Who has honeybees? I really love my bees.

simtech said:
That is a healthy swarm!!
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I felt really fortunate to see that display of nature's wonder. I had never seen a swarm before and it was pretty exciting. For once I had a camera with me!

My wife has several large hibiscus and some Mexican petunias in the backyard. I enjoy watching bees work them in the spring and early summer.

I have a small rental house and my shop building on two acres just east of McKinney (KTKI). I might look into getting a hive. Will they do OK without close oversight? I'm only out there once every few weeks.
 
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3393RP said:
I felt really fortunate to see that display of nature's wonder. I had never seen a swarm before and it was pretty exciting. For once I had a camera with me!

I have a small rental house and my shop building on two acres just east of McKinney (KTKI). I might look into getting a hive. Will they do OK without close oversight? I'm only out there once every few weeks.
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That's awesome you got to set that. I feel most people don't. My first swarm to see was one of my hives swarming. Very cool sight to stand in the middle of a swarm in progress.

I think at first to get them established you will have to feed them sugar water to help them build comb. But even then you can mix it in a 5 gallon bucket with a block of wood on top with holes drilled in. That way the sugar water will come up through and the bees can land on it to drink. Put that off like 100 yards away and it will last a few weeks, put under some sort of cover. If you get the sugar water to close it can bring on robbing and to a young hive is very bad.

Once established yeah you won't need a lot of time with them. It depends to is this for max honey production? If so it will require more time mainly every 10 days during the swarm season. Otherwise just let them be bees and do what they do best. Make honey, grow, and swarm. You can still pull some honey off for yourself.
 
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RV10flyer said:
Yes, they are wild as they will show us during swarm season in May. The past 60 years of treatment with Oxy-Tetracycline that was meant to prevent foulbrood diseases and strengthen the hive may have actually weakened their ability to fight off other pathogens. Foul brood disease is worse up North where we sometimes have to supplemental feed sugar syrup in the fall or spring. I am hoping to keep mine strong and not have to use any chemicals. I am also going to raise my own queens, which is supposed to make our bees more resistant.
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I think you just talked me out of setting up a few hives...:redface:....:(
 
N801BH said:
I think you just talked me out of setting up a few hives...:redface:....:(
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Some think because the bees are cooped up so long and don't get as much natural nectar up North that this is the reason for increased rate of foulbrood disease. I am at 38 deg latitude and there are no reported cases at my local bee club. They say every hive has foulbrood in them, but only shows up if the hive is weakened. I would check in your area to see what issues beekeepers are having. Down here....varroa mites and small hive beetles seem to be most common. Keeping the hives strong is the best defense against all of these issues. Most of the experienced guys here say they loose about 10% of their hives every year.
 
3393RP said:
I felt really fortunate to see that display of nature's wonder. I had never seen a swarm before and it was pretty exciting. For once I had a camera with me!

My wife has several large hibiscus and some Mexican petunias in the backyard. I enjoy watching bees work them in the spring and early summer.

I have a small rental house and my shop building on two acres just east of McKinney (KTKI). I might look into getting a hive. Will they do OK without close oversight? I'm only out there once every few weeks.
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Agree with Simtech. I check mine every 7-10 days in April-May. Before and after less often, but I am also looking at their behavior outside of the hive every day. I would not want them where I could not keep an eye on them. Grown men, kids, bears, skunks, mice, wax moths, high winds all can cause damage.

I do like to go out to my flowers and pet them while they are harvesting nectar and pollen. Like Simtech said, they are very nice away from hive. Most bees are really this way away from home unless smashed.
 
Matthew said:
I enjoy watching bumblebees at work. They aren't normally kept by beekeepers are they?

--

Not knowing much about their behavior - how likely are they to sting when they are foraging? We seem to have plants that attract them, and they are close to where we like to sit outside on nice days.
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Bumblebees are great too! If you have a beekeeper nearby to get pollen and a few worker bees from, here is info on taking care of them...

http://www.ars.usda.gov/SP2UserFiles/Place/54280500/BumbleBeeRearingGuide.pdf

http://www.befriendingbumblebees.com/links.html
 
simtech said:
And here I thought I was the only crazy beek who pet his bees while they work:D
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You guys are the only ones I have told. Don't tell the FAA or they will for sure think we are unfit to fly.
 
Everskyward said:
I never would have guessed you need to give bees antibiotics. I can understand with dogs, cattle, etc. because they are domesticated. But aren't bees basically wild?
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You mix Terrimyicin (powdered antibiotics) with powdered sugar and sprinkle it in the hive. The bees will clean it up and feed it to the babies. This prevents the bacteria from killing the larva ( babies). Very easy to do. Just sprinkle and they take care of the rest. The problem is, then all of the honey has antibiotics in it. :redface:
 
RV10flyer said:
Our large single commercial crops like almonds, oranges and apples are not good for their diet either.
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Cause of chemicals or the flowers aren't god? Interesting learnign here.

