Beekeeping...for those interested!

[Beekissed]

I will be using the crush and strain method, as well, Drake. I wish to use my wax for various products and there are no co-ops with a honey extractor around these parts.

FC, one of the benefits I want from my bees is the benefit of extra pollination for my garden and orchard. I've read several articles that show a 50-75% greater yield of crops when honey bees are being used close by. You would find this beneficial, wouldn't you? I thought I read you grow some crops for your market?

Also, you can buy supers with wax or plastic "combs" half formed for the bees to build upon, so they don't necessarily start from scratch each time.

One thing I have read also, is the importance of a water supply near by. The farther bees have to fly for water, the less honey they can produce.

 

[FarmerChick]

Karen,
You are right, they do have to rebuild their combs.
That is why some beekeepers choose to reuse their combs after each extraction, sometimes for many years, they recommend that you don't go longer than 5 years though.
Those combs can get black and nasty.
I plan on doing alot of cut comb, take it out of the high cut it with a square cutter and box it up to sell.
Nothing purer.
I will also do the crush and strain and I can use that wax for other things.
The bees do have to rebuild it but to me its cleaner and less chance of beatles, mites and wax worm moths taking up residence.
It isn't as big an issue for them to rebuild comb as alot of people think.
With a strong colony they can bang out a super full of wax in a week.
Some think that you will get more honey by extracting it and putting the combs back, others who do the crush and strain method each harvest say they see no difference.
I of course would like to have the honey but I am not out to have huge amounts if it, not that I wouldn't mind it but that is not my goal.
I am more interested in the whole concept of beekeeping and their contribution to our survival.
I know it sounds like it would be counter productive but building combs and storing honey is what they do.
As long as you don't take more than you should and don't stress the colony it works.
I will leave them with more than they will ever need.
There may come a time that I try extraction but its just not in my plans at the moment.
The best laid plans can always go awry but I am committed to staying on my path for at least 2 years in order to give it enough time to evaluate.

I have bought some nucs of different bee races 2 of each and plan to do side by side comparisons on different methods of keeping them.
Just slight differences, I am still not doing chemicals or feeding them corn syrup and only plan to do sugar feeding in an emergency.
But I am going to try different management techniques to see how they do.
Yes, in the winter they do only stay in the hive and form a winter cluster, which is their way of staying warm to survive.
You leave them as much honey as you think they will need to get through the winter, if you leave more than enough you can always collect it in the spring.
Even with honey in the hives, colonies have been known to starve to death because it was too cold for them to break their cluster and they starve because the honey is out of reach.
Some beekeepers will take all of their honey in the fall and feed them sugar water all winter.
The bees don't come out for weeks sometimes, only leaving the hive to relieve themselves, bees will never deficate in the hive.
The first sunny days where the temps are above 50 they take their cleansing flights.
Winter bees are different than summer bees, they change physiologically.
Most summer bees only live 6 weeks or so where the winter bees need to live for 6 months to keep the colony alive until spring.

You are right about the scope involved in hive products.

WOW you sound like a walking encyclopedia...LOL---that is alot of bee info. in that post!

I never thought they could rebuild all that size of a honeycomb in a week...that is amazingly fast for their size, but of course their numbers make a big diff. I am sure.

How many bees to a hive?

Do you buy a small starter kit and then the bees reproduce?


I didn't know they stayed in the hive in winter like that. I just assumed they buzzed around real close to their hive....but they come out to P.....that is amazing! I never pictured a bee P'ing before..LOL---just seems strange! LOL


Your honey will taste so super delicious cause you babied it and produced it and the most fresh you can ever taste. Right off the comb!!!!

