30 replies to this topic

[Floydshaman]

Hey every one. I have been interested in bee keeping for about a year now. I've learned a lot but sort of like the myco world the more you learn the more you find there is to learn!

I was curious if any one else has an apiary or even just a hive or two?

Also would any one enjoy me teaching the little I know amd get a cool bee thread going?

(Quick interruption.. awesome feature on the tapatalk to save a draft of what I wrote ad not have to start over!)

At the risk of sounding like I care about the planet I live on or survival of the species lol it seems very rewarding to help these little beauties make some kind of a come back.

Mush love to my new home.

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[Cuboid]

Hi Floydshaman,
I've been hankering after a hive or 2 for about 3years now. Various circumstances have kept delaying this. We are soon moving to a more rural location and it seems like the right time for a number of other reasons too so I think I'll bee building a hive this winter ready to acquire a colony next spring.
Regards,
Cuboid.

[Spliff]

Hey man,

 

I don't keep bees personally, but I help an apiarist with his hives from time to time. My dad has a hive (which is not the best looked after), but I have been interested in doing a few courses such as queening and other things which are offered by the local Ag college where I live.

 

About 2 weeks ago I removed 60 frames of honey from the apiarist's hives. No troubles. Some get anxious having all the bees buzz ya, but after you do it a bit its really not an issue, they are not interested in you, more so saving the queen and the honey.

 

He also has pollen traps on his boxes, which he collects, dries, and sells for beauty ingredients. I usually get a big ziplock bag full each time I help out, stuff lasts for ages so this last time I got some home grown fish instead. 

 

A spoonful of pollen a morning, your body will thank you. Mix with yogurt if you want a different treat.

 

Would be keen to learn with you.

 

PS. Mushroom and bee interactions? Do you know? Very, very interesting. Varroa mite was not a problem here until recently. It got in on an imported colony. First they set up a quarantine area, which expanded, and expanded, until they pretty much gave up and said its here now, individual apiarists need to manage it.

 

https://www.forbes.c...s/#7081901d5322

[Floydshaman]

Wow! Thank you all for posting a reply! Very exciting info on this mushroom/bee relation paper thank you kindly!

Very exciting that your going rural! I live in a woodsy ski resort town so kinda all rural. I have a nice little hill I could fit a good 10 hives on, probably start with a couple :)

So as to 60 frames?! That's awesome how much did you yield? I have 4 bee keeping books almost here so I'll make sure to post and share lots of good info.

One is bee keeping for dummies latest edition and then I can't remember the others but they are one book 3 volumes and it goes from beginning to advanced teks and it was one of the top three recommended reads. I was also seeing that "back yard bee keeper" is also a supposed must have :)

Wow I'm all stoked now very cool and nice to meet you two! Didn't think I would make new friends so fast hah

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[Floydshaman]

Hey man,

I don't keep bees personally, but I help an apiarist with his hives from time to time. My dad has a hive (which is not the best looked after), but I have been interested in doing a few courses such as queening and other things which are offered by the local Ag college where I live.

About 2 weeks ago I removed 60 frames of honey from the apiarist's hives. No troubles. Some get anxious having all the bees buzz ya, but after you do it a bit its really not an issue, they are not interested in you, more so saving the queen and the honey.

He also has pollen traps on his boxes, which he collects, dries, and sells for beauty ingredients. I usually get a big ziplock bag full each time I help out, stuff lasts for ages so this last time I got some home grown fish instead.

A spoonful of pollen a morning, your body will thank you. Mix with yogurt if you want a different treat.

Would be keen to learn with you.

PS. Mushroom and bee interactions? Do you know? Very, very interesting. Varroa mite was not a problem here until recently. It got in on an imported colony. First they set up a quarantine area, which expanded, and expanded, until they pretty much gave up and said its here now, individual apiarists need to manage it.

https://www.forbes.c...s/#7081901d5322

Oh I forgot to mention and I'll put a video link here soon. I have noticed some of the healthier colonies seem to be fully organic at least as far as youtube is concerned. No Chem or medicine used amd almost no mites.

It's cool coming across peeps who know the lingo :)

Check out "don the fat bee man" I think his name is or just search "fat bee man" on YouTube and he has about 300 vids on every lil trick you can think of. I sub to like 7 different bee channels but he's top 3 as far as info for sure

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[Spliff]

I never did the spinning from the frames, i just do the heavy lifting, lol. But, we took on average 5 frames from each hive, and some we skipped since they had not filled up. But I would say he has about 30 hives.

