide coating is aerosolized. It remains in the air for some time and drifts on the wind. Beehives in range can be coated in the pesticide. This is particularly a problem if you rent your hives out to farmers for pollinating their crops or if you live where farmers farm (like we do). Keep in mind that you can't even get corn seeds on a large scale that don't have the coating unless you pay buckoo loads of cash for organic, which any farmer that doesn't have organic status is not likely to do.

[Halfapint]

Do you feed them in winter temps? Wouldn't the sugar water freeze?

Yes we do, though only as a VERY last resort. Most of what we have read and observed it makes bees lazy. Plus if you start to feed them there's a risk that they might leave the hive to look for more. Around where we are here in the Puget Sound area we don't get a lot of freezing temps. So not an issue typically high 30s low 40s is normal.

[Evan the Diplomat]

Last summer my wife brought home a 2 liter coke bottle from Greece filled with natural bee honey. She was saving it for "special occasions." Well now it solidified.

Two questions. Did it harden up because it wasn't pasturized? Because it was in a Coke bottle and not in a "sealed" jar? Can it be returned to a liquid state or has it become a sticky doorstop? If re-liquified, is it safe to eat?

[Halfapint]

Last summer my wife brought home a 2 liter coke bottle from Greece filled with natural bee honey. She was saving it for "special occasions." Well now it solidified.

Two questions. Did it harden up because it wasn't pasturized? Because it was in a Coke bottle and not in a "sealed" jar? Can it be returned to a liquid state or has it become a sticky doorstop? If re-liquified, is it safe to eat?

Actually you can tell a good "natural" honey because it does crystallize. The honey you buy in stores is shit, and could actually be illegal because it has been filtered (that's a separate topic though). It is still safe to eat and actually I love when honey starts to crystallize because its easier to spread on toast, but if you want it liquid again just get a pot with water in it, turn it on medium low heat and place the container in there. since you said it's plastic I would try to transfer it to a mason jar and do it that way. You can also microwave it but I prefer a water bath.

[Resolute]

Great find!

First, I'm assuming that the coke bottle was cleaned. Assuming that there wasn't anything to kill you already in the bottle, here's my advice....

Honey will naturally crystallize. It's still good and doesn't affect the quality, only the texture.

Honey doesn't go bad. They found some in Egyptian tombs, and it was still edible.

To return it to a liquid state, you can put the bottle in warm water. Since I don't know about the coke bottle melting, I'd suggest warm and not boiling. I've boiled my glass honey jars before to undo the crystallization. It should be perfectly safe to eat after that

If you're still uncomfortable, please send it to me for proper disposal. I'll make sure it's taken care of.

[Evan the Diplomat]

Thanks everyone. We've put the bottle in a stock pot full of cold water , put it on the stove with medium heat and watching the honey start to change physical state.

[Halfapint]

Thanks everyone. We've put the bottle in a stock pot full of cold water , put it on the stove with medium heat and watching the honey start to change physical state.

No problem enjoy the deliciousness that is all natural unfiltered honey. Great on toast, waffles, pancakes, muffins or direct from the jar to your piehole. haha

[Anianna]

Thanks everyone. We've put the bottle in a stock pot full of cold water , put it on the stove with medium heat and watching the honey start to change physical state.

It's so cool, right? Honey is so awesome.

Store honeys, in addition to being over filtered, are often found not to be honey at all. Some actually turn out to be honey-flavored syrup. It is illegal to call such a product honey in the U.S., but many honey products on store shelves have been found to be not actually honey at all despite the laws. Apparently, it's not something that is well enforced. This is yet another reason we wanted to make our own honey - which has fantastic health benefits in addition to being a food that never goes bad.

[Halfapint]

Thanks everyone. We've put the bottle in a stock pot full of cold water , put it on the stove with medium heat and watching the honey start to change physical state.

It's so cool, right? Honey is so awesome.

Store honeys, in addition to being over filtered, are often found not to be honey at all. Some actually turn out to be honey-flavored syrup. It is illegal to call such a product honey in the U.S., but many honey products on store shelves have been found to be not actually honey at all despite the laws. Apparently, it's not something that is well enforced. This is yet another reason we wanted to make our own honey - which has fantastic health benefits in addition to being a food that never goes bad.

So true. The ultra filtration that is used is technically illegal according to the FDA. A lot of the honey that is "honey" is actually imported illegally from China. We have an all out ban on Chinese honey but a lot of it gets in to the country though mexico and other states. Anyways that's for another post