 

[FarmerChick]

Yes, I definitely want to limit the amount of work I'd have to do on keeping bees, without neglecting them, of course. I'll let you know if I end up keeping them along the lines of what the Barefoot Beekeeper author suggests. He seems to advocate a simpler approach. But he did say that it isn't the best method if you want lots of honey. So it may not be what you are looking for, FarmerChick, however at the same time having honey around would be a good thing, in my opinion, even in small quantities, and especially with as little work as possible. Ha, that was a long and convoluted sentence! LOL

Mid-march is about when our daffodils come up here and the tulips are a little later. I read that our first major flow of honey comes from our maple trees, the next big flow is from the blackberries, and then lastly the fireweed. I found that info on a local beekeeping association's website . . . you might look to see if that same info is available to you, just to give you an idea of your major flowering resources (other than what you are growing on the farm).

LOL---you see having the farm run as a profit maker I only pick projects that make money...LOL

I know I could make money cause some other farmers do it....well do they make a good profit (?) I don't know.....but they like their own honey and sell the rest.

BUT I buy from them. I buy from my friend Jason who sells at the market. He had 14 hives but mites or something got most of his hives....so he st\opped producing to sell to market and has a few hives that supplies his family and friends now.

I now get it from a nice farmer up in the mts. that comes down to the market. YUMMY------he labels his honey by the flowers they came from. He has poplar groves and has Poplar Honey........then he said he rents his hives out to farmers and moves them. One he takes to a flower farm and he calls that honey supply "wildflower meadow honey"..........good stuff!

this is very interesting information. I just never put much thought into bees.....they were "just there!" ya know...LOL

I saw those little bee hives...the one made from like twisted reeds or something? Are those real hives? Or just decoration? just wondering? They look like a big bell?

 

[FarmerChick]

Bee we sure do grow crops for market...acres of them! LOL
but local beekeepers are around me so I don't have to do this at this point. I get super yields right now, more than I can handle actually. Being a 2 man operation (4 with his parents help) keeps me limited.

I am sure bees right in the area would sure help pollenation.

 

[the simple life]

The amount of bees to a hive can vary between 40,000 and 60,000 but a good strong hive should have at least 50,000.

You can buy bees in what they call packages and they are sold by the the pound so usually come in 3 or 4 lb packages and then they give you a queen.
The producers take a bunch of bees and shake them down into a box and weigh them, then they take a queen and put her in her own tiny box and hang her cage in the box.
Since she is foreign to the package of bees they have to get use to her pheromones or they will kill her.
If you were to just throw a queen in a box like that they would ball up and smother her.
If you put her screened cage into theirs they have time to accept her as their own through her pheromones.
When you get the package you install them into the hive by shaking them down into it, then you hang the queens cage into the hive.
The bottom of the cage has a candy plug that the bees will chew through to release the queen.
By the time it takes for them to chew threw the plug she will have been in there a few days and they will have had the time to accept her.
Occasionally it does not work out though and you will have to replace the queen.
This is stilll a virgin queen though so its really starting from scratch.
She still has to take her mating flight, so there are no eggs or brood and they do not yet have honey or pollen stores.
If you get a nuc, its like a mini hive.
The producer already has a mated queen in there laying egg and her own little colony with bees, brood, pollen and honey.
Usually 5 frames in all, although you can get less.
Then all you have to do is take those frames out and hang them in your own hive.
Much less risk and they are ahead of the game since they already have a laying queen.
She cannot feed herself, they feed her through the cage.

I am getting a package through the school but I bought nucs for the rest of my hives.
The nucs are all from my area so they have been raised in this climate and I am hoping to have better luck with them with them being more suitable to my environment.
The packages all come from down south and are a little more risky.
But there are always alot of risks involved either way, so many variables.
It sounds like you have a good amount of honey available to you and it sounds like excellent honey.
Some beekeepers are able to get a certain type of honey in their area, thats great.
I know what you are saying about needing to make the money on the farm though.
As far as I know,the only ones that make alot of money at this is the commercial guys who own thousands of hives and rent them out for pollination to the almond growers.
But if you just wanted to sell some when you go to the farmers markets you could do that with a few hives and still have some pocket money, it takes time to recoup what you put into it though.
But, its a nice hobby and you may just want to do that for yourself at some point.
You could use the honey in your soaps and the wax if you ever wanted to do lip balms or candles.
For me its a resourceful hobby. I can have my own pure natural honey for my family, and sell any surplus to help recoup what I have spent.
I can use the wax to make other things, my garden and surrounding areas will get pollinated and hopefully more importantly I hope I am helping the bees and this earth in some small way.

