Wondering if anyone keeps honeybees?
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Wondering if anyone keeps honeybees?
I have tried to start a couple of times. Build boxes and equipment needed. Then got busy with work and missed the deadline to order bees. There is a club near by i need to go join to get some help.
My wife’s been wanting to keep some bees for awhile now. I think probably soon we will take the plunge.
I have a bunch of chickens why not a bunch of bees
my neighbor raises/keeps them, expensive hobby he has had at least 6 of his hives die and that's a lot of bees and not cheap to replace.. this year I think he added 5 more hives and had his best year for honey in 3-4 yrs. If we dont quit using so many pesticides we are not going to have any bees left, heard scientists think they've found out that's why bees are having a hard timing fighting off that fungus that attacks/kills them.
Something has to give
I have been keeping bees for about 10 years now really rewarding when it works out but can be frustrating as well ccd is a real problem due to pesticides I lose about 10 percent of my hives every year as already mentioned it is a expensive hobby but when you get a good yield it is very easy to sell that liquid gold lol the problem I have always had is you can’t produce enough people are crazy about buying local honey
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I grew up close to a family that made there living selling honey
I can believe that it amazes me when people find out you have bees the first thing out of there mouth is do you have any for sell around here most charge $16 a quart I normally charge $13 but people will buy all you can sell
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I just paid 48.00 for 3 quarts, it had went up about 4 dollars a quart since last time I bought it from him. But I know how much it costs him to maintain his bees so doesnt bother me too much plus I know where it came from.
Yeah plus almost all honey you buy from stores like Walmart or grocery is not real honey it is water down using corn syrup to increase to amount of volume they can produce about the only way to get real raw honey is to buy it from a beekeeperQuote:
Originally Posted by dbowling
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I decided to get a few chickens to have some fresh eggs. I now have somewhere around 70. I wonder how man hives I will end up with?
I have a friend and his daughter that raise bees. They know I like the honeycomb and always add a big chunk in the mason jar when I trade Sac A Lait for honey. I think I'll go get me a big spoon of that comb and chew on it now that I'm thinking about it.
Local honey is delicious. Lot of hard work to get it. I watched a video of the bees they are hard working little critters
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I looked at some of the observation hives that they have. You can see the bees work and build the comb.
Good stuff, I want mine raw. Straight from the hive.
Ever try using the bee-moth grubs for panfish bait?
u2s
A female worker be lives about 42 days due to the fact they literally work themselves to death there wings become so brittle from the amount of flying they do they just can’t make it back to the hive. Now that’s a worker lol
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[QUOTE=frugalfisherman;3903652]A female worker be lives about 42 days due to the fact they literally work themselves to death there wings become so brittle from the amount of flying they do they just can’t make it back to the hive. Now that’s a worker lol
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That job doesn't have a good retirement plan
[QUOTE=DockShootinJack;3903656]Thats the truth lolQuote:
Originally Posted by frugalfisherman
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I built 2 swarm traps last year. I had some interest in them. Thought I had a swarm moving in and then they disappeared
Whatever the queen does the rest do if you can catch the queen you can control the whole swarm. When I trap a swarm I just make sure to get her and then all the others will go right in with problem
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About 60 years ago my dad found a wild hive in a old Oak tree out in a field we were only able to get abut half of the honey and hive --- most of the Old hive and Honey was Black and real strong tasting -- that is the only Wild Hive I have ever seen except for when a hive moved into the wall of a metal building what the whole corner of the building would have to be removed to find the Queen and Hive.... what I found most Interesting The bees Water source and the smell is how bees find their hive. There was a Peach orchard about a mile away .. Bees Pollinate then they use Fruit tree sprays in clouds to sell their Peaches ,,, then Corn growers spray so much I am afraid to eat the stuff
Absolutely trueQuote:
Originally Posted by Fish on Line
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I wish they could quit spraying the food we eat
Me and my wife have been researching getting bees for the last couple years. This year we actually got started on building some of our own bee boxes. I'm thinking we are going to try and order bees this coming year to get them around spring time. We are not trying to get into it for being able to sell honey but mostly just for the environmental purpose of it. We have several fruit trees around our house and we always do a pretty good sized garden every year so we are hoping it will help with production for us plus help the environment. Hopefully we can get enough honey for ourselves and maybe some for Christmas presents for family but not really looking to make a business out of it. Does anybody that's been doing it have any suggestions for someone who is brand new to it? I know we have watched alot of YouTube videos by a guy named Fredrick Dunn and believe we have learned alot but just curious if there is anything that someone who has been doing it would say is a have to know thing for a beginner?
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I've been at it for about 8 yrs. The best advice I can give is join your local bee keepers association, talk with local beekeepers, don't necessarily belive what everyone tells you. There are people out there to make money. So do alot of reading in books not YouTube. On beekeepers way is not your way. After 8 yrs. with maybe $2,000 invested, I lost every hive I bought out of Georgia I'm in N.C.
I did everything I was told to do didn't work. Bee's always died in winter because of varroa mites. I tried the gassing with OA, it does work.
