Anyone keep Bees?

Infamous1

Infamous1

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2010
Location
Pittsboro
Thinking of trying to start a colony or two. I am not that into honey, I think honestly I would like to have them for their pollination value. I have also read they are relaxing to watch work from the hive prospective. I am taking a beekeeper class to familiarize myself with the workings of the operation. Just wondering if anyone on here messed with them.
 
I don't have any, I'm allergic to them, but I would love to put up some hives nearby for the same thing. I'm just afraid that because of my allergy to them I wouldn't be able to maintain them properly. Or are they pretty much maintenance free once established?
 
I have been keeping bees about 8 years now. It can be relaxing and it can be a stressful pain in the ass too. I think taking the bee keeping class is a good first step. There is probably a local group or club too which you can join to ask questions and share ideas. I enjoy it most of the time as a hobby. I expanded in size after the first couple years and had about 10 hives on year. It was a lot more time and work taking care of 10. For me as a hobby, 5 or 6 hives is where I like to stay.
 
I did used to tend Bee's yes, but not now. But, seriously thinking about getting back into it for the pollination factor.
Past few years, I have seen a decline in bee's in my garden. Had it not been for the bumble bee's, I wouldn't have had much in the way of fruit of my labor.
Maintenance free? Hardly! You have to tend to their needs. Robbing them, taking away their supers at the right time, to get desired honey. That's several times during the spring and summer, depending on where you are. Take a look around where you live. Bee's will travel in the neighborhood of three miles from their home, to gather pollen. Farms, gardens, and even wooded area's are what you will need around to keep them healthy. Take into consideration too, these farms, what pesticides do they use? Some will kill your bees.
The benefits of honey are many. From topical first aid, to digesting local honey to help build immunities to fight allergy's.
In my past experience, some hives are very docile nearly to the point you don't need any protection, to some of the smallest mean ass critters around. Also, in my past experience, the meaner the bees, the more productive they are. We had some that were more black than yellow, and those little black bastards would produce twice if not more of honey.
There is some up front costs, other than the bees, hives and supers. like head net, gloves, suit if you want to go that route. Starter, and so on.
 
Infamous1 said:
Thinking of trying to start a colony or two. I am not that into honey, I think honestly I would like to have them for their pollination value. I have also read they are relaxing to watch work from the hive prospective. I am taking a beekeeper class to familiarize myself with the workings of the operation. Just wondering if anyone on here messed with them.
Click to expand...
See if one of the clubs in the area would put a hive at your place. They can have the honey if you can just have the hive there. Benefit to all parties?
 
upnover said:
I did used to tend Bee's yes, but not now. But, seriously thinking about getting back into it for the pollination factor.
Past few years, I have seen a decline in bee's in my garden. Had it not been for the bumble bee's, I wouldn't have had much in the way of fruit of my labor.
Maintenance free? Hardly! You have to tend to their needs. Robbing them, taking away their supers at the right time, to get desired honey. That's several times during the spring and summer, depending on where you are. Take a look around where you live. Bee's will travel in the neighborhood of three miles from their home, to gather pollen. Farms, gardens, and even wooded area's are what you will need around to keep them healthy. Take into consideration too, these farms, what pesticides do they use? Some will kill your bees.
The benefits of honey are many. From topical first aid, to digesting local honey to help build immunities to fight allergy's.
In my past experience, some hives are very docile nearly to the point you don't need any protection, to some of the smallest mean ass critters around. Also, in my past experience, the meaner the bees, the more productive they are. We had some that were more black than yellow, and those little black bastards would produce twice if not more of honey.
There is some up front costs, other than the bees, hives and supers. like head net, gloves, suit if you want to go that route. Starter, and so on.
Click to expand...

X2. I have some friends with hives and the last few years have been hard on them. They have had a few die or swarm. I have been thinking about it, but it isnt a cheap venture to start.
 
Dying, and swarming, two different things. Swarming is a normal thing. Happens when another queen is born.
Dying, well there are several reasons for that
 
RobMcBee said:
I don't have any, I'm allergic to them, but I would love to put up some hives nearby for the same thing. I'm just afraid that because of my allergy to them I wouldn't be able to maintain them properly. Or are they pretty much maintenance free once established?
Click to expand...

I had bees for several years before I learned that I was allergic to them. I get stung about half the time I inspect a hive or try to rob. Its just part of the hobby I guess. One day I got stung on the knee cap. I didn't think much about it at the time. About an hour later I was feeling poorly and starting to swell up. My wife who was my girlfriend at the time told me I looked funny and I was starting to feel worse. She took me to the ER. It was the only time I have ever went to a hospital and went straight in. No waiting, no form filling out, I walked through the door and the nurse at the desk acted like a Zombie just walked in the door.