RV10flyer, I also like how you have been relating flying terms to the bees. Cool stuff!

David
 
Great thread, really interesting! Fun bee fact for the day:

The worker and queen bees are all of course female, while the drones are the only males. Our own sexual determination depends on the Y chromosome which has a gene that masculinizes the early gonad, no Y chromosome, female.

Eusocial insects like bees have a radically different method. The females have two sets of genes just like us, a condition known as diploid. The males are haploid, that is they only have one set of genes. The only cells in our bodies that are haploid are our gametes (sperm for the guys and eggs for the girls).

Glad no ones bees got it from the beepocalypse. Did I read that was caused by a fungus?
 
Yeah - I've learned a whole lot from this thread, too. Thanks, all!

About every other year I have to deal with paper wasps.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_wasp

They'll build nests in the upper part of the eaves of my house, too high to reach even with the high pressure spray.

Mud daubers are another thing that decorate my house.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mud_dauber

These nests are usually small, and easy to hose off since they are just made of mud. They don't seem to build them up so high, either, so they are easier to reach.

In the spring, the wasps come out and start looking for nesting areas. Once in a while one will get inside my garage and start building. I'll wait until it leaves, then close the door and wait. Those things are persistent - they'll bang against the garage door for hours, or even the whole weekend, trying to get back inside before they give up and go somewhere else.

Their whole social organization is interesting to learn about.
 
I will try to come back and post some pics when our cold weather leaves us again. Other beeks please post too. Those pics in this thread are my first ones posted. It really makes a thread more enjoyable to read! Trip reports just are not the same without pics.

Watch for those queen bumblebees searching for a nesting site soon.
 
I'll try and get some pics of pollen coming in this weekend. I searched thinking I had pictures of a frame with the queen but didn't find any. I'll get those when the weather warms up.
 
Those city bees are really working hard to haul all of that pollen and nectar up on the roof. Now some facts I found for the day...

Worker Bee Empty Weight= 81-96 mg.

Gross Wt= 121 mg.

It takes 12 worker bees a lifetime of nectar collecting to make ONE Teaspoon of honey.

Max range on a full stomach of honey= 34 sm @ 9-15 mph.
 
Those were some nice pictures. Thanks for the links! It goes to show that you can keep bees anywhere. My bees are out in full force today, bringing in pollen, cleaning, and carrying out dead bees. Crazy creatures I tell ya.
 
41F, sunny, windy here today(2/27/14). They are all snuggled up in their cluster.
 
simtech said:
Those were some nice pictures. Thanks for the links! It goes to show that you can keep bees anywhere. My bees are out in full force today, bringing in pollen, cleaning, and carrying out dead bees. Crazy creatures I tell ya.
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What's considered a normal loss during the winter? Or is there a steady loss year long and they just go on cleaning binges now and then? What's their normal lifespan?
 
A forager is the highest life and the death sentence of the bee, meaning foraging is the last job of a bee. During the flow they live only 6 weeks and they work themselves to death, literally. Times like now they can live much longer and the queen will make small batches of brood during the winter to keep numbers up. Then around March, here where I live, they start the build up and getting ready for the flow. Not sure on what the losses are. I know some die everyday, but when it's been cold and cloudy for a while they mad clean. You can see them pitching out dead bees and flying off with them.
 
The cool thing is when a bee leaves the hive for the first time they do orientation flights. You can see it happen too. They will leave the hive and circle around it going higher into the air. Eventually they will go out. At the entrance there are bees that hang out and you can see them touch most bees that come in. It is said they tell the bees where to go in the hive and tell where to bees leaving to go for pollen or nectar. Lots of little signs you see when you keep bees. Like the queen is kind of easy to spot. She always has a group of bees facing her walking backwards as she moves.
 
Matthew said:
What's considered a normal loss during the winter? Or is there a steady loss year long and they just go on cleaning binges now and then? What's their normal lifespan?
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Queen= 2-5 years
Worker= 15-38 Days Summer
Worker= 140-320 Days Winter
Drone= 56 Days...if he is one of 16 mates for a queen, then he dies quickly and painfully. Google it. I am glad humans are not this way. They do get to join the Mile High Club for a few seconds.

Bees die all year long. Bees are very clean and like to keep the corpses hauled off. They can lift the dead for a few feet or up to 20' while descending. It is neat to watch. The queen lays at varying rates up to 1500 eggs/day, depending on hive health, weather, food availability and her age.
 
Neat. How is a new queen produced? On-demand? What happens if the queen dies before there is another one?


This is pretty cool stuff!
 
Matthew said:
Neat. How is a new queen produced? On-demand? What happens if the queen dies before there is another one?


This is pretty cool stuff!
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The eggs are all the same when initially laid in the cell by the queen. If the hive feels she is not performing, she gets removed by me or she is injured, workers will raise a new one. They must feed a larva a special diet within 3 days of being laid.
 
