bees

[darwinslair]

they count as livestock.  I got 40K+ of them by now.  About ready to add the third super.

Kinda fun to just watch.

Tom

[opsec]

That's the ultimate home security. Just post some signs around the perimeter of your property.

[Atash Hagmahani]

We have a pro on board. Hopefully her ears are burning and she'll chime in.

[Wellspring]

I had two hives a couple years back.  I started the first hive from a hive that grew into a very large bird house my neighbor had.  Took it apart piece-by-piece and started my first hive.  30 lbs. honey the first year.  I set another empty hive next to it.  Before I had a chance to order my queen and bees, a swarm (see my profile picture of that swarm on the empty hive) had found it and took up residence.

Unfortunately, had to give my hives to my buddy down the street when we moved as our current location isn't appropriate for hives.

My entire front yard is a pollinators haven.  If you can't have hives (European Honey Bee - Apis, which is a subset of bees), you can have Orchard Mason Bees.  Their houses and cocoons can be ordered online.

[Atash Hagmahani]

Mason-bee houses are REALLY easy to make.

1. Find a chunk of thick scrap wood.
2. Drill holes in it with a 5/16" drill bit, 3-5 inches deep but not all the way through the wood.
3. Mount in an odd corner of the yard facing south.

Mason bees are active only briefly, but usually right around pollination time for most common tree fruit crops.

All up and down the west coast we seem to have gigantic native bumblebees. They are common. A little big for some flowers though--I have seen them rip flowers apart to get at nectar spurs too narrow for their fat bodies! (eg, columbine)

[Dame]

I dug up a batch of day-lilies and accidentally killed a ground bee or a small bumblebee building a nest in the tubers.  I did not know they were there.  I doubt it will have a negative affect on the population, as there are enough varieties here that I cannot keep track of them all without taking a camera and cataloging.

Much of my gardening is for the pollin varietyto promote bee health.  It apparently works as when the willows came into flower this spring the whole tree was buzzing.  I could hear it for a couple hundred of feet.  When I went over to look more closely there were a dozen or so different flying insects feeding on the flowers.  I suspect a number of these bugs also eat aphids because the larger the number of polinators the fewer aphids we have.

[liberty404]

A different species within Osama (mason bee family) nests in 5/32 inch holes - also must be dead ended.  They emerge around late May or June, after the Blue Orchard Bee / Orchard Mason Bee is mostly done.  This year in the Puget Sound basin, the blooming times of bee forage plants is about a month later than usual.  The cool damp weather of spring lasted longer than usual.

Home Depo sells 10 inch long 5/16 inch drill bits for about $11.  The Orchard Mason bees lay female eggs in the depth of the nesting hole and the male eggs near the opening.  Short holes tend to contain mostly male larvae.

[Ryder]

My father in law claims to have broken up a campus protest years ago. He was a bee keeper and brought several hives to a rally that was being run by black panthers etc. The hives got tipped over and the bees did what pissed off bees do. No more people with axe handles running around, they all ran for cover. Some one tried to charge him but nobody could prove his bees stung them so no court case.

[Beeherder]

Yep its livestock that can be kept legally in most urban, suburban, and rural environs. My established hive has 5 supers on now, the 2009 package has one super and is ready for another and the wild captured swarm is just about ready for it first super. 

Unless you have some severe alergic reaction this is appropriate agriculture for almost every home, farm, or even apartment building. Yes, one must take steps so that humans don't get in the way of their flight patterns or wildlife like bears, skunks, raccoons can't tip over the woodenware, but this food source only requires a curious mind and a modestly strong back. When I first attended the meeting of my local beekeeping association it was about 30 people, mostly 60 and 70 year olds and a few octegenarians with only a smattering of folks under 45. Oh my what a difference 5 years can make. This year the meeting overflowed the hall with over 100 folks in attendance, and was dominated by those under 45. So go on out there and meet a few bug lovers you just might find a mentor. You can do this.

