Honey Bees?

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trinityoaks

trinityoaks

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Anyone here keep honey bees? I'm looking into bees and equipment as we speak, hoping to get a hive going by early fall (the place I want to buy my bees from is sold out until September).
 
My brother was wanting to start a hive. I told him to put it in their yard in town. He said that it would be best at my place. The point being none of us like to be stung so I'm not seeing it happening. If you do get yours up and going keep us posted with pictures.

Best of luck. :good-luck:
 
My grandpa used to and I've looked in to it but I'm highly allergic. Our town and many others also specifically have laws against bee hives.
 
We had bees for a few years until they died from colony collapse. We are going to start over- we still have all the equipment. If you have questions, I may be able to answer them.
 
We've got three hives on the farm

We started out with a friendly, high honey, commercial variety the first year but they got nosema and died :(

Next year we tried again with the same variety and they did well but failed in their second year to colony collapse likey aggravated by varroa mites

I told my dad to buy a nuc from the guy down the road - his bees are nasty, quick to swarm and from feral stock (he would remove wild hives for people) - and they are doing GREAT !! And we've split the hives twice

We really just want them for pollination and occasionally raid them for honey but try to be as hands off as possible - just like rabbits there are breeds of bee to suit different husbandry styles :)
 
Beekeeper10 has bees, and so does MSD. Beekeeper helped MSD capture a swarm. :)

We would like to get into bees eventually, like Dood, for pollination and the occasional honey binge.
 
trinityoaks":ujlb17tf said:
Anyone here keep honey bees? I'm looking into bees and equipment as we speak, hoping to get a hive going by early fall (the place I want to buy my bees from is sold out until September).
Click to expand...

We keep bees
We also sell beekeeping equipment in my shop and should have nucs available later in the spring when they split.

__________ Sat Apr 11, 2015 11:40 pm __________

Marinea":ujlb17tf said:
Oh, forgot to add- check this out:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flow-hive-honey-on-tap-directly-from-your-beehive

Honey on tap. Very cool idea.
Click to expand...

Yeah, we saw that a while back. It's new tech and very pricey. If it were considerably less expensive, we would get a couple of frames or so to play with. We're interested to see what the feedback is on them in practical use.

We do have some reservations about them, regarding how well they stand up to being gummed up with bur comb over time and whether it makes it any more difficult to inspect hives.
 
just like rabbits there are breeds of bee to suit different husbandry styles
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Yea, I can get a very calm variety of Italian honey bees nearby and maybe it would be fine. I only get a local reaction and not anaphylaxis. If I got stung on the hand or other extremity in the past I've just had to deal with some annoying swelling. My last ankle sting swelled half way up my calf and ballooned my foot so I couldn't really walk for awhile but otherwise no harm came of it. However, it would only take that one odd sting to the upper body or neck to potentially close my airway. As a child I was not allowed within so much distance of the hives themselves for that reason. They would bring the honey across the field for us to drain through the machine and eat raw combs. I just can't stand commercial sugar goo from a store. Doesn't matter where it came from and the quality of the place. It's all far too filtered and processed in to some kind of uniform sweet but otherwise flavorless goo. Honey has multiple flavors and slight variations in texture. It should be a complex thing. Not sugar goo.

Unfortunately my husband is useless for raising bees because he gave himself a bee phobia from poking too many honey and bumble bees as a child. I think he partially deserves it but it is frustrating sometimes. Stop bouncing around or the dang bee really is going to end up stinging you. :lol:
 
I keep bees for the farm I work at. We lost one give to bees this last winter, by my top bad and the farm's remaining Langstroth Are taking off right now with the dandilions and fruit trees blooming. The top bad give is inhabited by carniolans, they are sma, dark, and very well mannered girls. The Langstroth is a split off my friend's hive that she caught from a wild swarm. These girls are sweet, calm, and produce honey like crazy, so I can't wait to divide the hive here in a few weeks.

