Bees

[steev]

Do you think bees are less controllable than humans?

I admit to hoping neither is so very malleable, though I have my doubts about humans.

[DarJones]

Bees are inherently undomesticated. Steve might be undomesticated too, but that is a different topic, I'm fairly sure he is house trained. We keep bees in boxes, but that is because they want a cavity to call home. If that cavity is in a tree they are happy. If it is a box a beekeeper builds, they are happy. Go against their nature and they will leave.

The flow frames are a good idea and if properly used can be a real time saver. The problem is not whether or not they will be adopted, it is that the price point is way too high for now. I can set an entire box on a hive with 10 wood and wax frames for less money than the cost of just 1 flow frame. There are management issues with flow hives but nothing a beekeeper can't adapt to doing.

[steev]

Oh, give me a break! I am mostly fairly reliably house-trained and resent any suggestion that I might not know where the box is, usually!

I think bees are an excellent example of something with which we can co-exist, but not really control, not unlike the greater ecosystem; I think we believe we are in control of either to our peril .

I think flow-frames are a great idea, but like re-usable space-launch vehicles, not of much use to me right now.

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

I don't have bee hives, but they do fascinate me from time to time. I'm curious to know what all the bee keepers on here feed their hives (if you supplement their food at all). I've heard most bee keepers feed them just straight corn syrup water which while i know bees mostly consume sugar converted from nectar that seems way unhealthy to me and logically seems like bees immune systems would go down over time. Another contributing factor for many people loosing their hives. I think bees need more nutrition than that including pollen and mushrooms.

Here is an interesting video of Paul Stamets latest research in using mushrooms like reishi and turkey tail to combat viruses like HIV, bird flu, ebola, etc. He also has invented something called "mycohoney" which is basically mushroom infused honey. Primarily aimed at keeping bees healthy, but i imagine would work for human consumption too. Anyone up for experimenting with making their own mycohoney?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7agK0nkiZpA