IMO, I haven't bought bee's from out of state in the last 4 yrs. and I'm doing fine , with 5 hives this yr. going into winter. First 4 yrs. buying bee's , I never had bee's in spring. So your local feral bee's are your best option. You can build little 5 frame nuc boxes , buy one old drawn comb frame from locals , place in swarm trap with some new foundation frames , and a McDonald's drinking straw cut 3" long , stuff a little cotton ball in each end with 2 drops of lemongrass extract and wait, I can also use a Boardman sugar feeder next to swarm trap early in spring to attract lookers.
Just got my first 2 hives this spring. Everything that I didn't want to happen my first year of beekeeping did. Had a huge die out on my first nuc and barely saved them the first 2 weeks of having them. 2nd hive was a cut out. Had them in the hive for about a month and she swarmed on me. Ordered new queen but it took Don the fat bee man just over 3 weeks to get her to me. Good queen but probably won't do business with him again.
Ended up getting a gallon my 1st year, was expecting more but it seemed like it was one thing after another.
Tips I've learned so far.
Drawn out comb is worth it's weight in gold.
It's no problem selling honey.
It's not as expensive to start up as fishing is.
Figure about $1500 for 2 hives starting out if you buy nucs and all wooden ware, suit, accessories.
I started out saying 2 hives and that's all I want/ need. WRONG. Gonna be hard next year to stay with just 2 hives.
Watch/ learn/ train with people that have the same goal as you. Don, Barnyard, Jason, commercial beekeepers, and all other youtubers have a very different agenda than what you do. I'm not in it for the honey either so my way of keeping vs the way someone that's breeding queens or commerical beeks is very different.
Get bees you'll enjoy it.
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I have bought a lot of the equipment. The wooden ware. I need to order bee this spring and start a few hives
I kept bees for 6 years. I started with 3 hives and ended up with 15 hives and 20 nucs before I sold out. Year 4 was the year I really expanded in order to start selling bees in year 5. Very early spring of year 5, I found American Foul Brood in one hive. I got the inspector out and he told me it was AFB. I disagreed. Two weeks later I get him back out and he brings a retired inspector with him. The retired guy agreed with me and by then I had it in both hives on either side of the first one. We sent samples off and they arrived at Beltsville the day the lab was shut down due to funding a couple years ago. I burned 5 hives that night and burned all my used wooden ware and old frames. I didn't want to take the risk. I treated the rest of my hives, so I couldn't harvest honey, or sell bees that year. By late summer I was back up to 15 hives and 20 nucs. That next spring I had 15 nucs and 5 hives sold to people all over the state. I was waiting for the hives to build in strength before the buyers picked them up. I had pick ups scheduled to start within a week, then an F1 tornado came through our place and scattered all the nucs and 5 hives across the pasture behind my yard. I cleaned up all I could, called all the folks to cancel. After a month of rebuilding the hives, I sold every one of the. I sold all my wooden ware to another beek. All I kept was my ol Dadant smoker.
DockShootinJack, I'd recommend buying nucs, not packages of bees.
That is a good idea. I build a few traps and hung them under my pole barn. Thought I had a swarm move in kast year. Plenty of activity. Looked like a working hive. Stayed there about 3 days and poof they were gone. . I have a buddy at work wants me to come get a hive ok ut of his dads old truck that has sat for 20 years. They are in the gas tank behind the seat.Quote:
Originally Posted by FurFlyin
Heard the old saying about in for an ounce in for a pound. Not exactly me
In for an ounce in for a ton. Started out last year with 15 chickens. Two died. Girlfriend sold all the eggs they laid and said I can sell as many as they lay. Obviously that sounded like a challenge to me because a new coop and 70 birds later. I have eggs for breakfast. Boy did I show her:banghead
You almost had a hive. Sounds like your trap was in their top couple of choices. I found that 5 frame deep nuc boxes stacked double deep worked best for me for traps. I'd put one frame of old comb in the top, with 4 frames having only starter strips of foundation on them. Don't put full sheets of foundation in the traps, it blocks space.
There is a lure named Swarm Commander, that you put in the traps. It absolutely works.
I had Swarm Commander in those traps. They do like it.Quote:
Originally Posted by FurFlyin
I believe that was one of my problems. No old frames. No slum gum. Nothing to make them really commit.
There is a Coop 20 miles away that has a Bee Keepers club. That meets every month. I need to join. I spent 13 years on an off shift. I bid to a day shift job in May. I can attend the meetings and get some guidance now.
If you can make those meetings, you might talk someone into giving you an old frame of comb. You could bait several traps with one old brood comb. Just break off pieces and lay it on the floor of the trap. If you can't get any, buy some beeswax, melt it and paint some inside the traps. I don't think I have any anywhere, but if I run across an old frame of comb that I might have left, I'll send it to you.
I have some foundation I bought to make starter strips. Wouldnt that work?Quote:
Originally Posted by FurFlyin
Any wax will help. I would use starter strips no more than 1" wide. Also if and when you do catch a swarm, a foundationless frame of new comb is very, very fragile. Make sure you never hold it in any other direction that 100% vertical at all times. If you tilt it, it will fall out.Quote:
Originally Posted by DockShootinJack
I will have to revamp them this spring. I need to overseed the clover out back also. Brings in the bees and I cut with a bagger mower and take it to the chickens. They love it