New Hobby: Bee Keeping

[massphatness]

A mother covered herself in bees for a maternity photo shoot

The word "idiot" comes to mind

[stearns]

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

Good general rule

[Dux]

Originally Posted by massphatness

A mother covered herself in bees for a maternity photo shoot

The word "idiot" comes to mind

No, No, No, This guy tops them all

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

[Tio Gato]

Originally Posted by jonumberone

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

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

[Tio Gato]

Originally Posted by massphatness

A mother covered herself in bees for a maternity photo shoot

The word "idiot" comes to mind

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

[massphatness]

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.




About 15 minutes later ...



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.

[icehog3]

Praying for our bees, Vin.

[bonjing]

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.

[markem]

one word, Vin: mediation

[AdamJoshua]

fingers crossed!

[mosesbotbol]

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

[Tio Gato]

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

[elmorgan]

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

[massphatness]

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.



This is a frame thick with capped honey. The bees will nosh on this to get them through the winter.


And this frame has capped honey at the top with additional honey that's in production below.


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.

[bonjing]

Have you had a taste yet Vin?

[massphatness]

Originally Posted by bonjing

Have you had a taste yet Vin?

Just the little bit that gets on my glove. Tastes like honey! 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.

[icehog3]

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.

[mosesbotbol]

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...

[massphatness]

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.




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.

[bonjing]

Very cool, Vin.