Bees

[Ky hills]

Several folks have some bees around here. The best honey that I have had was Sourwood honey from the mountains a couple counties east of here.
It amuses me that sometimes on warmer winter days bees will be flying around my corn wagon in the barn. I guess they are drawn to the feed, but I don't think they can eat it. The dog tries to bite at them, he would probably regret it if he ever got one of them in his mouth.

 

[Rafter S]

Orange honey is also good. There are bee keepers here that move with the blooms on the orange trees and I think they may charge a small fee for providing bees, and one year a truck transporting about 40 hives and wrecked on the interstate that was a big mess. My grandfather had bees and he only used the hat and netting and smoke, bee stings didn't seem to bother him.

My grandfather said they didn't hurt him either. He said if you have ever had "bee fever" which I understood to be a fever resulting from bee stings, that the stings didn't hurt anymore. IDK. I took his word for it.

I don't know about "bee fever", but I do remember that when I went to work for the beekeeper he told me starting out to work bare-handed until I'd gotten 2 or 3 stings, then put on my gloves for the rest of the day. I did that, and after about 10 days (maybe a little longer; it was a long time ago) it was like someone had flipped a switch. I had built up an immunity to the venom. It would still hurt when I got stung, but only for a few seconds, and wouldn't swell at all. Within a minute or two of being stung the symptoms would be completely gone. Back the I'd rather have 5 honeybee stings than 1 from a fire ant.

 

[cowgirl8]

Since this post started, i lost one hive. They swarmed and it was totally my fault. Lesson learned. Checked my bees before cutting hay all day, spent round after round pouting... Then the next morning a neighbor FB posted a picture of a swarm on her fence. Luckily i was able to get a hold of her early and darted over there and vacuumed them up and had them in a box in less than 30 min. Spent my day cutting hay going round and round with a smile....i had 4 hives again, maybe
Checked my hives yesterday... 3 hives have baby bees chewing out of their capped beds. I was totally excited to see this first hand. My trashcan bees queen is a egg laying fool. 2 large frames end to end with either eggs or capped brood. They are still mean, but i can deal with that.
New swarm, been sitting at the edge of the yard, vacuum still laying next to it. Opened it up yesterday, first frame i pulled, full of eggs. I let out a sigh of relief. Finally, maybe i'm figuring this out.
Beekeeper bees, full of brood and honey, they know how to make honey.
Forest bees, full of brood and they are making some honey...
So, Friday, i was down to 3 hives, a week later, back up to 4.....
Been getting a few ideas on making custom hives. I saw a picture of a indoor glass front hive. That got me to thinking. What if i had a hive that was inside, and the supers were made in such a way that you could drain honey from it without opening it. I know there is a person who has a outdoor hive with a system i dont think will work consistently..So my brain has been in overdrive working up a plan that will be consistent and you dont even have to go outside...just have a honey spigot in your house..

 

[hurleyjd]

I have bought a lot of honey from this company. https://www.dutchgoldhoney.com/

 

[hurleyjd]

top bar hive plans supposed to be able to make a lot of honey. https://mistressbeek.com/2009/05/03/dia ... -bar-hive/

 

[cowgirl8]

A friend of mine went to do a removal. Said she stood under their cluster and they were immediately aggressive. I'm assuming she had on the new shirt she bought with a hood, but somehow they got in her suit and stung her all over her head. Maybe she just hadnt suited up yet, i dunno.... She messaged me and said she's done with removals.. I feel her pain. I had ptsd from the bumble bees, ground hornets and red wasp attacks...taken me some time to dissociate the honey bees from them.. She thinks they were Africanized, not sure what the homeowner will do or if the bees will just move on. My trashcan bees can be this aggressive, i plan to switch out queens next spring. The little azz hats got me though my suit again. They warned me, so next time i'll listen.

 

[Rafter S]

A friend of mine went to do a removal. Said she stood under their cluster and they were immediately aggressive. I'm assuming she had on the new shirt she bought with a hood, but somehow they got in her suit and stung her all over her head. Maybe she just hadnt suited up yet, i dunno.... She messaged me and said she's done with removals.. I feel her pain. I had ptsd from the bumble bees, ground hornets and red wasp attacks...taken me some time to dissociate the honey bees from them.. She thinks they were Africanized, not sure what the homeowner will do or if the bees will just move on. My trashcan bees can be this aggressive, i plan to switch out queens next spring. The little azz hats got me though my suit again. They warned me, so next time i'll listen.

Why wait until next spring?

 

[cowgirl8]

The hive is building really good. It's in a remote location so they are fine for now. I'd rather get a strong hive going first.

 

[cowgirl8]

Harvested my first honey..It is very very dark but has a great flavor. Technically, this is a hive that was given to me that was working. It was an established hive, but neglected. When i got it home, a week later i decided the queen was lost in transit...So i harvested the honey and merged the hive with another. I got 3 quarts out of 3 frames, froze the whole box of frames and will dole out the frames between all my hives later on.

 

[lavacarancher]

My old Dad raised bees for many years and I would help him rob the hives from time-to-time and never got stung nor did I use any protective gear. Then one year Dad was recovering a swarm that had landed in a tree nearby the hives and the limb broke before he could get the super under them and he got stung scores of times. Took him to the hospital where he almost died. Doc's told him if he ever got stung again it would probably kill him. I haven't messed with them since. And there are those bees that are NOT domesticated and WILL kill you if not careful.

 

[greybeard]

Seems like every time I pick up a newspaper, Honey Solutions on I-10 in Baytown is under investigation for illegally importing Chinese honey. They used to go by a different name, but I can't remember what it was. Hignite's maybe?
I try to stay away from bees..

 

[cowgirl8]

I made a vacuum that is attached to a brood box with my merging divider.. now when i get a removal i just suck them into this box, transport them to where i want...If i'm sure i have no queen i set onto a box i have, and in a day or two i release the new bees into another group.... People do it with news paper and sugar water, but bees go everywhere, its so unorganized and you really have no control....With my merging divider i get every bee and merge when i want them to merge... Got a call today from the chief of police, said there was a house to be torn down that had bees..Not interesting in doing a cut out, so i'll just suck up as many as i can and merge....then take what honey i can get to...

 

[dannelbello]

Informative post for readers who love beekeeping and bee removal in San Diego like me.