And for anyone considering using DMSO to treat joint pain please investigate the healing power of the humble bee sting. Bee venom contains compounds ideally suited to break up the gunk & snarf that can cause some types of joint pain. As always, YMMV, and I'm not a doctor but I did see one on TV once. 

[Atash Hagmahani]

Let me know if there is interest in a bee-keeping forum. I try to let the forums evolve "naturally" as per your interests.

[hancocs]

I think a bee keeping forum would be great. I would really like to get back into it. Their was a place in our neck of the woods called Beez Kneez. Had everthing you needed to start and grow. WOW was that good honey ( blackberry ) It looks like beeherder has it down, nice looking hives.

[Beeherder]

Hey you don't really need to follow the same commercial practices that all the big boys do. Yeah I have the standard Langstroth hives based on the work of that fine agricultuaralist in 1859. And they do work. But the design is all about making it easy for the human and has only minimal regard for the real needs of the bees. Hey does that model sound familiar? Exploit until they die, jez we're good at it. Anyway, there are other approaches.

I am planning all future expansions of the apiary here at the Beeherders work farm (work is our primary product, we have more of it than we know what to do with) to be based on the following link. This is the work of Emil Warre' at his French Abbe, during the late 1950s. The french title L' Apiculture pour Tous translated and posted on the internet in PDF format, free to all, by  David Heaf and Pat Cheney as Beekeeping For All downloadable free at:

www.mygarden.me.uk/beekeeping_for_all.pdf

this is a large file so I had to try several times to successfully download it. Tell us if you figured out the trick of doing it the first time. 

the author invites an English language email discussion group, you may contact him at:

 101622.2773@compuserve.com

and David Heaf's web page is www.mygarden.me.uk/ModifiedAbbeWarreHive.htm

This work presents a complete set of plans that anyone with even a little woodworking skill can construct manage and maintain their hives without a centrifugal extrator and little or no need to care for the bees. Its all about low tech, the bees winter on their own honey, you don't have as many problems with pests because the bees have 300 million years of know how to do it if we just let them. They know how to do the bee thing much better than we ever will so just let them be the little workhorses they really want to bee. 

Right now I am having the biggest bumper crop of honey in my brief 5 years with the sisterhood. Last year I said the same thing and this year is even bigger. Looks like I'll need to have an early harvest in July and if things keep on as they are another in September. Everyone who tastes the honey says its the best they have ever had. I never use poisons anywhere on my lot but some neighbors do so you can't say its organic but hey, why would you not go beyond organic, its food for you and your family. I charge a significant premium to my wealthy clients and barter it with my friends and neighbors. It is sweaty work done on hot days but not very often and little children love to be involved so don't hesitate to make this a family activity.

[Dame]

hancocs:  Beekeeping on the ocean does not strike me as a partiularily good combination.  You might want to consider assisting someone who does it full time when you are on shore; perhaps for a share of the crop (honey).

[hancocs]

Hi Dame,

When I did beekeeping before, I did have a partner of course, that took care o fthe hives while I was at sea.

Beeherder: Got the download the first time, it took 5-7 minutes to complete. Thanks and great link.

[Beeherder]

Dame, I think you are correct beekeeping "on-board" would lead to some difficult foraging problems for the sisters.

 But if hancocs makes a regular port of call that includes a couple of days in the spring and a couple days in autumn he could keep bees using the Warre' method. The whole idea is to give them an ideal home and leave them alone. No really alone, don't mess with them unless they really need expansion room. And if they need expansion room in year n then give them that room at the begging of year n+1. Heck if he has ports of call in both nothern and southern hemisphere he could be producing honey the year round.

They are bugs let them do the work, just give them a proper home and check to be sure it isn't disturbed by varmits (two legged or 4 legged).

Its passive agriculture, the bugs do the work, you provide the shelter and harvest the crop, what could be simpler?  

YMMV