 

[sylvie]

Great thread! I'm considering them now and will research my area like you did. Thanks.

 

[Beekissed]

hopefully more importantly I hope I am helping the bees and this earth in some small way.

This is one of my reasons also. I want to give back as much as possible. When I heard of the hive collapse and everyone was advising me to not get into bees because of it, I was amazed! To me, that was a reason to get into beekeeping!

Do people realize what would happen to this world if all the honeybees disappeared? Sure there are other pollinators but not on the scale of honeybees. No pollinators means no fruits, no veggies, no corn, no flowers.....just wheats and such. Famine proportions of food shortage without honeybees.

And, I must admit, it gives me a feeling of timelessness to tend to bees. Just think, since the world began people have been beekeeping and it hasn't changed too much since then, as the bees still do what they do just how they always did it.

It also appeals to me because it is female dominated!

 

[FarmerChick]

other flying things pollinate also so that is a good thing. even with bees declining there are backups out there..LOL

but definitely we must keep things from declining like bees etc.
just another chink in the resources again!

 

[FarmerChick]

wow Natalie ---that post had tons of info on it.
I never looked deeply into bees. That is so interesting all about the queen.

I like the "mini" established hive also. Seems easier to get a first time great start....then experiment with the queen being accepted and starting your own hives from scratch.

I didn't know any of that also..Hmmm...

oh yes like anything it takes time to recoup the intital investment. And even if you don't recoup, you have fresh honey from your new adventure.

Do you keep these hives away from the house? I mean, can they be swarming the backyard or something? I don't know..LOL
Can they be set off easy by kids and such?

 

[the simple life]

I am keeping the bees in my yard, I picked a spot in a corner where no one plays. It is where the two sides of the fence meets so its also a good windbreak for the hives.
The only thing that is over there is where we usually put the trash barrels so I am going to move those to another area, or I told my son he would have to suit up in order to take out the trash, I waas teasing him and told him I would give him the smoker when he takes the barrels out.
I started planting alot of good bee plants in that area last year as well.
The bees should not bother anyone in that area, you are suppose to avoid walking into their flight path which will agitate them so that area is good since no one has any reason to be over there.
You can manipulate their flight path anyway if need be by putting something there that kind of blocks them and will make them fly up before they fly forward.
I was advised to not let anyone go barefoot out there though.
I don't know if this works but someone on a bee forum who has children said that he put a flag in the grass near the hives so that the bees get use to movement from the wind blowing the flag.
It could be worth a try.
I have explained the situation to the kids and I think they will be fine.They have gotten stung in my yard already when my husband was mowing and a bunch of bees flew up out of the grass as Aidan was riding his bike nearby and he got a few stings.
Another day Caleb was leaning on an old metal milk jug and a few bees flew out and stung his stomach.
So at least they don't have so much fear of the unknown, they have been stung and they know it hurts but its not as bad as their imaginations would probably make them think had they never been stung.
My son can't wait to get the bees, he got his own hive and is beyone ecstatic. I don't know who is more excited about getting bees, but I think its him.
He got a bee suit for Christmas and he looked so cute in it.
He loves to read the bee books I get and yesterday when the Bee Culture magazine came in the mail he grabbed it before I could.
He makes me read everything to him and he asks a million questions.

Oh I meant to tell you karen, you asked a question about a hive with twigs.
Yes they can make a hive out of almost anything.They use to use bee skeps back in the day, baskets, pottery etc.
On the forum I am on they have some very interesting pictures of colonies they have found living in some very strange places.