Bees and Honey

[jal_ut]

Today was the day to rob the bees. That part is done, (whew) now taking a break before starting the extracting.

Hope I don't get slammed for being off topic, but it is in a way garden related, we do need the bees to pollinate the squash, cukes and fruit etc. By having some bees in the backyard, I never wonder if things are getting pollinated.

[rainbowgardener]

Not at all off topic. I think in these troubled times for bees (and all the rest of us!) more of us should keep a hive or two of bees, especially in our organic and diverse garden plantings with lots of herbs and flowers. I'm thinking about figuring out how to do it myself.

I do have lots of honeybees already on my property. Do you think it is a problem to bring a hive in where there is already a population of them?

[jal_ut]

Thanks Rainbow.

I do have lots of honeybees already on my property. Do you think it is a problem to bring a hive in where there is already a population of them?

Not at all. The bees know where home is and each does its thing and goes home. Bees will fly up to 2 miles to find what they need. They do better if they find what they need close to home.

I did get the bees robbed and extracted the honey. Had a pretty good year. Still have the cleanup ahead of me, but it may have to wait till tomorrow. I am pooped.

[DoubleDogFarm]

Let us know how you did James. My neighbor Brian was over today. His honey harvest was half of last years. He still pulled 150 pounds at about $10.00 per pound.


Eric

[jal_ut]

My colonies averaged 53 pounds for the season. I had 7 colonies that produced. One that did not.

I guess not a bad year, but have had better.

[JayPoc]

I actually took a class in college called "Bees and Beekeeping". A 3 credit hour lecture course on all things bee, with a 1 hour lab about the beekeeping. I saved all the course materials, and would love to get into it. So far, the start-up costs have kept me away.....maybe next year...

[rainbowgardener]

Yeah, I'm thinking maybe next year, also. Or maybe I will just work on helping my Quaker Meeting (church) 6 blocks away start again with hives and get some experience that way. We had a couple, but they got ruined by hive beetles and we shut them down.

[jal_ut]

Ya, know what you mean about the cost. I figure that you have close to $300 into each hive starting out, then there is clothing, tools, supplies etc. Of course the equipment lasts for a long time if taken care of so a lot of that is a one time cost. The bright side is that pure raw unfiltered honey brings a good price. I am hearing from $6 to $10 a pound. I sell mine for $6. Like I said, I just averaged 53# per colony. You see if the honey is sold, that brings back the initial cost for bees and their hive in one year. Second year, after you have your hives and supers, the costs go way down.

Second bright side, we really enjoy the sweet good healthful food honey provides. We are our own best customers.

[jal_ut]

I had 8 colonies of my own this year plus my son brought 24 colonies and set them down on my lot. We have not robbed his bunch yet. They have done excellent as they were in California last winter and were built up strong when they arrived here. They were filling supers while mine were still building up. If I remember, I will report how they did after we get that job done.

3 of his went queenless, and did not produce but the remainder have done well.

I actually started beekeeping 40 years ago. I still am using some of the original frames and boxes I started with. That first box is looking like its time for retirement, but at present it still has bees in it. If I could pro-rate the cost of that box, (it didn't cost near what they do today) It would not be much per year.

I have broken and retired some boxes and frames, and burned some one time because of disease, (American Foulbrood) and lost some frames because of wax moths, but overall the equipment lasts a long time if taken care of. I am a carpenter by trade and built most of my boxes over the years. I even tried making my own frames, but it is a lot of work and I decided to just buy them.

Mind you, I am not a big commercial beekeeper. The most I have ever had at one time was 13 colonies.

My son, who has bees, has around 250 colonies, and works them spare time. He had an unusual event happen that threw him into the bee biz big time. He had a couple of colonies and was close friends to the Sheriff. Well, a big truck load of 300 colonies wrecked and the bees were scattered up the side of the road. The Sheriff knowing son knew about bees, called him to come pick them up. So he did and hauled them to a lot and then sent a bill to the insurance co. The insurance co paid the owner of the bees for the bees as a total loss, and when they got son's bill they asked him if he would like to own the bees for his time. So he ended up owner of those bees. (what was left of them)

[Ohio Tiller]

For all of you talking about starting a hive or 2 DO NOT BUY BEES FROM BUTTS BEES he sent me a nuke that was infested with Small hive beetle. The whole hive was a lose and I burnt the frames but I am sure they got in the ground before I could stop them. I hope we have a very cold winter this year to kill them off in the ground. Here where we are they don't normally survive a winter if it freezes the ground good.

I have had great success with http://www.pigeonmountaintrading.com/1-Default.aspx
They have clean strong hives and they are honey making machines. I put out 2 new hives from them this year and I think I am going to get honey off of them next month. They ran out of room in July and I had to put on a super to keep them from swarming!

[jal_ut]

JayPoc, a class like that will be a big help. A mentor is also a big help. I had neither, but read some books and jumped in. It has been a learning experience and still lots to learn. The bees always teach me something.

You can start by buying two deep boxes, get them put together and painted now, then later this winter buy the frames and foundation to put in them and work at putting them together, then later buy the bottom board and cover. Now you have one hive. Order your bees in the spring. You can order a honey super and frames after you install your bees and put that together and paint it while the bees are building up. See you don't need to put it all together in one lump sum.

You will need at least a veil and helmet, and bee gloves and a hive tool as a minimum tool set up. An alternative to bee gloves is any pair of cowhide gloves and homemade gauntlets. My wife made me some gauntlets out of an old sheet. I have never bought any of the factory bee gloves. You can wear a white shirt and be good to go. There is also a bee shirt available that is veil and shirt in one piece.

I always buy package bees. 2 pounds of bees in a cage with a queen and a mite strip with a can of syrup on top. I have always had good luck with this and never got any unwanted crap with them.

Good luck!

[jal_ut]

Check this link.

[Ohio Tiller]

Please do not try and work bees with out a veil those things love to go for the eyes! I just got hit last week for bending down and swiping a spider web away from one. Bang got me right above my eye brow! It does not feel good!

This is how I install my packs it is less stress on the bees they like it dark! I place the queen cage in the bottom frames and then lay the screen box on top the frames on its sdie. Close up the lid and come back 2 days later and remove the empty queen cage and the screen box.

[Ohio Tiller]

Right here is the prettiest sight in be keeping!

[jal_ut]

Have you seen the news stories about "Red Honey" in Utah? Seems someone got some waste candy or chips from some candy candy company, candy canes with red coloring in it and was feeding it to his bees in the open. It must have been a lot of this stuff fed in several locations. Well robber bees have hauled it into many apiaries and now the bee keepers are finding red honey. It had contaminated a lot of honey in several counties. Big scuttlebut........................

It is probably ok for the bees to winter on, but for those who had not taken off their crop yet, it has ruined lots of honey.