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I'm getting ready to check my hives today. It's my 3rd year in bee keeping and I learn something every time I work with the bees. They have a fascinating social system. Was wondering if any other in the pinball hobby also keep bees?
I started with 1 hive my first year. Last year had 3 hives and now up to 4. I don't think I'll ever have more than 6 because it is just a fun hobby and does take some time. I'm also having a hard time getting them through winters.
Quoted from mdolshan:My daughter was in beekeeping club in high school; it made a big impression on her. Last year she sent me plans for a waist-height Langstroth beehive and said, "Build this." So I did. It was a pain to build, but I like how it came out. This spring we populated it with a nuc from a local bee enthusiast. The bees seem to be doing well![quoted image][quoted image]
That is a nice looking hive! Do you intend to harvest honey from it?
Quoted from Pinbee:Nicely filled out comb, what's the nectar source?
We only harvest once per year so it's a wildflower mix of Spring, Summer and early Fall flowers. Mostly Dandelion, Sweet Clover, German Clover, Soy Bean with some Pumpkin and Goldenrod. Plenty of rain (sometimes too much) this season made for a good year for bees.
That is a great video @mnpinball. My bee instructor and now mentor was a lifelong beekeeper and a great resource for me. I recently saw an article that a large commercial operation pulled out of Nebraska and will not return. If I remember correctly it was due to winter losses. I'm assuming you overwinter in Texas.
Here is a picture of our class from a few years ago.
IMG_20170502_193202379 (resized).jpgA local farmer called me after finding bees during a tree removal. I boarded up the ends and gave them some food. The farmer helped move them to a new location. If they make it through winter I'll figure out how to get them in a box. I thought it was cool that the farmer cared enough to call me.
20191126_111049 (resized).jpg20191126_111055 (resized).jpg20191126_112019 (resized).jpg20191126_112652 (resized).jpg20191126_132935 (resized).jpgQuoted from ImNotNorm:Did you have a harsh winter? Is that why they didn't make it?
Yes, winter is hard and a variety of other things such as Varroa mites hit bees hard in winter months. But they are building up their population quickly now and I'm hoping we will have a good season.
I checked hives today between storms. This year I have a total of 5 at 3 locations. One location is kind of special. It's on the only police documented UFO landing site in Nebraska (1967). Honey from this site will be packaged in special jars with hand drawn art from a published artist and called Limited Edition.
Quoted from BigJoeCincy:nice. Is that one of those EZ nuc boxes? Do you like it? are they durable? I was thinking about selling nucs in those
The box is a heavy waxed cardboard material and holds 5 deep frames. It's working well so far. I am leaving them in this box until they draw out some comb.
I have 6 hives. I use a product called 'Bee-Go' on an old t shirt to get the bees down and off the supers.
You will want to pull the boxes when it's time. The bees wouldn't like all the open space and it would be hard for them to keep warm in the winter.
Now it's time for me to treat for mites and supplemental feed to get them ready for the weather change.
Quoted from amkoepfer:Harvest day. Just checked my hives. Not a drop this year! They spread out really nice in the brood boxes, just didnt move up to the supers. Oh well. Next year!
That's too bad. Hopefully you get them through winter and next year is more productive. PM me if you need a bottle in the mean time. I'll send you some.
Quoted from Ralph67:Gottlieb City Of Bees! These Bees thought a pinball machine might make a nice home. The bees were safely removed by a Beekeeper. I did suggest putting the pinball machine inside the house instead of leaving it under the patio which is not a very good place to have it.[quoted image][quoted image]
That is a first. Maybe I'll leave a few pinballs out next Spring for swarm traps.
Quoted from amkoepfer:Ok, so my same hive that split, has split at least 6 more times. I am at a loss as to why. There is 2 brood boxes on it, not even all the way filled up, and there seems to srill be a healthy population, but they are swarming almost daily. Did the first swarm make too many queens? On a good note i have captured 2 swarms for me, 2 for my neighbor, and at least my 2 swarms seem to be doing well drawing out comb. I need to join a beekeeping group to learn more about this i guess!
During your inspections are you seeing multiple swarm cells?
Quoted from amkoepfer:Still lookin good. I need to get some foundationless frames for cut comb
I had one super with cut comb. I started with thin natural wax foundation. It's the fastest selling honey I have but it's hard to get the bees to make it.
Quoted from amkoepfer:I used bee go or bee quick, not sure which. I didnt have a fume board so i used the unlit smoker method. Did not work at all!!! Ended up pulling frame by frame and brushing off the bees. Fume boards for next year!
I stapled a towel on an extra inside cover and it worked as a fume board. I've tried several methods and this one has worked best for me. The worst method was a leaf blower my first year.
Quoted from amkoepfer:Doesnt it need metal to react? Or is that jist the stuff i used? The towel method seems like it would work pretty well!
I use Bee Go on the towel and it works great. It's smelly stuff so it doesn't take much. The fumes will make your eyes water.
I checked my hives this weekend. I don't have any queen cells and very few drone brood so I'm not worried about swarms for the next week or so. One of my dead out hives from winter had some robbing going on but it wasn't a swarm moving in yet. I hope to capture a couple free bees this Spring. I've captured several swarms but I've yet to trap one.
I received a Broodminder sensor for Christmas and got it installed this weekend. It's an interesting novelty but I'm still learning the features and how I can use it to manage the hive. It's basically a temperature gauge inside the hive. Here is the first few days of data.
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Ashland, NE