Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

can you send some pics of the starter hive?

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

I was going to suggest rubbing alcohol, but clearly you're fvcked.

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

Took some Benadryl and have been applying cortisone. It's a lot better.

Still itchy.

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

I know that apple cider vinegar works on mosquito bites. It might work on bee stings as well.

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

This is why i recommended rubbing alcohol, it's great for mosquito bites, takes the itch out that comes from the anticoagulant the little bastards inject in you, might work for bees as well, personally i'd stop being a stud and wear an actual bee protective suit.

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

One of the best things I have in my backpacking 1st aid kit.

Sting-Eze

Of course there's also the old school method...tobacco. Several years ago Boo stepped on a honeybee in the yard while barefoot. I got a phone call at work from my wife telling me how well the Tobacco from one of my cigars worked. When I asked her which humidor she got the cigar from, I already had a feeling. Apparently Monte #4's are awesome at drawing out the "poison" from stings.

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

Steve- It must have been a Cuban bee.;)

Vin- Ouch, good thing you had pants on!:noon

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

Bee-yootiful!!!!!

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

Vin thinks rubbing alcohol is a waste of alcohol

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

Vin, you don't need any of these hillbilly potions, redneck elixirs, or quack remedies.
What you need, if this happens again, is the Mia Wallace!
I'll show Grace how to administer it when I come for Hog Herf.
I'll just need you to head over to the hive and rile it up while in your Jesus sandals.
Also, don't have sweatpants tucked into your socks.
We'll have to wait for the bees to stop stinging you, because, let's face it, you're not outrunning anything at this point in your life.
Once it's safe, I'll have Roger mark the location of your heart with a felt pen.
I'm going with Roger over Keith here, because, as we all know, Roger is the only one with a heart among us.
Then, I just need to stab you hard enough with the needle to get through the breastplate.
Once I administer the shot, you should be good to go right back to entertaining and cooking for us.

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

I suppose that's better than hearing "And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee" as I lie on the ground being stung ...


All better today, btw, thanks for asking.

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

I don't mow the front lawn/clover field as often anymore to give the girls a chance to work the flowers (at least that's what I tell Grace when she asks why the yard looks so shaggy).

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4237/...c52437a6_z.jpg

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4233/...5d904fa9_z.jpg

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

Nice excuse!

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

I am loving this thread.....and I am JEALOUS!

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

I met the Bees! They were Buzztastic! :D

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

Great thread Vin. I took up beekeeping in spring 2016. I would highly recommend having a second hive. There are so many ways you can fix one hive using resources from the other, even if the second hive is just a nuc (pronounced nuke, short for nucleus hive).

Also, check out beesource.com. It's the closest thing the beekeeping world has to Cigar Asylum. Some of the biggest names, scientists, large commercial outfit owners, and a ton of very experienced beekeepers post there. If you haven't watched them yet, check out the series called the Sustainable Apiary by Michael Palmer. It's easy to find on YouTube. I've watched it twice and plan to again. I learn more each time as I have more experience under my belt. I would also recommend joining a local beekeeper club. Mine has been a huge benefit for the costly sum of $10/year/family.

If you haven't yet, you also need to do mite level checks. Powdered sugar or alcohol tests to need to be done periodically to know your mite/bee ratio. Even if you treat, you need to know your levels. Most die-offs and absconding happen due to high mite levels aka PMS. No, not that one. It stands for Parasitic Mite Syndrome. It's where the colony weakens due to various viruses introduced by high mite levels. If you ever have questions or want talk bees, please let me know.

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

I guess you didn't have a Plan Bee?

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

Had been leaving the bees to do their thing and just before we left for vacation last week, I noticed a precipitous drop off in activity around the hive.

Returned from vacation yesterday and did a hive inspection this afternoon. The bees that are in the hive continue to be working away, but the colony as a whole seems to have plateaued. They haven't really come close to building out comb on all the frames in the second box. Consulted with some other bee keepers in the area, and they suggested a supplemental feeding to re-stimulate activity since the spring/early summer flowers in our area are now past blooming and the late summer flowers haven't come in yet to speak of.

I took out two of the empty frames and replaced it with a feeder frame that holds about a gallon of sugar syrup. Will check on things later this week and add additional feed if needed.

Hoping the girls are just hungry, and there's not some larger problem at play.

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

It will bee OK, Vin. :D

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

Thank you for doing your part, Vin! Do some more for me.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2...-food-macneal/

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

Hi Vin. Two days ago I drove by a big farm by me. They have 8 hives. I thought "what do they collect this time of summer?" I haven't seen a fresh flower in a month. I think you're right on that they're hungry. (Much like Roger! Ha) Good luck!

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

Did a hive inspection when we got back from vacation last week, and I continued to have some concerns about the general lack of activity in the hive. Prepared a feed solution using a 1:1 sugar to water ratio, and filled a half gallon feeder frame with it. When I checked in on it a few days later, the frame was bone dry. The girls were HUNGRY! Gave them another half gallon, and they went through that as well!