Since then, I started taking injections at the local allergy doctor. I haven't had any more outbreaks or allergic attacks. I do carry an epi-pen most places with me anymore though.

sgtbriangreen said:
See if one of the clubs in the area would put a hive at your place. They can have the honey if you can just have the hive there. Benefit to all parties?
Click to expand...

I have had a bunch of people ask me to put hives at their houses or farms. I have put a few around, but it makes it harder for me to take care of them. During the spring and early summer when its prime swarm season or if the honey flow is on, I try to look into every hive every 7 days. It is a lot easier to do if you don't have to jump in the truck and go somewhere.

All in all its a great hobby and I have learned a ton about nature. I got into it because my grandfather used to keep bees back in his younger days. He was about 75 at the time and wanting to start again. The University of Tennessee offers a hobby bee keeping class through the local bee keepers club. We went to the class, read some books, and bought some stuff. It was a steep learning curve for us. My grandfather decided after two years that he was done, too much work and not enough honey for him to fool with it. Since them I have kept on learning and trying new things. I have taken several more classes through UT, I am certified Master Bee Keeper and a TN State Bee and Apiary Inspector. The Master bee keeper is kind of a joke, but it allows me to apply for state grants for beekeeping equipment. Plus, I learned a whole lot. It was a weeklong class about 8 hours a day. I took the inspectors class because it was so hard to get an inspector or the State Apiarist to some check out my stuff. I don't really inspect anything but my own stuff and the small circle of friends that I have made. I think the State will pay about 25$ to inspect various apiaries, but I have never applied for payment.

Find a club and start going to gatherings. Most beekeepers cant keep their mouth's shut about it after they get to talking, so you are bound to learn something. They all want to tell you how their way is best and everybody else is an idiot, kind of like every other hobby. If you ask a group of 10 beekeepers a question, you will probably get 12 different answers.
 
I've had bees for about 7-8 years. The old man I bought my first hive from told me that you can mess with your bees as much or as little as you want. Bees are going to do what they do. Your dumbass is just there to spice things up for them.
 
upnover said:
Dying, and swarming, two different things. Swarming is a normal thing. Happens when another queen is born.
Dying, well there are several reasons for that
Click to expand...

Yup. Well aware of the reasons for it happening, but doesnt make it less costly to get another hive. Another friend didnt keep after like they should, got wax moths in it, and had to throw away half the frames.
 
paradisePWoffrd said:
Yup. Well aware of the reasons for it happening, but doesnt make it less costly to get another hive. Another friend didnt keep after like they should, got wax moths in it, and had to throw away half the frames.
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why not freeze them? Just put the infected frames in a freezer for 3 days and wa-la, no more moths.
 
Honey bees aren't the only pollinators. As Chip said, bumblebees pollinate some things honeybees don't and there are LOTS of other types of bees that specialize, as well as other insects that pollinate. I'd love the honey but don't have time for bee keeping. The kids are into bugs, so I'm content with planting flowering things and creating good places for pollinators to visit so we can watch for all the various bees, butterflies, and even hummingbirds... plus there's a place not far down the road with a bunch of bee boxes, so it can't hurt to give them food.
 
My daughter is already talking about the fact that we "must" have a native wildflower pollinator garden. Lots of good answers and thoughts here. I am still on the fence about starting this year but one of my coworkers has them and has agreed to help me out so i will most likely go ahead and reserve a nuc or two from my local supplier.
 
Bees are no longer a quiet mess with them when you want hobby. My grandfather and his brother in law both kept bees. The brother in law has about 50 hives currently. Has had 75 plus. Has a sepperator and separate building for all his process and gear. He has numourous state fair blue ribbons.
He will straight tell you, from 50 years ago the cost and time has trippled. Fatality rate has matched.
If you don't monitor weekly and premedicate or stay on top of each hives health it's going to be disaster. Some areas do do a little better, but all populations are very susceptible to disease these days. Best thing to bee keeping is a mutual club or group to lean on unless you are retired or the risk of total loss of population is not risky too you. Small hive numbers don't hurt the wallet to bad. Get your package bees or starters at absolutely the right time and season. Too late they get early heat and stress. To early they have to be fed and tend to handicap their start. Package bees, and starter frames and brand new supers are a clean start. I know keepers who want run even flame cleaned used boxes.
And the best advice so far know the neigbors. Several very large fields next to my house get heavily farmed using all the greatest poisons...uh insect controls. Bees for the most part here would be a waste of time.
 
thecj3man said:
I had bees for several years before I learned that I was allergic to them. I get stung about half the time I inspect a hive or try to rob. Its just part of the hobby I guess. One day I got stung on the knee cap. I didn't think much about it at the time. About an hour later I was feeling poorly and starting to swell up. My wife who was my girlfriend at the time told me I looked funny and I was starting to feel worse. She took me to the ER. It was the only time I have ever went to a hospital and went straight in. No waiting, no form filling out, I walked through the door and the nurse at the desk acted like a Zombie just walked in the door.

