buzzzzzzzzzz new adventure

[Mmathis]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1071501276198227

 

[addy1]

That has been discussed extensively on the bee forum. We would not do it, go enough money into our equipment. The honey harvest they are showing it is not quite that gross. i.e. bee parts etc falling into the honey. And not that hard to pull the frames, those are poorly taken care of hives. imho..............lol

 

[MitchM]

Here are our mason bees and their house with cleanable nesting holes.
The bees come in these cocoons that we keep in the fridge until the weather is appropriate then we put it all outside until fall, wash the new cocoons that are made over the summer and bring them in before next winter.

 

[addy1]

That is neat! Why do you have to wash the cocoons?

 

[MitchM]

You wash the cocoons and chambers to give the bees a higher survival rate over the winter. Otherwise some bees could die because of mites and fungus.
Same for bringing them inside for the winter. It increases the survival rate.

 

[addy1]

Neat! Thanks for the info, maybe once we get our feet under us with these bees I will venture out into other bees. Bet they are easier to care for....................

 

[MitchM]

It looks like it. These are not honey producers, only pollinators.
I like these because I was worried a bit about attracting bears here with honey bees.
I'll post another picture once the house is mounted and bees are coming and going.

edit - oh, and these bees need a source of mud, so I'm going to make a place on the edge of the pond that remains constantly wet with the clay we have around here.

 

[addy1]

They are great pollinators, one of my sisters was getting some or thinking about it, don't recall. Agree with bears, they can smell that honey and here they come. There are a bunch of postings about hives destroyed by bears. There was one sighting near here, but I think it was caught and moved away.

You would need to have very good bear fences up to have hives. Or do like some have done, put them on their roof. I can't image working on hives on a roof.

 

[MitchM]

I've heard that electric fences work for bears, but it would still bring them into the yard.
On the roof? Good grief, no thanks.

 

[addy1]

You have to have a well built one, also hang bacon on it to attract the bear to lick the bacon and get its tongue tingled. Or peanut butter. Well grounded too. We put up electric fencing, mainly for the deer, trying to keep my bee friendly wildflower gardens to not get totally munched down by the deer. All the flowers are deer attractants. The deer resistant ones are not as bee friendly, ie lots of nectar, pollen.

 

[addy1]

Here are some pictures of the queen cage, the one hive had her released when we checked today. The sugar plug is in the long plastic neck.

This is what it looks like when you take her out of the shipping box, covered with nurse bees. The bees in the box were shipped with her, so she would be fed.

 

[addy1]

Another thing we are doing it cutting foundation, it causes the bees to build out the foundation in the center of the frame, draw wax to build out the sides. Makes them think they have a lot of room and in the spring they are wax building machines. This helps keep them from swarming.

Here is the foundation being drawn out, with brood in the center, drone size cells to the sides. (man bee cells)

Here is a frame with the brood on it. Our cut foundation

We are real pleased with how they are doing.

 

[MitchM]

You have to have a well built one, also hang bacon on it to attract the bear to lick the bacon and get its tongue tingled. Or peanut butter. ....

We have a BearSmart program in our county. They teach residents how to avoid bear encounters.
I'm pretty sure that hanging bacon and peanut butter outside is something they would tell us NOT to do.

I used to call them when we spotted signs of a bear, but that only resulted in the wildlife officers coming around and giving me a lecture...so I stopped calling them...

.

 

[addy1]

Laughing..............that is most likely true, but it does teach them about the fence.

 

[j.w]

You are in a neat adventure w/your bees addy and teaching all of us as you go. It's very interesting to say the least!