Bee Keeping

[ONG]

After 25 years I am getting back into bee keeping. Any one here into it now?

[LV Hospice RN]

My dad kept bee's back in the 60's, early 70s. Well, in fact i think they keep you!! At the time thought it was stupid that anyone would PURPOSELY keep insects around that stung!!

As time went by, after dad was gone, i dabbled into the hobby, lightly at first. Where i was in SW MO there were alot of apple orchards. At my "peak" i had over 250 hives, spread out across the country. When the honey was flowing well it made you wonder when Rockerfeller messed with oil...that was the time of government subsidized honey and the $$$ were in fact, quite good.

With the africanization of bees i guess the gentle european bee is on the way out...us humans could learn a few things from bees...example:

1. No juvenile delinqents with bees...they keep them locked in a "cell", till they are big enough to work...then pop them out to work...not time to get in trouble...

2. Drone Vs. Worker: All the worker bees are female...literally work themselves to death in the summer, living about six weeks or so. The drones are males of course and keep the hive warm, roam thru the hive "goosing" the women, and chase any potential queens, trying to get laid...they live longer than the workers...ulitimately booted into the cold and not let back into the hive when cold weather comes in...

A great hobby..very interesting little guys (and girls).

just imho, ymmv
darrell
sin city

[owlcreekok]

Rita got the apiary I was going to get a couple of broods from this spring. :sad: Hafta wait another year.

We had up to a dozen hives on the ranch when I was growing up. I plan to try to get between three and six going here ASAP.

[ONG]

You guys have any experience with the mites?

[owlcreekok]

I lost all memory of that long ago. Dad tells of it from time to time. I was about 8 to 10 yrs old at the time. I am reading our old copy of "The Hive and Honeybee" from time to time. It has a little about mites in it. I will look later, if need be.

[Texasbubba]

I keep several hives.
Mites are a problem. I've been controlling the mites on my bees with some degree of success using a mix of powdered sugar and garlic powder (2 oz garlic powder to a pound of powdered sugar). Open the hive up and dust it on everything, do this three times 10 days apart in the spring, before the honey flow starts, again after you harvest the honey, and again in the fall before you get them ready for winter.
Africanized bees have reached this region. I replace my queens with a known queen every two years for safety, and if a hive starts getting aggressive, I kill the queen immediatly and re-queen.
Try dadant.com for lots of good info. While you're there subscribe to 'American Bee Journal' for lots of helpful information.