Honey bees

[drotski]

Here are a few photos from my bee yard today. It started with finding out one of the smaller colonies swarmed. First swarm in 2 years, so that's not bad I guess. Tomorrow we will be extracting the first harvest of the year, expecting around 150 lbs of honey. In a month, we will do the second and final harvest, typically much larger. We have new equipment this year, I am excited to test it out.

 

[drotski]

The last two were taken after a brief unexpected rain.

 

[CosbyArt]

Nice! A hobby I don't hear much about to be sure, I've only seen hives a few times in my life around southern Indiana. That is a lot of honey to be sure, more than a human lifetime of feeding countless mantises through the years.

So how do you get your swarmed bees back? Climb the tree and get the queen?

 

[Rick]

I miss my bees. Lost mine to varroa a couple years ago. Once we move I plan on getting more. A truly rewarding experience keeping bees. At one time we had a pretty good thread here on bees.

*edit-found it

http://mantidforum.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=29424

 

[drotski]

Nice! A hobby I don't hear much about to be sure, I've only seen hives a few times in my life around southern Indiana. That is a lot of honey to be sure, more than a human lifetime of feeding countless mantises through the years.

So how do you get your swarmed bees back? Climb the tree and get the queen?

We have a few swarm traps in place, hoping they go into one of those. We could climb the tree and try to get the swarm (we have done that before), but this swarm is small and it is very close to a power line. Swarming is a natural thing, it is how they produce new colonies. As a beekeeper, we try to trick them into not swarming, but it doesn't always work.

For swarm traps, we use empty used hive bodies (they like when it already smells like a hive), and use lemongrass oil as a lure.

A couple years ago, a local beekeeper had empty hives in the back of his truck. He visited his mother at the hospital, when he came out a colony of bees had moved in.

 

[drotski]

I miss my bees. Lost mine to varroa a couple years ago. Once we move I plan on getting more. A truly rewarding experience keeping bees. At one time we had a pretty good thread here on bees.

*edit-found it

http://mantidforum.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=29424

Thanks for showing me that thread!

Mites are terrible. For 2 years now we have used a product called HopGuard to fight them off. It is made from hops (same thing that flavors beer), and is safe to use during honey production.

 

[CosbyArt]

We have a few swarm traps in place, hoping they go into one of those. We could climb the tree and try to get the swarm (we have done that before), but this swarm is small and it is very close to a power line. Swarming is a natural thing, it is how they produce new colonies. As a beekeeper, we try to trick them into not swarming, but it doesn't always work.

For swarm traps, we use empty used hive bodies (they like when it already smells like a hive), and use lemongrass oil as a lure.

A couple years ago, a local beekeeper had empty hives in the back of his truck. He visited his mother at the hospital, when he came out a colony of bees had moved in.

Interesting, I could see why you don't want them to swarm, you are loosing bees. I can't blame you on not climbing, best of luck on them finding your traps.

Sounds like a cheap way to get a colony, just drive around for one to find you. Seems getting used hives are better for the bees I'll remember that if I ever get to try it myself. At the moment where I live the city laws forbid it inside the city. Plus my mother we take care of is highly allergic to bee stings.

 

[drotski]

Just in case you wanted to know what a 5 gallon bucket of honey looks like. We got about 2.5 of these today, about 150 lbs.

 

[drotski]

I wouldn't recommend getting used equipment, unless you can somehow know for a fact the previous bees were disease free. American foulbrood is a terrible disease, caused by a spore. The only cure is burning the equipment for waiting about 75 years for it to die. Used is really only a benefit for attracting a swarm, if you intentionally put bees in a brand new hive, it will smell like a beehive in a couple days or less.

 

[CosbyArt]

Just in case you wanted to know what a 5 gallon bucket of honey looks like. We got about 2.5 of these today, about 150 lbs.

I wouldn't recommend getting used equipment, unless you can somehow know for a fact the previous bees were disease free. American foulbrood is a terrible disease, caused by a spore. The only cure is burning the equipment for waiting about 75 years for it to die. Used is really only a benefit for attracting a swarm, if you intentionally put bees in a brand new hive, it will smell like a beehive in a couple days or less.

Wow, that is a lot of honey, I wouldn't have guessed how much it volume it would be. All thanks for the tips, it isn't something I'll be doing anytime soon (just another hobby I'd like to try one day).

 

[drotski]

Luckily we have a couple customers that use honey instead of sugar exclusively. They do a bulk purchase each year. We are still at the hobby level, and we distribute 300-400 lbs each year. A typical 5-gal bucket is around 60-lbs.

Today's harvest ended at 180lbs. A bit more than I expected.