Best advice I can give is to get a bee keeping mentor in your area. All areas are different in keeping habits Nd methods that work, so your best source of info is to check in with bee people in your area and see what works for you.
 
A mentor would be great to have and make sure you have at least two hives, so you can compare them to each other. We have Italian mixed breed bees, they've mixed with some of the feral bees we've wrangled. They're mostly very gentle bees and good producers, but some of our hives are testy.
 
I really want to try keeping bees. I have done a bit of research on them. There was a bee meeting on Monday for the Travis county bee keeping club that I ended up missing that was going to show how to build some inexpensive hives. I may try and build some that I saw on the internet and just put them out and see if it attracts some wild swarms. I am not the type that is scared of bees (or wasps) so I am the one that has to catch them if they get in the house.
 
cmfarm":25qx2rnk said:
I really want to try keeping bees. I have done a bit of research on them. There was a bee meeting on Monday for the Travis county bee keeping club that I ended up missing that was going to show how to build some inexpensive hives. I may try and build some that I saw on the internet and just put them out and see if it attracts some wild swarms. I am not the type that is scared of bees (or wasps) so I am the one that has to catch them if they get in the house.
Click to expand...

Unless you have some comb in there, ready for the bees, it's unlikely you will attract a random swarm. If you put comb in, you're more likely to attract wax moths or some other type of flying insect (wasp, hornet).

It would be much better to set up a 'nuc' box, with wax foundation and keep it somewhere cool and dry (indoors), then put the word out that you're looking for a swarm. You can take the nuc box to a swarm if you find one, and they MIGHT go into it, or you might be able to collect them in a box and put them into your nuc.

Best of luck!
 
Back in the 80's I had about 50 colonies got tired of working them and sold everything. Decided I wanted some more last year so I got ready for swarm season. I know where two bee trees are I set a swarm trap on both on March 25 checked them on Saturday April 11 I had a swarm in both. I will retrieve them in a week or two. They are about 30 miles from here. The bees have been in these two trees for quite a few years. Most peoples hive's died out but these two bee trees survived so I call these survivor bees. They are smaller than the normal size honey bee you see from bees kept in hives by man. I think in the wild bees they make there honey comb smaller. They are not as bright in color either so I do not know what race of bee they are. I am going to put them in top bar hives.
 
Yup, you can catch swarms like that if you put the hive near a spot where you know bees will swarm. Nice job :)
 
Syberchick70":3qf6bnbg said:
wamplercathy":3qf6bnbg said:
Marinea":3qf6bnbg said:
Oh, forgot to add- check this out:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flow-hive-honey-on-tap-directly-from-your-beehive

Honey on tap. Very cool idea.
Click to expand...

That is amazing. Has anyone here here tried it? If it really works I just might start my own hive.
Click to expand...

Read my response to that post.
I'm not sure I would sink the money into it yet. $$$$
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I would only get it if it were cost effective, and once I've read some reviews. I'm not one to just jump into anything. :reading1: :lol: :lol:

It took me over a year to get into rabbits. :oops: And I not mind getting bit or scratched on occasion. I hate getting stung :x soooo, I'm not seeing bees any time soon. :lol: :lol:
 
Syberchick70":nl2250k5 said:
Yup, you can catch swarms like that if you put the hive near a spot where you know bees will swarm. Nice job :)
Click to expand...
Thank You!!

I am not in it for the honey or the money. I just want to move some up my way and see if I can help populate this area with bees. I think I will just hive them in TBH and if I can get some swarms off them each year I know where a few trees are I can establish some bee trees in.

I have been watching the two bee trees for a few years and decided I just might get lucky and catch a swarm in a swarm trap well I did better than expected I got two I want them to settle in before I move them. I have been checking on the traps since setting them out and was surprised to see bees in them. They are on private property in the country so they will be somewhat safe from many people seeing them.

Needless to say I am excited about these bees I know a little on splitting a hive and queen rearing. So luck may be on my side.
 

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