 

The money, if you are in it for those reasons, is in the pollination, not the honey. Thats just an added bonus. So where I live is big citrus and nut growing area. The orchard owners pay for us to keep our hives in their trees. We have it so that 15 hives are on a flat bed trailer, which we just tow into the required place, un-hich, and let them do their thing. The bonus of being mobile is great. Other people usually load a truck manually! 

 

So we check the hives pretty much every 3 days, and when they get full, I get called in to go take out the honey and replace with empty frames. See, when the hive is full, the bees no longer need to gather pollen for making more, so they just kinda laze about and get fat. By taking honey, we keep them constantly working, and constantly making more workers (thinking that they need to gather more then they already are), which keeps pollination up and the orchard owner happy.

 

Another bonus to keeping bees is that, unlike any other type of agriculture / farming thing to do, you get 2 months off a year! (over winter, no trees, and the bees sort of hibernate). This, in itself, is worth keeping bees.

 

I'll check out the link, thanks, iv got 2 books on bees specifically. One is on back yard bee keeping, which looks fairly old, and the other is a branch off into sting-less native bees, which has info that can be applied where ever. 

 

You know, Australia has over 1500 native species of bees!

[CatsAndBats]

https://mycotopia.ne...ight-with-bees/

 

https://mycotopia.ne...yone-keep-bees/

 

 

 

 

here are a few threads i dug up for ya buddy, enjoy!

 

https://mycotopia.ne...e-a-bee-keeper/

 

https://mycotopia.ne...rs-come-fourth/

 

https://mycotopia.ne...one-tried-mead/

 

https://mycotopia.ne...-honey-warning/

 

https://mycotopia.ne...nd-enthusiasts/

 

 

Just some other bee threads for ya. 

[pharmer]

I am one year into bee keeping. It's an endless learning curve - and much of this must be done before acquiring bees, or you will lose the hive. I'm not kidding. There are a hundred mistakes you can make with your first hive - better to know them before you start.

 

My estimate is that hardware and bees cost me $550.  That's new boxes and necessary tools, and a "package" of bees. After that costs are minimal but pay big in dividends.

 

You cannot go wrong by finding every bee club in your area and attending every course they offer, especially hands on classes.

 

I love these little miracles. They're the most fascinating things, as is the dynamic of the hive. One could easily understand never needing another hobby.

 

BUT

 

it goes so well with gardening............

[Juthro]

I envy you folks that keep bees.  I've got a family history of being allergic to bees. The kind of allergic reaction that requires some of them to carry an Epipen. I don't react that strongly yet, but I have worse reaction then most if I get stung.

So the potential risks outweigh the potential gains for me. But I applaud all of you that make the effort to raise them, and like to read about your bee keeping adventures.

[Floydshaman]

https://mycotopia.ne...ight-with-bees/

https://mycotopia.ne...yone-keep-bees/

here are a few threads i dug up for ya buddy, enjoy!

https://mycotopia.ne...e-a-bee-keeper/

https://mycotopia.ne...rs-come-fourth/

https://mycotopia.ne...one-tried-mead/

https://mycotopia.ne...-honey-warning/

https://mycotopia.ne...nd-enthusiasts/

Just some other bee threads for ya.

This is great thank you so much!

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[Floydshaman]

I am one year into bee keeping. It's an endless learning curve - and much of this must be done before acquiring bees, or you will lose the hive. I'm not kidding. There are a hundred mistakes you can make with your first hive - better to know them before you start.

My estimate is that hardware and bees cost me $550. That's new boxes and necessary tools, and a "package" of bees. After that costs are minimal but pay big in dividends.

You cannot go wrong by finding every bee club in your area and attending every course they offer, especially hands on classes.

I love these little miracles. They're the most fascinating things, as is the dynamic of the hive. One could easily understand never needing another hobby.

BUT

it goes so well with gardening............

That's pretty much what I've come to conclude. I thought it was pretty basic at first then I watched more and more videos and now I'm afraid I would ruin everything if someone just dropped some bees in mg lap!

Thank you all for chiming in! I haven't even gotten into the myco posts because this took off so well :D

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[Floydshaman]

Wanted to Share this since these mites seem to be some of the biggest problems as far as invasive no no's

One thing I don't know.. can't you just keep Asian honey bees since they are immune to the mites? What would be the effect to the environment if any and what about a hybrid? Just thoughts, any one have experience with this thought?