Since then, I started taking injections at the local allergy doctor. I haven't had any more outbreaks or allergic attacks. I do carry an epi-pen most places with me anymore though.
Click to expand...

I haven't been stung in years, and it was years before my last sting. I did have a pretty bad reaction when it happened. I had been stung before as a kid and never developed more than a itchy bump. My dr told me that allergies can change and it could be more or less severe next time. I have an epi pen and carry it if I'm doing any outdoor work.


I didn't hardly see any honey bees this year in the garden. I did see lots of bumble and carpenter bees. I've read a lot about the decline of the bee population and that's what peaked my interest.
 
Infamous1 said:
My daughter is already talking about the fact that we "must" have a native wildflower pollinator garden. Lots of good answers and thoughts here. I am still on the fence about starting this year but one of my coworkers has them and has agreed to help me out so i will most likely go ahead and reserve a nuc or two from my local supplier.
Click to expand...
The way I did it was I started with one hive to see if I liked it. One hive is easily managed and is easier on the wallet. If you find you like it you can always split your hives to get more.
 
I might suggest, anyone reading this thread, if you do, or if you don't want to have bees, to do something that will help anyway!
Seek out a local supplier. Usually, the family owned stores, country stores, and road side stands usually selling produce in the summer, will have some local honey. Most often they will have a home made label on them. Look at the address of the beekeeper. You might even want to visit them, just to see the operation. Buying local honey does a couple of things. Helps the bee keeper keep on keeping bees! It also serves you, as I stated earlier, consuming honey, especially local honey has been known to help with allergies. Grocery store honey is good for one thing, that being a sweetener. All the honey I have seen in grocery stores, has been pasteurized. All the natural benefits are gone other than just using it as a sweetener.
Also a lot of times you will see some really clear honey. It may be legit, most often not. Most times the lighter shade honey you see has been fed honey. But there are times when it is legit and comes from a couple sources as in locust blooms, or Sourwood tree blooms. I have seen when robbing hives, the areas in the racks with the lighter honey. This doesn't mean that it is pure, but it is mostly from above said tree blooms. The old timers will tell you, the best honey for you, is the darker honey. Some even call it junk honey. Not junk as in worthless, but it's made up from many different type blooms. The benefit of the darker honey is that because it has so many different varieties of sources, it will the most beneficial to helping build up your immune system warding off allergy issues in your body.
Something else I learned about bees, is when you set your stands up, always face the opening towards the sunrise. The light, and the warmth of the sun will wake the bees up, and get them started earlier.
Always keep the entrance of the stands clear of anything that might knock the pollen off the bees. this to include shrubs, grass and trees. If you ever notice, most often you see the stands at the edge of a field. I remember those nasty mean bees when I was younger. Having to clear out in front of those hives. I usually had to do it after dark, using a flashlight!
Some folks, like my dad, liked the honey comb mixed in when he eat his honey. I once took a large supper(taller) and cut out 9 holes. Just big enough for a jar ring to be screwed down. Then, screwing a jar(the square type jars, like a Kerr jar worked best as they built the cones into the corners and worked toward the center, thus creating an "X". When they fill the jar, they will seal it off.) Then you just simply take the jar off, and replace it with another. Was pretty cool, earned dad several blue ribbons at the country fair.I also remember once at the fair, seeing some honey that was of a purple tint. talking to the bee keeper, it was honey from down in Fayettville. The purple tint came from some type of bloom in the swamps.
 
One of our local home inspectors also has an apiary(?) he brings in honey samples with his business cards. lol I steal them all (he knows) damn good honey.
 
upnover said:
I once took a large supper(taller) and cut out 9 holes. Just big enough for a jar ring to be screwed down. Then, screwing a jar(the square type jars, like a Kerr jar worked best as they built the cones into the corners and worked toward the center, thus creating an "X". When they fill the jar, they will seal it off.) Then you just simply take the jar off, and replace it with another.
Click to expand...

Did you have a picture of this?
 
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