New Hobby: Bee Keeping

[AdamJoshua]

This had me in the mood for toast with honey. I went out The kitchen before I realize there’s no bread here why would you be bread here. Then i was realized that there is no toaster here. Sure if there was bread i could use the oven, but really a house without a toaster, well there gonna s mood edit plan with taking a bath, notthst i would get in that tub even if i was going to play battleships with a plugged in toaster. I mean that’s just gross.

[massphatness]

After we bottle the honey, there's always a little bit left in the bucket. Washing it down the drain seems like we're asking for problems, but thanks to some research on Google, we found the answer is, as usual: bees.



I put the bucket a few feet from the hive, and within an afternoon, the ladies had slurped up all the good stuff leaving the bucket squeaky clean.

It was suggested that i put some grass in the bucket to give the bees something to hold on to as they can drown in their own honey.

What they took from the bucket is stored in the hive for future use as food during the upcoming cold weather months.

I wasn't prescient enough to take a photo of the honey remnants in the bucket before putting it out next to the hive, but there was a pretty decent amount. I remember thinking, "no way this works" and as usual, I was wrong. Will try to remember to take more pics next time.

[Dux]

How are they doing on winter reserves?

[massphatness]

Originally Posted by Dux

How are they doing on winter reserves?

They seem to be loaded up pretty good. Going to do a hive inspection this weekend and rearrange some of the frames to keep the brood frames in one deep and the honey frames in the other. If the honey stores seem to be light, I'll add a feeder frame to promote additional honey production.

Overall though, I'm far more optimistic than I was at this time last year.

[BigAsh]

Originally Posted by massphatness

After we bottle the honey, there's always a little bit left in the bucket. Washing it down the drain seems like we're asking for problems, but thanks to some research on Google, we found the answer is, as usual: bees.



I put the bucket a few feet from the hive, and within an afternoon, the ladies had slurped up all the good stuff leaving the bucket squeaky clean.

It was suggested that i put some grass in the bucket to give the bees something to hold on to as they can drown in their own honey.

What they took from the bucket is stored in the hive for future use as food during the upcoming cold weather months.

I wasn't prescient enough to take a photo of the honey remnants in the bucket before putting it out next to the hive, but there was a pretty decent amount. I remember thinking, "no way this works" and as usual, I was wrong. Will try to remember to take more pics next time.

Genius.....gotta love nature....and way to use "prescient" in a sentence...bonus 10 points

[Dux]

Originally Posted by massphatness

They seem to be loaded up pretty good. Going to do a hive inspection this weekend and rearrange some of the frames to keep the brood frames in one deep and the honey frames in the other. If the honey stores seem to be light, I'll add a feeder frame to promote additional honey production.

Overall though, I'm far more optimistic than I was at this time last year.

Awesome!

[massphatness]

Couple quick quick shots from our recent hive inspection. We're really happy with the amount of honey & pollen we're seeing on the frames as well as the sheer number of bees in the hive. Feeling much more confident as we head into the cooler months this year than I did last. It seems like we have 4 or 5 times as many bees in the hive as we did last year.


This is me poking around the frames to get a sense for what's going on in the hive. We riled up the bees pretty good, so Grace wasn't comfortable snapping many pics.





This is a good representation of how nicely the bees are filling in the frames with their winter stores. In this photo, they're got the frame packed pretty full of pollen.

[icehog3]

Hope this year's bees kick that Massachusetts winter right in its ass, Vin!

[Dave128]

Looks like you’re doing an amazing job, Vin.

[markem]

That's one sweet setup, Vin.

[sigsauer]

I never used "prescient" like ever
sort of like juxtaposition...

[shilala]

Hey Binnie.
I just read a few days ago that they finally figured out colony collapse disorder.
RoundUp.
Turns out the RoundUp decimates one of 4 of the bee's major gut flora, and it's not naturally recoverable, or at least in the period of time from crop application to winter layover for the bees.

Fortunately, some knuckleheads are developing fungus that supplies bacteria for the bees.
It happens to be the wrong bacteria at this point, but things are moving in the right direction quickly.
RoundUp isn't long for this world, and the right bacterial supplements for hives should be available soon.

[IBQTEE1]

I missed so much of this. I am now caught up and it is so cool. I don't use honey too much but the whole process is cool. Vin once again thank you for the updates.

[hogg]

What a fascinating story. I finally got to catch up on the whole thing. Last winter was the coldest that I remember in years. Here's hoping for a return to mild winters this year. Thanks for sharing Vin!

[massphatness]

Some very welcome mild temps in New England this weekend, and it gives the bees a chance go out and do their bee business. When temps get above 45* it allows the ladies to get out and take "cleansing flights" as, being ladies, they don't poo in the hive.

[icehog3]

Originally Posted by massphatness

Some very welcome mild temps in New England this weekend, and it gives the bees a chance go out and do their bee business. When temps get above 45* it allows the ladies to get out and take "cleansing flights" as, being ladies, they don't poo in the hive.

Much more hygienic than some of the human guests in your house this year.

[AdamJoshua]

2 bees one cup huh

[Tio Gato]

Originally Posted by massphatness

Some very welcome mild temps in New England this weekend, and it gives the bees a chance go out and do their bee business. When temps get above 45* it allows the ladies to get out and take "cleansing flights" as, being ladies, they don't poo in the hive.

That's a cool thing to know. I try to learn something new every day, now I'm all set for today. Thanks Vin!

[357]

Originally Posted by massphatness

We’ve thought about trying out foundationless frames in the future. It’s awesome to be able to cut chunks of comb with honey right from the frame. The downside for me is that the bees then need to completely re-create the comb instead of just focusing on honey production. Also, the guy who does our extractions charges more if we use foundationless frames because it apparently takes longer and makes a mess of things. For now, we are going to continue to go with the pre-printed plastic frames, but I’d love to try the foundationless frames once I have some more experience under my belt.
Posted via Mobile Device

You can get an inexpensive manual extractor and do it yourself. The decent ones have a clutch so the crank handle doesn't take your arm off once you let go. The nicer ones yet spin the frames radially, allowing you to skip the step of flipping the frames over (like you have to on a tangential extractor) , plus is much friendlier to foundationless wax. With a manual extractor, you can carefully control the speed to prevent blowouts.

My extractor is a $120-ish 2-frame tangential but I have my eye on a 4/8-frame preferably with a clutching handle. There are a few manufacturers, and all will do 4 frames tangentially or 8 radially. I just haven't picked one I want yet. They run $250-300 or higher for name brands.

[icehog3]

http://www.dudeiwantthat.com/outdoor...ar-beehive.asp

The Taj Mahal for Bees, or just a money laundering scheme for some suspicious bee keepers?