The hive activity picked up significantly since I added the sugar syrup, and on Sunday I replaced the feeder frame with regular frames in the hopes that the bees are re-energized and will ramp up the building of comb. Will check on their progress this weekend.

The hope is that they build out comb sufficient that I can add a honey super in time for the upcoming fall honey flow.

Fingers crossed!

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

Hoping for the best, Vin.

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

Now you know: they NEED their crack, er candy!

:)

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

Good luck Vin. You want those two deeps overflowing with bees before the cold hits. You may need to get an entrance feeder if there is no room left inside.

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

Thanks - the bottom deep is banged out pretty good. The top deep had ~7 frames built out when I replaced the feeder frame.

Entrance feeder on standby, but I really don't want to overfeed with the sugar syrup if I can avoid it.

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

Just had to share this.http://nypost.com/video/idiot-puts-b...ees-for-money/

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

Looks like the coming attractions for next year's Hog Herf. :D

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

You going to dare Roger, or Keith? :lr

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

A mother covered herself in bees for a maternity photo shoot

The word "idiot" comes to mind

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

"so the bees would be on the outside of my body as a precautionary measure"

Good general rule :r

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

No, No, No, This guy tops them all

https://www.facebook.com/DailyMail/v...0126403713757/

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

I don't wanna taste Vin's honey if that happens!:D

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

I don't think she was stung 350 times. Pretty sure she was "stung" big time 9 months ago.;)

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

Today was interesting day ...

Noticed an unusual amount of activity at the hive this afternoon, and a closer look revealed it to be under attack from yellow jackets! This is apparently common in the bee world. Instead of gathering their own resources, bees will sometimes try to rob out honey from another colony.

There were more bees buzzing around the hive than I've ever seen, and there were clearly fights going on among groups of bees.

I did a little internet research, and it seemed to boil down to two options:

> Reduce the size of the entrance to the hive

> Throw a wet sheet over the hive to stave off the intruders

While I know there are such things as entrance reducers, I don't yet have one. It's on the list to buy because as the weather turns cooler, I want to discourage mice from taking up refuge in the hive, but I haven't ordered it yet.

I don't fully understand WHY the wet sheet method works, but that's the way I went.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4367/...10f47a64be.jpg


About 15 minutes later ...

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4417/...3ca8d75798.jpg

There's still a ton of activity going on at the hive, and I can't tell if the bees massing on the sheet are mine or the robbers, but the research I did says to give it a couple days. The robbers leave as they're unable to get to the booty, and they're on to other targets. The sheet gets removed, and the hive gets back to normal.

Here's hoping.

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

Praying for our bees, Vin. :)

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

Bee fights must be interesting. Donald Duck dressing up as a bee and fighting with the stingers jumps to mind. Good luck against the intruders Vin.

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

one word, Vin: mediation

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

fingers crossed!

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

Vin, that is all very neat. How much honey have you harvested this season?

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

Hi Vin. Amazon has reducers for about 4bucks. Not sure what shipping is for a hunk of wood.:2 Good luck.

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

You have an unlimited supply of honey and with that I envy you.

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

CRISIS AVERTED!

Tremendously happy to report the ladies survived the no good thievin' yellow jacket bastages! Grace and I did a full hive inspection today, and the bees were docile & unperturbed by our presence. They just worked away while we gently poked around the hive.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4373/...f95f5944_z.jpg

This is a frame thick with capped honey. The bees will nosh on this to get them through the winter.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4360/...2dac462e_z.jpg

And this frame has capped honey at the top with additional honey that's in production below.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4358/...a5ef56b5_z.jpg

One thing has become very clear to me: we ain't getting no excess honey this year. The weather here is starting to turn cooler, and the bees still have not fully built out all of the frames to store their winter supplies. Going to add some sugar syrup to the hive to stimulate some additional building activity. My #1 goal this year has always been to develop a strong colony that's able to over-winter. Harvesting a bit of excess honey was always seen as a bonus for this year.

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

Have you had a taste yet Vin?

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

Just the little bit that gets on my glove. Tastes like honey! :D Go figure. Honestly, I'm dying to try some, but it doesn't look to be in the cards this year. I'd literally be eating out of their winter supplies, and that's going to jeopardize the bees ability to over-winter, so no honey for this fat guy this year.

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

You and Grace have done a great job with the hive, Vin. Hoping the bees live long and prosper, and sting Roger when he's being mean. :D

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

The bees are rocking in my area. I can't go into one of our gardens without seeing bees all over the place. I wonder if that is consistent in Ashland & Holliston (my neighboring towns I live on the border to)? They are both known for honey and apiaries are pretty common in those towns. I thought bees were on decline, but not in my yard at least...

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

Installed an entrance reducer over the weekend. This will serve dual purposes: it keeps the robbers at bay since the hive has to defend a MUCH smaller opening, and it will prevent mice from setting up a winter home inside the hive.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4400/...73ce6234ff.jpg


And a closer look shows the ladies are starting to forage pollen off of the late summer/early autumn flowers like mums. You can see several of the bees carrying in pollen balls.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4430/...1d75aced66.jpg

Re: New Hobby: Bee Keeping
 

Very cool, Vin.