Bees

[lavandulagirl]

Any small space/small holding folks considering keeping their own hive for pollination purposes? Having seen the dearth of pollinators this season, I am wondering if it might be worth the work, and would love to hear some experiences. We have just an acre, but I could position a hive far enough from the house to not be a nuisance, I think.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

My daddy keeps about 8 hives of honey bees in the corner of a space that big. It works out fine. They don't bother anyone except that a few times a year the grand-kids get stung because of sitting on or stepping on a bee.

Financially you might be better off just buying squash and cucumbers from the store if your native pollinators are not pollinating them well enough for you. Depending on your location there may be onerous government regulations associated with keeping honeybees, though a single hive may escape detection.

I keep solitary bees: Leaf cutters and Mason bees. I aught to keep bumble bees. I would really like to learn how to keep sand bees.

I plant a small patch of small flowered wildflowers that are known to attract native pollinators like tiny wasps.

[mjc]

In a bee thread on another forum, I posted links to WV's bee keeping laws/regs...and yes, onerous, describes them very well. There is no distinction in WV between a hobby keeper and commercial one. If you have a single hive, you fall under the full force of the regulations. That is in addition to the inspections and registrations (annual).

Fortunately for me (or unfortunately, since I haven't found the exact locations), I have at least two 'feral' hives on the property here...and they've been here for a while (I would love a queen from one of them..they seem to be very well adapted to local conditions and are pretty much thriving).

[robertb]

You'd be better with at least two hives. That way, if something goes wrong with one, you can use the other to fix the situation. I've no idea what there is in your neck of the woods (I'm in the UK), but if there's anything like a beekeepers' association, join it. Look for good-tempered local bees, not something bought in from a thousand miles away, and adapted to a different climate.

[bertiefox]

Don't put a hive anywhere near where you are regularly working in the garden. Some bees are ok but I suffer every year because I've put a hive right next to the vegetable beds. Whenever I cultivate or weed I get attacked and stung, even though it's not in the way of the flight path!
Short of moving the hive three miles away and leaving it for several weeks before moving it back, it's difficult to move out of the way, so always site your bees with care.

[mnjrutherford]

Our hives are about 25' from our veg beds and we have some stinging issues as well. However, we've been using a product called "Honey B Healthy". Here's a link to a website:

honeybhealthy.com/HoneyBHealthy.html

The flyer and factsheet are PDF files. Basically its a syrup of Sucrose, water, spearmint oil. lemongrass oil, lecithin, and sodium lauryl sulfate. I add a couple of tablespoons to the winter feeding syrup. We begin feeding early because we have a very short nectar flow season here. This summer, I'm thinking of putting out some sort of feeder dish with a weak syrup whenever we have to work in the closest patches. The "nice" bees will typically not bother you at that distance. But the German blacks, which are common here and much stronger than the Italian and Russian yellows, are nasty. With this stuff out, they will have something else to attract their attention. I can take it out for them early in the day before they stretch and have their coffee. Then, while they lap it up, I can do whatever. Theoretically at least, they will be happier bees and therefore less stressed having the extra food.

[wildseed57]

I love honey and at one point worked with a few hives that belonged to a friend, i think if you are able to keep some, read everything you can about them, along with what problems you might run into then try your hand raising them and like mentioned already get at least two hives. I wish I could have a few hives, but both my sister and one Grand daughter is highly allergic and at least once or twice ends up getting stung mainly from walking across a lawn bare footed that has clover in it "sheesh" you would think they would learn or at very least look where they are stepping. I have encountered two wild hives one is very people friendly while the other is not, can't say why about it. No Africanised bees here in Missouri so I guess the wild hive was agitated for some reason I was not messing with it but got stung when I got close, the other is a old hive in the wall of a church and no one has been attacked or stung other than someone with bare feet stepping on one. So you might want to check with the bee keepers about the temperament of their hives, some could be less friendly than others.
George W.

