Beekeeping?

[jyl]

Any beekeepers here?

I am interested in this hobby, but after reading a short book on the topic, it sounds bloody complicated and time-consuming.

I'm not afraid of bees and don't react much to stings. I do live in the city. I'm not particularly interested in getting honey out of it, as I don't really eat it.

[porsche4life]

Why? If you aren't after the honey, and its time consuming? Why?

[Tervuren]

This is all I know.(not really)

[mikeesik]

Bees are very resiliant.


We'd go on adventures and see the square manufactured hives.
I could not believe that the bees were flying around the hive at minus fifteen degrees celsius.
There was snow on the ground.
Strange.

[Bill Douglas]

Be careful. I got severeley stung on the stock market investing in Australian mining shares, but I think investing in bees could be worse. The is a bee mite going around that is devasting hives and bees.

[pbs911]

Who lives in the San Francisco bay area and uses the word "bloody"?

[herr_oberst]

My GF put a couple of hives in my backyard. Fascinating creatures, and a lot of fun to watch. Can't wait for the honey.

So far, not that much work, Portland has a thriving community of beekeepers, just hope they don't swarm

(The bat house still hasn't found any takers, but I'm hoping.)

[jyl]

Cool! I'd like to come over and take a look sometime.

[herr_oberst]

John, you're always welcome to come over and look.

[MRM]

Keeping bees is pretty easy to do and is not time consuming at all. Honey bees are very mild. After you get used to them you might not need smoke or a suit even to harvest honey. I grew up on a farm where my father decided to start keeping hives, more or less on a whim. We had them for almost 20 years until he died. For many years he'd walk right into the hives, take the tops off and remove the "supers" with no more protection than heavy jeans, a net over his head and long sleeves.

All you really have to do is keep them from freezing. All you have to do to do that it to feed them sugar water when they can't feed themselves. When starting out put out bowls of sugar water while they get their footing. After that, just keep them safe, make sure they have enough to eat, and keep enough supers on the hive to house them all. It's fun and not hard at all.

[recycled sixtie]

This reminds me of my grandfather in England. He had bee hives near a row of houses he rented out. Sometimes the bees would go on a rampage and sting the tenants. He was as tough as nails - the bee stings did not bother him.

[red-beard]

One of the guys on the 914 board keeps bees. He's been keeping us updated on Fakebook

[jyl]

There is a beginning keepers class on 5/18 so I'll go to that, and visit Herr O's setup, then think about it.

Looking around my postage stamp back yard, I'm not sure where there is a sunny spot that isn't "taken" by human uses - grill, tables, fire pit, seating. My side yard is largely unused, but it isn't sunny (north side of house). My driveway is on the south, but borders my neighbor's front porch which they use a lot. Not sure they'd like lots of bees coming and going right where they sit and sip mint juleps. Hmm.

[vash]

my friend is really into it.

he has several hives. he loaned me all his books and i read them all. in the end, it just seemed like a lot of work. collecting the honey seems like a sticky mess.

he gives me all the honey i could possibly want. i figured having a friend that keeps bees is better than actually keeping bees.

he is dropping off some beeswax next week. i am gonna melt it into some mineral oil for an all natural wood perservative..for my axe handles and cutting boards.

good luck.

[sixbanger]

I used to have seven hives. They are very gentle.You sit back and they do the work and they never call in sick.I handled them many times with out smoke. When you smoke them they eat the honey.I was in the garage yesterday looking at my equipment.I've also been thinking about getting some more.It's good to get stung once in a while.

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

There is a bee mite going around that is devasting hives and bees.

I've remembered the name of the mite, varroa Varroa destructor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia







.

[dewolf]

A very important part of the eco system is the Bee.

[jyl]

Is it important for the hive to be in a sunny spot?

I live in the Pacific NW, a temperate climate.

[aigel]

They can overheat if in a completely sunny spot in the summer. In a cool climate, I have always seen them under a roof with mid-day shade but facing south and with morning and evening sun on the opening.

Main issue I see is liability. What if they go sting your allergic neighbor? Is this something that's problematic in the US? They are not the best thing to keep on a small lot in a neighborhood IMHO. They will be quite dense in a 50 yard radius from their hive, even though they will of course fly a lot farther. I am sure they go by the reverse square law in distance from the hive, but I have seen issues with allergic neighbors, where the bees had to be moved, just out of common decency, not wanting to increase the neighbors risk of sudden death!

Another thing bees always do is reproduce and swarm. You will have a huge drove of thousands of bees going ape in your neighborhood, only to settle down in a random spot the queen lands in. This can also be a problem, if you are not really close to all your neighbors and can't ask them to go pick up your swarm of bees. Generally they also do this during the day when you are not home.

Ask me how I know ... my dad had bees when he was at work 12 hours. I always had to catch the fuchers in his absence. But he did give me the money he would get selling the hive, so I certainly didn't mind. We lived in the countryside where beekeeping was common and you could go across to the neighbor to catch them without even asking.

G

[herr_oberst]

A couple of videos demonstrating hiving a swarm using a white sheet.