Bee keeping

[mr_yan]

Anyone here keep bees?

I've been looking into this for a while and want to jump. Well the real thing I'm waiting for is to make sure our crumb-crunchers aren't allergic to stings.

I've spent the last few days reading about Warre hives. I stumbled on these after thinking a topbar hive would be the route to go.

 

[RonsGarden]

You will need to look into the bylaws in your area to see if you can have a hive on your property. Most towns and cities do not allow them within the city or town limits due to obvious reasons.

 

[Randy]

I would like to have a hive or two, but my daughter didn't like the idea. Her problem though si that she has yellow jackets confused with bees and I cannot convince her that they are vastly different.

 

[Crabbergirl]

I have a hive on my property that belongs to a neighbor. I have always wanted to have bees but just never made the commitment to them.
It is very easy , once the hive is established, you pretty much don't do too much to it.
I love having them here. I have only been stung a handful of times and each time I know where I went wrong. You pretty much have to annoy them in order to get stung

Check with your local Ag agency, most have groups that meet for bee keeping. You would be surprised how popular it is.
Let us know if you get bees. I am all for the pollinators

 

[RonsGarden]

I would like to have a hive or two, but my daughter didn't like the idea. Her problem though si that she has yellow jackets confused with bees and I cannot convince her that they are vastly different.

You could always place them were she wont see them....you know, out of sight, out of mind!

 

[Randy]

It isn't that big an issue with me, Ron. We have bees anyway, but I have never pointed that out to her. I don't know where their hive is or how far the bees will travel. But I would like to have a source of honey without having to pay the store prices. But I could buy a lot of honey for what I would invest in supplies and the garb that would keep me from being stung. I do have a friend that I visit occasionally and they just got a hive. It was the wife's idea and she will take care of the bees. Sounds like a pretty good arrangement to me.

 

[Wombat]

I had native bee hives a few years ago, they're a lot easier to look after as the native bees here have no sting, the honey was delicious and no stings is a big advantage!

Here's a pic of the size differential between native and honey bees

 

[Randy]

I went to a county fair (Placer County, CA) between 45 and 50 years ago and I went through the 4-H building and talked with a young lad about bees. It was such a pleasure to have him explain his project to me and he really had gained a lot of knowledge about bees and bee keeping. Since my wife is German, I had to tell her the difference between the Italian bees and the German bees. Naturally, I had to exaggerate somewhat.

 

[Crabbergirl]

Wow John, what a size difference. I like the no sting part. I just got stung this morning on the lip from a wild bee, well I guess it was wild it was about 1/2 mile from my house and a mile from another kept hive it came from the woods and went right for my mouth. Not fun.

 

[mr_yan]

So Randy the German bees are more productive and build better hives and the Italian ones constantly run late and go hungery in the winter right?

 

[Randy]

I didn't remember that part. I might have to own up to my wife and tell her that. I was having fun teasing her the other night about the German bees being more aggressive. Of course it was really stretching it, but I told her the Italian bees were lovers. Truth be known, the worker bees do not have love on their mind ever. The drones (male bees) and the queen though are a different matter. All the bees that are out gathering nectar and pollen are girls and all they do is work.

 

[lynpenny]

All the bees that are out gathering nectar and pollen are girls and all they do is work.

Does this sound familiar?

 

[RonsGarden]

Some things never change!

 

[Randy]

That's about the size of it. LOL