A BEE thread....for those interested in beekeeping.

[Hatchery Hive]

I am really enjoying this thread. I want to try bees but, am totally nervous. I am the type the will talk myself right out of something due to lack of confidence. So keep on talking maybe I will gain some.

You Can Do it.... and should try.... I love my bees....

Quote: an excellent bit of advice.... I second this....

 

[OHhappychicks]

Does anyone have a tried and true recipe for sugar cakes? Do you have to use lemongrass oil or spearmint oil? I have green tea/lemongrass tea I could use in the water, but not sure if this is acceptable. Any suggestions?

 

[tmoore8595]

Does anyone have a tried and true recipe for sugar cakes? Do you have to use lemongrass oil or spearmint oil? I have green tea/lemongrass tea I could use in the water, but not sure if this is acceptable. Any suggestions?

http://www.beesource.com/forums/sho...-method-for-sugar-blocks&highlight=sugar+cake

 

[Honey Maid]

What tmoore8595 posted is what I use, bees love it! I do not do the entire recipe, I either make half of it or a quarter of it. If you do the entire recipe all at once, it's tough as heck to mix.

today I inspected one of my hives, the "Italians", man they like to build, they had comb between boxes, with larva in it, stupid bees. They also have 2 swarm cells with larva in them. I just reversed their hive bodies today, and threw a medium super on them. I over wintered them in two deeps and a medium full of honey. They have cleaned out most of the medium of honey, and looks like they've had some brood in it, though none now. My two other hives, both carnies have tons of stores left. May have to give the Italians some syrup. They did not have much in the way of larva or eggs, but had some capped brood.

I'm starting to like Carnies better :/

 

[OHhappychicks]

I don't have any of the beepro. Is there an acceptable substitute? Also, I can use other essential oils; lemon, lavender or peppermint? I only need to make enough for a small hive. I was going to use a 5# bag of sugar. Oh, I also have quick chick vitamin and electolytes for baby chicks. Can this be used instead? It lacks a few of the vitamins than the one that was posted has and some more iu's/mg and some less iu's/mg than her brand. One more question, please, can I put local honey in the mixture?

 

[rebrascora]

I would just like to chip in here so that inexperienced beekeepers and novices understand that all this business of feeding pollen patties and sugar cakes is not an essential part of beekeeping, but more a commercial practice that has been passed down and become accepted practice at hobby level, without any real consideration of the necessity.

In 16 years of beekeeping (and I have the original strain of bees I started with) I have never fed my bees a pollen patty or sugar cake or fondant block and only a handful of times have I fed them syrup. I catch the swarms from my hives in the summer and put them in an empty hive and leave them to get on with it and they thrive....last year I even used an old apple crate that I fitted with top bars. I particularly wanted to keep that swarm (I had given away 12 others) and I didn't have a spare hive ready.... it is happily flying today and will get transferred to a proper hive when the weather is warmer. If I get a very late cast swarm then I may feed them syrup to boost stores for winter but it is rarely necessary. However I don't harvest much honey from them and I always leave them plenty to over winter on.

Just wanted to throw that out there so that people don't feel they "should" be doing these things. Artificially feeding the bees at this time of year (unless they are starving because they were not left with enough honey for winter) encourages them to brood sooner, so that the colonies grow larger and have more foragers to collect nectar when there is a flow. That may not sound bad, but one of the effects of this is that varroa mites also start to breed more rapidly and can overrun the hive.... so then the beekeeper needs to treat them.... Or there is a cold spell and there are not enough adult bees to cover the brood and it gets chilled, leaving it vulnerable to disease.

I suppose in some ways it is similar to keeping chickens.... if you want to get maximum egg production.... you stimulate with artificial light in the winter and give them the optimum nutrition. They will however still lay eggs (but less of course) and be quite happy if they don't get these conditions and may even live longer.

Bees are a very ancient creature though and being in rhythm with the seasons and the landscape(flora) and local climate is an integral part of how they have existed and survived the millennia. Artificially stimulating them knocks that rhythm out of sync, which in my opinion is one (granted, a small one) of the MANY reasons why bees are not thriving in many parts of the world today.

I appreciate that honey bees are not native to the American continent and that bees are shipped across the world each year to get there and are therefore already completely out of sync with their environment, but I do believe that they can adapt if they are given the opportunity. Getting locally raised bees in the first place is the best way to start though rather than buying mass produced packages.

Hope I haven't offended anyone. Just wanted to make people think about what they are doing and why.

Regards

Barbara

 

[vpatt]

I have a question for all you beekeepers. I don't think I asked already...if so please forgive me.

I have decided not to keep bees due to living in bear territory. But the lady down the road has twenty or so hives and already has electric fencing. I had volunteered to help her at times if she lets me know when. She said she might take me up on it. My question is.....I would like to offer to buy some bees to keep at her place and be able to care for them and learn from her. Do you all think that is an ok thing to present to her? I know it is her decision and she may not care to do that...but do you think it is presumptuous of me to ask? It would make me more a part of things and should not cause her any financial isuue for me. Or are there aspects that I am not seeing because I do NOT have bees of my own? I would first see if she is serious about me helping and learning from her....and then see how I feel about asking this of her. In other words we would get to know each other first.
thnx for any advice

 

[Amiga]

I would consider asking. Also, some of the greatest expense is the hives themselves. Perhaps offering to buy a hive - or build one - is another option.

Beekeepers have preferences on type of hive, breed of bee, and all that. So, if you are flexible about it, float the idea and see what she says. You will learn something no matter how she responds.

 

[OHhappychicks]

Thank you for your good advise! I completely agree. I believe we try to sometimes help and improve God's design way more than we should ! I probably wouldn't "bee" feeding them except an experienced beekeeper and friend looked at my hive last Oct. and told me to start feeding them at that time as they hadn't enough stores to get them thru the winter. It is a small hive and was a swarm another friend caught for me last June. She lost a hive last winter due to starving. So I've fed with syrup in the fall and a candy board I purchased, late fall/early winter. I just wanted to make one small cake for them to get thru march, as the last 3-4 weeks have been brutally and unusually cold with lots of snow. It has warmed up this week into 50's and snow is melting. They will bee more active and using more energy. So I feel they may need a boost at this time. This is my first experience with bees, and I would hate to lose them at this late date due to starving. They were out and about yesterday a little, so they've survived thru the cold. I really appreciate all the knowledge that is shared here. Thank you again!

 

[OHhappychicks]

That is very exciting! I have a few friends that are advising me, but to get that hands on experince would be invaluable. And as already stated, you will learn either way. I would definately ask!