These gates seem like a good idea but I don't like any poisons especially ones made by monstrous corps like bayer...

[Direct Link]

This method would be something I personally would approach initially amd see if the results were satisfactory.

[Direct Link]

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Edited by Floydshaman, 15 October 2017 - 03:58 AM.

[Spliff]

We are talking Varroa mites, right? In that case, it's not a matter of immunity, more like a parasite. Its a mite, a bug, not a virus. However,

 

 

 

Essentially, left untreated in a honey bee colony, they will kill it. All feral and untreated bee colonies will eventually die.

 

From my understanding Varroa originated with the Asian honey bee, and it was the cross breeding with European honey bees that lead to the spread around the world. I can see where the idea of "immunity" could have come from, with...

 

 

 

Varroa have evolved with Apis cerana (Asian honey bees). The impact of Varroa on Asian honey bees is not lethal. The varroa mites normally breed on Asian honey bee drone brood with minimal impact on the Asian honey bee colony

 

As for a hybrid breed that could share this "immunity", I am afraid that is not the case, as there are many types of Varroa, which unfortunately target the varying species of bees.

 

 

 

Varroa mites include a group of species, including V. destructor, V. jacobsoni, V. underwoodi, V. rindereri and un-named species.

 

 

 

 Dr Denis Anderson (CSIRO, Canberra) in a 2000 publication, stated that some varroa were reproducing on honey bees, while other varroa were not. He was able to identify specific varroa that could breed on honey bees and these were named by him as V. destructor. This cross-species infestation of V. destructor on honey bees probably started around 50 years ago. This mite is now widespread throughout Europe, North America and New Zealand. V. jacobsoni is a mite infesting Asian bees throughout Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.

 

The quotes above were provided by the Australian Department of Primary Industries.

https://www.dpi.nsw....arroa-mites.pdf

 

Another excellent resource,

http://beeaware.org....tes/#ad-image-0

 

 

As per your observation about being hesitant on chemicals, especially those by Bayer Monsanto (     ), I support you whole heartily. From my understanding I was lead to believe that it was the fungicides (not pesticides) that lead to colony collapse. Can we draw a link between the before posted interactions between bees and mushrooms in fighting Varroa, and the increased use of fungicides when dusting crops that are then pollinated by bees? I think so.

 

 

 

 There is also the likelihood of the chemicals used for such purposes leaving residues of one form or another in the beeswax and honey.

- DPI

 

https://permaculture..._eid=bafc86f8ec

 

 

How can you get "organic" honey anyway? Do you tie little leashes onto your bees to stop em pollinating non organic plants? 

 

The only way would be to have them in a green house setup, where their area of business (read bees-knees) can be controlled. How big a green house would you need if bees cover many kilometers from the hive?

 

EDIT: The video is great. Is that the Don, the fat bee man? I love how he hands the fogger to the woman, who gets it going in one click!  But I reckon a fogging treatment of a natural product like the one he uses is the way to go.

Edited by Spliff, 15 October 2017 - 05:15 AM.

[Spooner]

Colony Collapse disorder is the current bane of beekeeping.  Unfortunately bees forage several miles in every direction, and are prone to collecting the dangerous neonicotinoids.  The problem is that a perfectly healthy hive can within a week become destroyed.  This is very disheartening.

 

Most other pests and diseases can be effectively combated but there is no entirely effective way to combat CCD.

[Alder Logs]

Bayer, Syngenta, Sumitomo, Nippon Soda, and Mitsui Chemicals seem to be the Harvey Weinstein of bee killers.   It wasn't long after the introduction of neonicotinoids that the red flags started going up, but the products of some powerful corporations are given pass after pass.   I don't even live in a heavy  crop farming area, if you don't count the clearcutting industry, and CCD has hit very hard here.  Our wild bee tree colonies seldom last more than a couple years, sometimes not that long.   Some years recently, the fruit trees had no bees to be seen.   This past spring there were few bees, compared to the pre-neonicotinoids era.   What farmers there are are raising beef, mostly.   Nothing in the way of row cropping.   One farmer put in a field of barley, and I don't know if they coat seed for that crop.   I don't know who is doing the spraying around here, other than herbicides, which the timber companies, the county, and one idiot neighbor think is the way to do things. 

