Something Interesting... Need a new Hobby?

[Old Ironsights]

We just got in a couple dozen skids of product from one of our suppliers... "Miller/Little Giant". The big deal this spring seems to be... Bees. We are now selling complete "home beekeeping kits" with everything but the bees in part as an (as advertised) effort to fight Colony Collapse and increase the overall population of pollinating bees.

Might not be a bad thing to set up a Hive if it really helps AND you can get some sweet too,,, (that and Honey is an insanely good poultice and preservative...)

[Lassiter]

Sounds like a perfect opportunity for me to get stung............

[AJMD429]

Used to keep bees. No big deal just get a suit and zip-on bonnet. Rent a separator or just harvest with comb and replace base go bees to rebuild.

[Pete44ru]

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What a buzz - it sounds like a sure-fire recipe to bee happy, IOW, it's the Bee's knee's.


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[Griff]

With my luck, I'd end up with a bunch of Africanized bees!!!

[vancelw]

We have a bee supply here. I've considered running a hive or two as a hobby. But I hardly eat honey anymore since the sugar seems to bee-line right to my system... hits me harder than any other sugar. Not diabetic, but it must be on the horizon.

I also figure I'd lose my appetite for honey if I had to clean all the dead bees out of the vomit myself

[Paladin]

I Kept bees on the farm when I was growing up not hard and the honey was a real plus. The have a better way than what I did you do not have to open the hive to get honey now.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2015 ... r_for.html

[Old Ironsights]

I Kept bees on the farm when I was growing up not hard and the honey was a real plus. The have a better way than what I did you do not have to open the hive to get honey now.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2015 ... r_for.html

That... is... amazingly cool.

[rbertalotto]

Interested....Where and how do you buy the bees once you get the hive set up?

[yooper2]

My neighbor (about 1.5 miles as a crow flies) keeps bees and has a little hive box set up in the back corner of one of my hay fields. I do no work other than keeping critters away from it. She gives me honey and all the beeswax I could ever need for bullet lube. Her honey goes for quite a bit of money at the local Co-op. If I wasn't allergic to them I would probably get into it. Smells better than raising pigs.



Eric

[AJMD429]

Interested....Where and how do you buy the bees once you get the hive set up?

Mine were just mailed (seriously - maybe UPS, I don't know) to a local supplier, but when I accidentally killed my queen-bee (go figure, 50,000 in the hive and which one do I manage to squish...??? ), I just ordered one and it came in a little wooden matchbook sized thing with a hole plugged by a piece of candy; the little box was in a manila envelope with some 1/4" holes punched in it. When it came the UPS/Mail/FedEx guy said there were bees swarming all around the truck and we wondered if it was due to some pheromone thing.

You put the queen in the hive and by the time they eat through the candy she 'smells' like the hive so they don't kill her, but instead worship her...

[gundownunder]

I first saw that video on the flow hives a few weeks ago and thought it was revolutionary. Turn a tap and get honey, what could be easier.
If you want to populate a hive there are two ways that I know of, one, buy a swarm, and two, go out and catch a swarm when they migrate. Every so often a hive splits and the split moves away. You will find them hanging in a tree or under the eaves or somewhere. When you find them, you collect them. There are youtube videos on how to do it.

[vancelw]

I first saw that video on the flow hives a few weeks ago and thought it was revolutionary. Turn a tap and get honey, what could be easier.
If you want to populate a hive there are two ways that I know of, one, buy a swarm, and two, go out and catch a swarm when they migrate. Every so often a hive splits and the split moves away. You will find them hanging in a tree or under the eaves or somewhere. When you find them, you collect them. There are youtube videos on how to do it.

It is fascinating...A swarm took up residence on a post in the parking lot across from our fire station years ago. I called a local bee keeper and he come out with a special box (I have old-timers...give me a break). He poked around in the hive until he found the queen and put her in the box...then just waited until the rest went after her. I had been leery of bees since getting stung as a child. But I was right in the middle with him while he showed me his craft. He also showed me how to identify the (stingless) drones
Yeah, I got in trouble before the rest of my shift was over