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Eywa_devotee
Goddess Worshiper


Registered: 10/04/10
Posts: 1,088
Loc: State of Confusion, Arkan...
Last seen: 3 years, 8 months
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Re: Is anyone here into beekeeping? [Re: twohigh]
#23740802 - 10/15/16 08:37 PM (7 years, 4 months ago) |
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Keep in mind bees are itty bitty livestock. They need care similar to livestock like constant checking for parasites, antibiotics as needed, watering and feeding. You can get rid of varroa mites on bees with plain oxalic acid instead of some of the horrible chemicals they use for the beasties. Just mix with honey to a sour syrup and feed them in late fall or vaporize it with a small heating element in a bee smoker. Read up and if serious take a class. Definitely worth it.
-------------------- "Love one another." "To Love is to know me." "Love is the Law, Love under Will." "In Compassion, all sorrows end." Regardless of the Master, the message is the same- Choose love and you shall live, Choose Fear and you shall die. Help bring peace to this Earth: Love one another, and serve others before yourself.
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Prem. Kissoff
Slow learner

Registered: 11/09/16
Posts: 259
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Re: Is anyone here into beekeeping? [Re: Eywa_devotee]
#23830675 - 11/13/16 09:55 PM (7 years, 3 months ago) |
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Always buy new and clean parts of hives, NEVER use old and used hive parts. Insect culture is very much like fungus culture, animals are VERY filthy. Buy new hive components and get the best wild swarm you can with the largest possible amount of workers and the queen or get a 3 or 4 lb package (Much preferred). Good beekeeping has a semi-significant initial cash outlay, PLEASE dont half ass it because weak/contaminated bees/hives WILL CONTAMINATE nearby hives!
If money isnt an issue check out the amazing flow hive, so cool!
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trendal
J♠



Registered: 04/17/01
Posts: 20,815
Loc: Ontario, Canada
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Re: Is anyone here into beekeeping? [Re: NumeroEno]
#23834864 - 11/15/16 09:31 AM (7 years, 3 months ago) |
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I decided to start beekeeping earlier this year, and it has been a great adventure so far! My wife and I each got a hive back in early June. We have them on an organic farm, with lots of flowering plants around!

You have picked the perfect time of year to get into this...because you'll have the entire winter to practice before you get any bees! It's usually best to start with a nucleus hive in the spring. A nuc is a small fully functioning hive - usually with 4 full frames of bees, a queen, and some young in various stages of development. I started mine in early June. It was actually pretty cold and windy the day I got them, I was so worried about killing the larva with cold air. Still, they did amazing! Despite swarming in mid summer and then losing their queen (no larva for several weeks can be bad!) I still got about 20 litres of honey from the hive!


We are pretty much leaving them alone, with regards to chemicals and especially antibiotics. The bee is a pretty amazing creature, with an equally amazing hive structure. The whole thing is like a big organism, and any time you introduce some chemical treatment you will always have side effects. You may use antibiotics to kill one bacteria, only to find you've killed off another bacteria that the bees need for defense against some other pathogen. I think it is always best to leave nature to itself, as much as possible. If my bees all die, it was their time to go.
Where do you live?
It's a really good idea for you to hook up with a few local beekeepers. See what they do, what works and what doesn't work for them. Get in touch with a local Queen breeder. I read a lot online in the six or seven years between the start of my dream and my first nuc...but none of it prepared me for the definiteness of handling 10,000 little flying stingers! Not that any of it went bad - it went perfectly to plan - but there is something about the experience of beekeeping that I think is indescribable. "The zen of beekeeping" I've heard it likened to.
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Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
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trendal
J♠



Registered: 04/17/01
Posts: 20,815
Loc: Ontario, Canada
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Quote:
Prem. Kissoff said: Always buy new and clean parts of hives, NEVER use old and used hive parts. Insect culture is very much like fungus culture, animals are VERY filthy. Buy new hive components and get the best wild swarm you can with the largest possible amount of workers and the queen or get a 3 or 4 lb package (Much preferred). Good beekeeping has a semi-significant initial cash outlay, PLEASE dont half ass it because weak/contaminated bees/hives WILL CONTAMINATE nearby hives!
If money isnt an issue check out the amazing flow hive, so cool!
I used an older hive that I got second hand, and my bees really did well. I don't think there is anything wrong with using older hive parts, provided they come from a known good source.
The flow hive...
Are you a beek? Have you actually used a Flow hive?
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Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
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trendal
J♠



Registered: 04/17/01
Posts: 20,815
Loc: Ontario, Canada
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Re: Is anyone here into beekeeping? [Re: NumeroEno]
#23837920 - 11/16/16 07:28 AM (7 years, 3 months ago) |
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Here is a GREAT site: The Practical Beekeeper
It's by the author of the book, The Practical Beekeeper, Michael Bush. Tonns of great info!!
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Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
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rubberlizard
Brewer and hobbymycologist


Registered: 10/26/10
Posts: 388
Loc: Probably my brewery
Last seen: 2 years, 8 months
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Re: Is anyone here into beekeeping? [Re: trendal]
#23841729 - 11/17/16 01:14 PM (7 years, 3 months ago) |
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Have a lot where my summerhouse used to be, and would like to keep bees there one day. Free honey = free mead
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