[bertiefox]

Thanks for the link about the HoneyBHealthy site. Anything is worth trying. Like you say, the real answer is to re-queen the nasty bees. I bought in a Carniolan queen a few years ago, which is a fantastic race for good temper, prolific breeding and spring buildup (the main problem is swarming but I can cope with that). BUT when they cross with the mongrel French bees they produce a very nasty strain. (Though nothing like your horrendous Africanised ones of course!)
The idea of keeping them happy with an artificial 'flow' of herbal nectar sounds like it ought to work as they are always very much more docile during a natural flow.

[mnjrutherford]

We got our box from Dadant last night at about 6ish. Already dark, Mike took the patties out immediately. He went and check about 15 minutes later and said that the bees were already all over the patties. The patties are a relatively new thing being tried. You might want to give them a shot as well. They were just under $16 for an 11 lb box with 10 patties.

Bees in the clover... yep, I got stung that way once as well. However, I would much rather wear shoes than get rid of the clover since the clover is the first annual nectar bearing crop we get around here.

[robertb]

That's a start, but you really need multiple hives; if something goes wrong with a single hive, you're stuck. You could let it build up, then split it in late summer, as long as you've got plenty of drones. That's the number 1 priority when it comes to queen raising, together with weather warm enough for the virgins to fly. I've usually got empty hives during the swarming season, and the old comb in them attracts swarms every year; between that and splits, I manage to keep the numbers up.

[mnjrutherford]

You are so right there Robert. But I tell you what, we had 10 hives and counting in northern California. Bees were everywhere and we collected honey twice a year. Here in North Carolina, we are grateful for 2 hives. We had a third, started last year, but it died. In addition, our nectar is both minimal and only available for a very limited time.

And, to be quite honest, I was rather surprised to learn this little fact about east versus west coast. Tell me, is it the same on other continents?

[robertb]

I've no idea, since I live on an island off the coast of a huge continent; I know nothing about beekeeping in China! I imagine your east and west coasts have rather different climates, which would make an enormous difference. What's the problem with having more hives where you are?

[mnjrutherford]

The biggest problem is a lack of nectar. So you really don't want to have more hives than can be supported in a particular area.

Next issue is availability. In California, we were able to pick up swarms in the spring time. We would get several calls a day for a few months. Here, the beekeepers are on a rotation list and we haven't been called for a swarm since arriving. The bee population is WAY down.

Now, we COULD try raising queens, but my husband can't see that small and the boys aren't old enough or trained enough to do that kind of work yet. Hopefully, season 2012 they will be. That is what we are aiming for at least.

Getting the kids up and running is really a key issue here. Some of what is holding them back is the fact that we can't afford kid size bee suits so they can't really work on the hives. The hand-me-down size suits are great for getting them out and observing work close up. But they really need proper size gloves and veil to get in there and try their hands.

So, multiply issues, but nothing insurmountable!

I had to laugh at your China comment. I really should have thought a little bit better about that! However, I've often wondered if the East/West climate issues were mirrored. I know that Spain, particularly the Mediterranean side, is a lot like northern California. I also know that the Asian coast is really humid like our east coast. But that is about the sum total of knowledge for me.

Still, I can't figure why the drier climate has the greater nectar and I would love to know a little bit about Chinese beekeeping now that you've mentioned it.

[robertb]

If there's a lack of nectar that's a real problem. Over here, it's a creation of modern agriculture, but it's widespread in rural districts.

Raising queens is easy, there's no need for elaborate methods at all if you only have a few hives. Over here, we have no queen breeding industry, and everyone does it. You need a spare broodbox, and that's about all. Find the queen, and leave her on the original site with one frame of brood and the flying bees. Put all the rest of the brood, plus young bees, on a new stand. Seriously, that's all you need to do, and a queen will be produced. If you have drones and reasonable weather, she'll mate.

If you feel you need more advice, a good place to go is the Irish group at uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/irishbeekeeping/ .

[mnjrutherford]

Jan 25, 2011 16:54:01 GMT -5 robertb said:

Find the queen

THAT, is the problem. My husband is going blind. He can see well enough to do basic maintenance and collect honey, but he can't see the individual bees. My sons haven't yet learned enough to differentiate. It's a work in progress though!