Re: Keeping bees

**camprn** 3/16/2014, 9:58 am

R&R 1011 wrote:I get the bees in a month. Im sure Ill be pestering you with questions.

are you taking a bee keeping class? Do you have your hive wooden ware yet? It is time to paint the boxes and build and wire the frames. What book are you reading? It's going to be a busy month. Hooray!!!

R&R 1011 3/16/2014, 1:50 pm

camprn wrote:
R&R 1011 wrote:I get the bees in a month. Im sure Ill be pestering you with questions.
are you taking a bee keeping class? Do you have your hive wooden ware yet? It is time to paint the boxes and build and wire the frames. What book are you reading? It's going to be a busy month. Hooray!!!

Just finished bee class. We have 1 more hands on class in April at our instructors apiary. Thats the day Ill be bringing my bees home.

Im buying a beginners kit & frames that come assembled from our instructor. Will just need to paint. Ill probably be picking up the kit next weekend.

Beekeeping for Dummies is the book they gave us from class. Im almost finished with it. Its going to be a very busy month!

Our instructors keep an apiary of 6 hives on osu campus. They have meetings every Wed. from May- Oct. with hands on teaching with the hives. I plan to attend a lot of those. Also, included in our fee for the class is a year membership with the local bee club so we're also invited to attend their meetings and events as well. They have a few events with big name bee keepers this year, so pretty excited about that too. Its pretty cool!

**llama momma** 3/16/2014, 5:37 pm

R & R
Congratulations on finishing the bee class and best wishes to you and your new adventure!
Keeping bees - Page 23 3170584802

**Kelejan** 3/16/2014, 8:46 pm

May you have sweet success, R & R

R&R 1011 3/17/2014, 1:34 pm

Thanks guys! My friend I took bee class with also bought a hive which he'll be keeping at my place, so guess Ill be starting with 2 hives.

recoush 3/27/2014, 3:46 pm

Bee Condos Not for Wasps Shocked

1st Sorry this is long but some one asked how it was made and how it works (Recoush bee Condos)

The Bee condos are more like a bird house they are very deep 7-1/2"
to allow for the 6 inch appx hibernation tubes ( Nesting or Reed Tubes) they range in size from 3/32 to 3/8" inside diameter to make them snug placed into Towel rolls. ( by the way the towel Roll planting are working Great)

The Bees ( Blue Orchard mason) like larger nesting tubes Compared to (leaf cutter) which like smaller tubes (Blue orchard mason) use mud. Keep a shovel pit wet with mounded mud damp not soaked (a bucket of mud works even better)

(leaf cutters) as the name implies (use leaf cuttings to seal their nests ( those cut leafs are not a bad thing maybe leaf cutters check before you spray. Shocked

their is also a block or pine with slots tunnels) rubber banded together this has been burnished with a torch to help the bees find their home as well as the nesting tubes are different colors this to help the (bees) find their way Home

asked a friend of mine to make the houses as dimension less base on the length of the Tubes adding clearance and an opening that i can place wire over to keep out birds. Something like 5/16 wire hole size less then 1/2" in any case.

On the top top Condo covered by the front door (this the emergence area) sleepy bees wait til 50 Plus degrees days to emerge then drop down onto the Tubes. note the slot 2" down from the front top)

This way they can emerge into the housing Compartment) their is an emergence box with (mason bees in cocoons) with 1/2 holes so they can climb out and wake up and do their Male Waiting around as the males emerge 1st followed a week later by the larger Female ( their are no queens like in a Hive) this is strictly male / female Humanoid behavior about 10 males to one Female (larger) Cocoon when purchased Very Happy

recoush 3/29/2014, 2:05 pm

Wow, Thanks for the Photos That is Awesome
Keeping bees - Page 23 3170584802

**camprn** 4/4/2014, 5:16 pm

The ground has thawed a bit and the fence is up! ... A bit of bacon + 6000 v and I'm ready for the bears. What a Face

CapeCoddess 4/5/2014, 7:29 pm

Last week I saw on the news a warning about bears foraging in neighborhoods because the winter was going on so long. I thought of you and was hoping you would be able to do this soon.

so glad the girls are now safe and sound.

recoush 4/5/2014, 8:17 pm

6000V is just a tease for the bears Keeping bees - Page 23 3170584802

**camprn** 4/5/2014, 8:20 pm

recoush wrote:6000V is just a tease for the bears

The brood in the hive is the tease. That fence is all I got and it worked last year and I hope it works again this year. Wink

I don't want to go through this again.
Keeping bees - Page 23 00312

**Kelejan** 4/5/2014, 9:05 pm

Oh Wow! Camprn. That was brutal. I feel for you.

landarch 4/5/2014, 10:54 pm

Worked a bit this morning at the community garden assembling my first hive bodies...then gave them several coats of varnish. I'm a beginner...and I've found a beekeeper right in my neighborhood as well.

