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Beekeeping - New and exciting additions

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pain

GotMead Owner
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Apr 5, 1996
1,698
18
38
North Carolina
gotmead.com
A lot of folks have asked for beekeeping info. Well, thanks to HoneyRun Apiaries (http://www.honeyrunapiaries.com) and Tim Arheit, we now have some very *valuable* beekeeping info!

If you mouse over the Beekeeping menu item, you'll see Beekeeping News. Mouse over that, and you'll see we now have a current news feed on the beekeeping world, and a list of upcoming beekeeping events around the world.

Coming soon: A worldwide list of beekeeping associations.

Thanks Tim!
 

beeboy

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 29, 2004
350
1
0
70
Port Orange, Florida, USA
Just added three hives to my beeyard, gives a total of four, yipee, major expansion ;D. If anybody needs tips on beekeeping let me know I'm more than happy to talk bees
 

kace069

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 21, 2004
470
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46
Hey beeboy how long have you been at it? I am planning on ading two more colonies this year giving me a total of 4 too. My bees made it through the winter and I can't wait to start supperin g in may!
 

beeboy

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 29, 2004
350
1
0
70
Port Orange, Florida, USA
Been a keeper of the bees since the early 90's in Pennsylvania. lost my hives to mites in '96 and got out of it till 2000 when I started up again. have had one or two hives since then. Just moved to Florida in June, brought one hive down and decided to add three more, will need more equipment if I set up any more hives. Wintering is a lot easier on the bees down here even with the mites and small hive beetles. I've been using deeps with nine frames for brood and honey, it is easier to get the frames out without stiring up the bees. Also have a bunch of shallow supers for honey production, a deep super full of honey gets close to 100 lbs which is tough to handle, ended up screwing pieces of 1x2 on the sides of all my deeps for an extra handle. How long have you been beekeeping Kace069?, what type of equipment do you use and where are you located. Luck with your hives and watch out for the mites.
 

kace069

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 21, 2004
470
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46
I am in Michigan and I am entering my 3rd year as a hobbyist. Luckily I have met a local commercial beekeeper who has taken me under his wing. So I am learning a lot. I am using deeps with 10 frames but I am going to go to 9 frames for the same reason. Just waiting for the right time to reverse my brood chambers.
Lost my first colony to AFB.
I bet over wintering is easier in Florida, both of my colonies made it through the winter here. No problems with hive beetles here but lots of mites! Actually one of my hives that went into the witner with a pretty bad infestation looks pretty clean right now.
Other than that I am using shallows for honey, which I got my first harvest last year of 35# o well got two established colonies now. All they have to do is draw out comb for honey! Plus I will probably swap out some frames for the new colonies this year. But I am holding out for nuc's, haven't ordered any bees this year so I am crossing my fingers right now that I will get a nuc.
I love keeping bees. Stings aren't as good as a mead buzz, but I will take some stings for some really cheap mead.
Besides my day job is that of a welder, and welding burns hurt more and longer than a silly old bee sting. Got a week old burn healing right now. Probably have another week to go on it.

My boss uses mediums for honey supers and I can only imagine what a deep weighs. I must have moved a 1000 mediums loaded with honey last summer. Literaly.

It is great that I got to meet someone to teach me everything the books don't tell you. I'm really lucky.

So good luck with the girls Beeboy. Gonna get in on some OB in Florida?
 

beeboy

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 29, 2004
350
1
0
70
Port Orange, Florida, USA
Don't know if I'll get any orange blossom, no orchards in the area. I found an old beekeeper who mananages 300 hive a bit south and he says that the big honey flow is from saw palmetto which gives a darker full flavored honey. Sounds perfect for mead ;D. I'll miss the honey from PA, got a nice crop from Tulip populars and a late summer flow of Golden Rod. AFB can be rough, I always lost a hive over winter when in Pennsylvania, mainly from starvation even though there was plenty of honey in the hive. The cluster didn't move around enough and ran out of food. Ended up using the little flat bird bath de-icers as heaters in the bottom of the hives, a crazy idea that worked.
Not worried about stings, a couple can be good for you, as you pointed out if you weld you get burnt, if you woodwork you will get cut, just finished healing up a deep cut on my thumb from a band saw, ouch. Luck with the hives and treat for those mites.
 

pain

GotMead Owner
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Apr 5, 1996
1,698
18
38
North Carolina
gotmead.com
I haven't got any hives yet, but I'm considering doing it this year.

Meanwhile, I'm saving my pennies for a trip to http://www.munrohoney.com"]Munro Honey[/url]where I'll do an interview with them and get some honey, and then head home to visit my family in Onekama, MI (about an hour south of Traverse City) and pick up some honey from the guy that sells in bulk from my great-grandfather's old apple farm.

Guess I'd better take the pickup.......
 

kace069

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 21, 2004
470
0
0
46
Beeboy,
Tylosin is a great new anitbiotic for the girls for AFB. The FDA just approved it for bee use, but I know some that have already been using it.It goes under the brand name Tylan and it is in the new Mann Lake catalog. Or check your local vet, the vet down the street from me sells it too. He charges $1 more than Mann Lake but hey no shipping charge. I had my first colony analyzed and the strain of AFB they had was resistant to Terrmaycin. So Tylan should work for a few more years.

Vicky go for the bees, it is such a rewarding hobby, that is if everything goes well.
I got a great picture to show how docile the bees are but I don't know how to post it. Help!
 

pain

GotMead Owner
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Apr 5, 1996
1,698
18
38
North Carolina
gotmead.com
I'm going to do some homework, hook up with my friend Jeff, who is on my Civil War Skirmishing team, and happens to be the Ag agent for honey for NC.....
 