RV10flyer said:
The eggs are all the same when initially laid in the cell by the queen. If the hive feels she is not performing, she gets removed by me or she is injured, workers will raise a new one. They must feed a larva a special diet within 3 days of being laid.
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So the hive, the Borg collective, has 3 days to decide it needs a new queen.
 
Matthew said:
So the hive, the Borg collective, has 3 days to decide it needs a new queen.
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If we decide to re-queen a hive, we would wait until we receive the new queen. Then pull the old queen out and kill her. The next day, the hive will know they are queen-less. We then put the new queen(inside of a cage) in the hive to provide time for her pheromones to spread so the hive will be more receptive. After a few days she will be released after a candy plug is eaten away.

The other options would be to remove the queen and let the hive make another. Or split a healthy hive in two, leave the queen with one half and let the new queen-less hive make their own. This takes awhile.
 
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They will swarm when there is a 2nd queen that leaves the hive and takes bees with her? Is there something that triggers a 2nd queen and the swarm?

Sorry for all the questions, I need to spend more time working on my Google-fu.
 
Matthew said:
They will swarm when there is a 2nd queen that leaves the hive and takes bees with her? Is there something that triggers a 2nd queen and the swarm?

Sorry for all the questions, I need to spend more time working on my Google-fu.
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Overcrowding, lack of egg laying space, reduced queen pheromone, reduced brood pheromone, increasing day length(April/May for me), some strains of bees are worse than others.
 
Mid-air collision on takeoff at an uncontrolled hive...

http://m.imgur.com/Q2aMI

A car accident near LA March 9, 2014 disturbed some honeybees in a tree...

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014...-of-major-bee-attack-in-la-canada-flintridge/


Update: About half of my bees are starting to bring in half loads of greenish-gray pollen...March 9. One of my "two deep" hives is already 75% full of bees, found 1-2 varroa mites during 24 hr sticky board test. Other hive 40% full and found 5 in 4 hrs, so that one got two strips of Apivar. Found 30 mites on sticky board 5 hrs later. Too many to count 48 hrs later. Now, I know one reason why they were not as strong last year. The strong hive seems to be keeping the mites off good by themselves. Plenty of honey remaining for the roller coaster temps this coming month. Applied another winter patty on stronger hive.
 
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Looks like Osh. Four on final and one departing. Their pollen baskets on legs 5 and 6 are finally fully loaded with pollen. They are flying at their aft cg limit and nose high.

 
I was in my herb garden the other day, cutting some stuff for dinner.

I noticed some honeybees hanging around one of my thyme plants that I've let go. I also saw some on my mint, too. I was reminded of this thread, so I took the time to sit and watch for a while.
 
I have thyme and lemon balm near all 8 hives(increased from two in 13'). Thymol helps them control varroa mites.

Mine are finishing up a good Sourwood and Buckwheat honey flow. It is looking like we will have some honey this year. Hope you are getting a good harvest too.
 
RV10flyer said:
I have thyme and lemon balm near all 8 hives(increased from two in 13'). Thymol helps them control varroa mites.

Mine are finishing up a good Sourwood and Buckwheat honey flow. It is looking like we will have some honey this year. Hope you are getting a good harvest too.
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I don't have any hives. But I also hope the local hives are having a good year. We couldn't have wished for a better summer - plenty of rain at the right time and mild temps.
 
Well, except for the creepy feeling like I'm about to get stung, this is a fascination thread.

So, you bee keepers, is getting stung just par for the course, or can you (and do you) work to avoid getting stung altogether, with netting, smoke, etc?
 
Hey that's good news! I have neglected mine but they are still there. I need to get in them bad. I'm thinking I'll have 1 super of honey which is fine because I had a bumper crop last year and still have another years worth of honey.
 
nddons said:
Well, except for the creepy feeling like I'm about to get stung, this is a fascination thread.

So, you bee keepers, is getting stung just par for the course, or can you (and do you) work to avoid getting stung altogether, with netting, smoke, etc?
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Yes to all. Hahahaha I work to avoid getting stung with clothing, smoke, veil, and bing gentle. But girls are girls and no matter how tender, if they are grumpy hey will sting. The first sting of the year is the worst...well the anticipation of it. After that it's nothing.
 
RV10flyer said:
Thymol helps them control varroa mites.
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So - they are attracted to the thyme flowers, and the thyme itself is good for them?

That's a sweet deal for them.

Somewhere in this thread it was noted that when bees are gathering pollen, they are pretty sedate and very unlikely to attack. I hope I read that correctly, because I got pretty close when I was watching.
 
Matthew said:
So - they are attracted to the thyme flowers, and the thyme itself is good for them?

That's a sweet deal for them.

Somewhere in this thread it was noted that when bees are gathering pollen, they are pretty sedate and very unlikely to attack. I hope I read that correctly, because I got pretty close when I was watching.
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Foraging bees will not sting or bother u 99% of the time. They are mission oriented and task saturated. You can even touch them on a flower and they will likely just fly away...now get to the hive entrance and try that and :yikes:
 
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