Keeping bees - Page 23 Hive_b10

Here's a shot from today...bees drinking.
Keeping bees - Page 23 Bee_dr11

recoush 4/6/2014, 3:00 pm

Found this in my garden soil surprised me after camera view decided this is mason bee bumble.

note no stinger and yellow bands have to do some research as i was not aware they wintered in the dirt
Hope it survives

Keeping bees - Page 23 Imag0410

recoush 4/6/2014, 6:13 pm

well according to the Internet that is a Common Male Bumble bee, Learn some thing every Smile

brainchasm 4/6/2014, 6:40 pm

I will hug him and pet him and squeeze him and call him George...

**kauairosina** 4/6/2014, 6:51 pm

Say hello to George and his friends for me. We have had our hive for about two weeks now. Time will tell how things work out. Plenty of blossoms out there. The hive is right at the bottom of our garden. I haven't noticed the bees but I'll ask others if they have.

My grandson,Collin, got the hive by pledging an Angel Pledge of $365 to our public radio station, KKCR. We have all pitched in to reimburse him. You know how it is, we old codgers talk a lot and don't just do things but the youngest one bit the bullet, so to speak. Ah youth!

**Kelejan** 4/6/2014, 6:58 pm

brainchasm wrote:I will hug him and pet him and squeeze him and call him George...

Do you call all your bees George?
I call all my worms Fred. So much easier. Very Happy

CapeCoddess 4/6/2014, 7:41 pm

brainchasm wrote:I will hug him and pet him and squeeze him and call him George...

Heehee...I just saw that in the other thread...love the way you slid it in here.
good idea

I didn't know that bumble bees slept in the dirt either. Is that true?
CC

**camprn** 4/6/2014, 8:31 pm

I cleaned out my hives today. The two dead ones had reduced numbers (probably due to mites) and because of the prolonged freezing weather simply could not break cluster and move over an inch to get to the honey. They starved to death. Evil or Very Mad

**sanderson** 4/7/2014, 12:58 am

CC, Brainchasm started it! I just used a picture with the same expression that I received on Facebook, and posted it under Senseless Banter. Very Happy

CapeCoddess 4/7/2014, 5:24 pm

camprn wrote:I cleaned out my hives today. The two dead ones had reduced numbers (probably due to mites) and because of the prolonged freezing weather simply could not break cluster and move over an inch to get to the honey. They starved to death.

That's just really really sad...
Sad

Had you covered the hives with that black stuff for winter?

CC

**camprn** 4/7/2014, 5:51 pm

CapeCoddess wrote:
camprn wrote:I cleaned out my hives today. The two dead ones had reduced numbers (probably due to mites) and because of the prolonged freezing weather simply could not break cluster and move over an inch to get to the honey. They starved to death.
That's just really really sad...

Had you covered the hives with that black stuff for winter?

CC

yes, but there was just not enough bees to keep everybody warm enough to move around in the hive. I have learned this lesson well.

Oh, there is 50+ pounds of honey in each of the dead hives. This will allow me to get a good start this spring.

**AtlantaMarie** 4/8/2014, 8:58 am

Camprn, I'm sorry about the 2 hives. That's rough... How many do you have?

(This reminds me that I need to call our local guy & get some honey... Almost out...)

**camprn** 4/8/2014, 12:41 pm

AtlantaMarie wrote:Camprn, I'm sorry about the 2 hives. That's rough... How many do you have?

(This reminds me that I need to call our local guy & get some honey... Almost out...)

Down to one colony.

Sponsored content

Keeping bees

Re: Keeping bees

Re: Keeping bees

Re: Keeping bees

Re: Keeping bees

Re: Keeping bees

mason bee nest building

Re: Keeping bees

Re: Keeping bees

Re: Keeping bees

Re: Keeping bees

Re: Keeping bees

Re: Keeping bees

First Hive

Re: Keeping bees

Re: Keeping bees

Re: Keeping bees

don't squeeze too hard!!

Re: Keeping bees

Re: Keeping bees

Re: Keeping bees

Re: Keeping bees

Re: Keeping bees

Re: Keeping bees

Re: Keeping bees

Re: Keeping bees

Re: Keeping bees


	Hello Guest! Welcome to the official Square Foot Gardening Forum. There's lots to learn here by reading as a guest. However, if you become a member (it's free, ad free and spam-free) you'll have access to our large vermiculite databases, our seed exchange spreadsheets, Mel's Mix calculator, and many more members' pictures in the Gallery. Enjoy.