 

--

 

Just did a search and it looks like barley seed does get neonic coating.  Also just found this: http://www.latimes.c...1122-story.html

[Floydshaman]

Thankfully I live in a non farming mountainous area so my hope is I'll get some wild mountain flower honey. We don't have a ton of flowers but then again I'm not a bee or in touch with the forestry (yet).

I lived in a cotton,corn and wheat farming area and don't think it would go so great there.

The downside is we are a small community and don't believe we have a bee club. On the upside I could start one :)

Back to the topic of using Asian bees, I suggested the idea because I learned that it's not just the vampirism the mites partake in but they carry a virus I believe? Some form of disease which is what leads to deformation of surviving larvae hence the immunity of the Asian bees being attractive?



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[Spliff]

Hmmm, re-reading the post i made before I can see how perhaps the Asian honey bee can go longer, but in my understanding the quote about any infestation will eventually kill the hive trumps this co evolution. 

 

I suppose it may be worth a shot if you are incredibly worried about the mites. I do not know about the mite spreading a virus, I know it attacks the brood but have read that it causes dodgy growth, bees lose direction, struggle to fly so on and so on, this could be the virus.

 

I guess your next step would be a pro's and con's between European and Asian honey bees, and whether the resistance to the mite outweighs the ease of European bees (increased honey, more support groups, more info).

 

Also, can you import Asian honey bees into your country?

[Skywatcher]

Thank you all for the info. I am fascinated with bee keeping, but have as yet not built any hives. Juthro, I am quite deathly allergic to bee stings, but I have no fear of them and could watch them for hours. I have a native bee colony in my block wall at the rear of the yard, and they have maintained a healthy colony there for over 10 years, and I feel completely safe standing in front of the entrys and watching them. I firmly believe they smell fear, and consider it an alarm. Because I have none, they do not ever bother me.

 

I often wonder how the wall is not completely filled with honey and colony, but there must be a natural maintenence the bees do to keep a limited area healthy.

 

I had one incedent about 12 years ago, where one of my neighbors sprayed the bees. I was beyond furious. After they recovered, I notified the two adjacent neighbors that there were bees in the wall on my side, they are not aggressive, and most beneficial to have around. Also they are on my side so leave your poisons away as I consider them under my care. I cannot harvest honey without breaking the wall apart, but am most happy to have them all over the yard and feel like I am doing something to keep the native bee populations protected.......

 

I will be following this, as I hope to someday have a hive I can harvest responsibly as well.

[pharmer]

but there must be a natural maintenence the bees do to keep a limited area healthy.

 

The bees eat their own honey when there are no, or few, flowers blooming. That's winter time up here in the Great Lakes Icebox.

 

When they have a very good year and produce a surplus it's most likely the hive will divide itself with half moving away into a new home. If you've ever heard of a "swarm" of bees that's what they're doing - swarming into a giant ball away from the current nest in preparation of moving into the new home. There's a good chance that your hive has split more than once since you've been aware of it. The old queen goes with the swarm to the new house, the existing colony produces a new queen by a process called supercession.

 

You could start reading about bees now and not read duplicate information for years, there's that much to know about them.

 

As for maintenance - it's ongoing and never ending. They recycle wax within the hive. When one dies, usually within 24 days of being born, her siblings carry her dead body out the door. It's safe to say that a dirty hive is a sick hive. They're all about order and cleanliness and they literally work themselves to death in their tasks.

 

I'd be curious to see if the bees in the block wall are able to tunnel through the mortar in the joints. If so that hive could be YUGE!

[Alder Logs]

I kept bees over 40 years ago.   I built several standard movable frame boxes and assembled the frames for them from a bee supply.   When I started, I had very little reaction to stings and my old lady was quite sensitive.  As time and stings went by, I was getting stronger and stronger reactions, while the old lady was getting desensitized.   We never had an extractor, so we just destroyed the comb and filtered out the honey.   I quit eating honey and stopped robbing the hives.  I loved the bees and shifted to just letting them be/bee.   Those hives lasted many years but eventually the mites came through this area and I presume that's what did them in.   Now all the locals are from the wild.   Some still look like Italians, and some are very dark wild types.   I built a Russian style round hive box that I have been placing near hanging swarms, rubbed it with lemon balm, but am yet to have a swarm move into it.  

 

If I were to ever get into bees again, I would go for those hexagonal hives where the bees draw their own comb on the frame tops without foundation.   Those were in some old thread here, but I don't know which one.

Edited by Alder Logs, 16 October 2017 - 10:16 AM.