David Baldwin

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 29, 2004
860
1
0
Grand Rapids, MI
As of this morning, I am one of the newest excided additions to beekeeping. I have three hives that we got set up early this week and the packages of bees arrived yesterday.

This morning in spite of dreary weather I was able to successfully install my packages. Well, we'll know in a few days if it was successful. I didn't squash too many of the little ladies, and managed to stay safetly within the protection of my bee suit and goatskin gloves.

My father-in-law stood by with a digital camera. He was only wearing a ballcap, white sweatshirt, and jeans. He tried to take a self portrait of a bee that had landed on his ear. I think it flew off before he got the picture...

I was very surprised by how gentle these bees were - especially considering their treatment over the past few days.

Time to quit before I write on all day.

David
 
T

The Honey Farmer

Guest
Guest
YeeHaw David, Now you belong to a very strange brotherhood. Welcome!!
Be cool, Dennis 8)
 

kace069

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 21, 2004
470
0
0
46
For anyone that doesn't have a good understanding of just how docile honeybees are take a look at this pic.
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/kace069/detail?.dir=757d&.dnm=4887.jpg&.src=ph

I like to use this pic on adults who are scard of bees, I say hey look a 10 year old isn't scared and you are? I used it on my new neighbor last weekend when I finally met him. He didn't seem concerned about the bees but I wanted to give him an idea of how nice they are. I showed him the pic then took him out to the hive and opened it up to let hime look inside. No smoker no equipment. So we stood there for a few minutes talking and looking inside the colony. I closed it up with no incident and then told him that it was my mean colony and my other one was nicer.
Honey bees do get a really bad rap and its a shame. Most people think that if it is black and yellow it a bee and they are going to get stung. In most cases what they see is yellowjackets. I have a small yard in town and almost never see any bees unless I go out to the colony. But man are the yellow jackets bad around here.
 
T

The Honey Farmer

Guest
Guest
Nice pics. KACE069, I try to tell people about the difference between bees and yellowjackets too. Looking at your bees, are you useing Italian/carniolian cross? Who do you buy your queens from?

Dennis 8)
 

kace069

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 21, 2004
470
0
0
46
Those were italians from what I was told. I bought those ones as a nuc from a local guy. But lost them to AFB. Since then I have bought two packages of italians from Kelley. This year I will be getting nucs (cross my fingers) from the commercial keeper I know. Those will be carniolians. I haven't bought queens, I haven't progressed far enough to start making splits, maybe next year.
 
T

The Honey Farmer

Guest
Guest
Cool dude, Some of the queen breeder's put drone mothers that are carniolian colonies with lots of drone combs therefore lots of carni drones. They raise Italian virgins and cross them with the carni drones so the workers are a hybred hopeing to get the best of both breeds. I guess it works. I buy from Hietkam Honey Bees N. Cal.
Dennis 8)
 

David Baldwin

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 29, 2004
860
1
0
Grand Rapids, MI
KACE,

Those pics are great. Makes me look kinda silly in my moonsuit. But hey I got through my first day without getting stung. I just got a sheet of prints of the photo's my father-in-law took. It's pretty cool. I'll post some when he gets them to me in digital format.

The three packages I got are Italian's from Dadant.

I was a nervous wreck opening the first package, but was on a roll by the time I wrapped up the third.

David
 

kace069

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 21, 2004
470
0
0
46
Yup, the first package is like that, nerve racking. Congrats on your new hobby, you will love it. I would suggest going out and inspect at least one of the colonies once a week. That way you get to see how the bees work and get used to working with them.
They are really gentle, more than once i have worked my colony in only a t-shirt and shorts. Mind you my two colonies are 20 miles apart, I probably wouldn't do that with 2 or more, I would at least put on some pants. ;)

Here is a tip on the smoker, use pine needles, they are cheap and work great, and you can get your smoker started quick. My books told me to start with little twigs and get some coals going, its nonsense. Pine needles are the way to go.

Here is a link to a bee keeping forum with lots of great info.
http://www.beesource.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi

There is a lot of information and some links to videos there. My only problem with that forum is that the people there aren't as nice as the people here at GM. I relied on this website alot when I first started, but it always seemed I got really bad attitudes from some with my questions. They don't seem newbee friendly. I have had many talk down to me with my newbee questions. With that said,I rarely visit that site now and they are asking for donations to keep it running. I would donate some money but their attitudes have turned me off to the idea.
I know there is a few of us here and everyone is so eager to help each other out, so let us have all your questions.

BTW more than a couple of the video links are in German..lol some in English, but even if you don't understand what they are saying its a lot of help to see how others work bees.

BTW again..lol When I first started making mead is when I began to take an interest in beekeeping so I went to the library and they had a how to video there, it might be worth checking out your local library. Unfortuneatley I didn't have anywhere to put bees so it got held off for a few years.
Good Luck and have fun!
 
T

The Honey Farmer

Guest
Guest
Hi KACE, just a note here on smoker fuel, there was a guy in one of the mags. that stated Cedar shaveings as fuel kills mites. I buy it at Wally World in the pet dept. I can't say if it really works but it smells nice.
You can sure tell it's spring, the beekeepers are coming out of the woodwork!
Get ready all you Mazers the honey flow is about to start!


Be cool, Dennis 8)
 
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