Bee keeping

[Rawlings]

:laughing:
I've known some gals like that... not many ...but there are some like that :biggrin::biggrin:
:smile:KennyV

Thanks for the smiles!

Thanks to everyone for the replies too. We have a fairly big yard, sadly nowhere else we could keep them. I will do some more research into the local legislation, I never imagined there would be inspections and so on, though it makes sense I guess. My hubby has lots of ideas but many come to nothing and I am starting to think this may be one that should go that way too.

 

[RobertBrown]

one of my neighbors has kept hives for yrs.He stopped me one day to show me his new Queen he just got through the post office,they ship it in a tiny cage and a hole plugged with a piece of candy.he explained that you place the cage into the hive and the workers will eat the candy and free the Queen.I thought that was really neat.I had one of his swarms take up residence in an old waterheater and told him about it and he came over and collected them using smoke.He also told me about this trachea mite that's killing them and then I saw this show on NOVA about the Honey Bees disappearing. They called it sudden hive collapse syndrome where it's a combition of several things like a virus and enviornmental factors.Kinda scarey because we rely so much on the honey bee to pollinate our produce. russ

We bought our first 10,000 bees through the mail. They came in a rectangular box made from screen about 4x6x10 inches. The queen was inside a small box by herself only a piece of tape was over the candy so the bees couldn't get at it until you put her in the hive and remove the tape. The box was made to accomadate a can of syrup that the bees ate while en route.
The postman would not deliver the box so i had to go to the post office and get it. Boy that sure turned some heads and generated some questions as these bees were anything but quiet.
That hive has since spilt at least twice. Once the bees swarmed in an orange tree near thier original hive on my property. (I guess they do that when the swarm gets too big, kind of like humans) We caught them and put them in a new hive and they are ready to split again. The hives are loaded with honey. No CCD here (Colony Collpapse dissorder):laughing:
We still have a bunch of honey from the spring. So I guess we will be giving out honey for Christmas.:licking:

 

[cohen]

There is talk in our house of getting a bee hive! My hubby has had some experience with them but I am worried this is not a good idea. I love working in my yard and have read that some hives are territorial even when you are nowhere near their home. Yikes!

This sounds like an interesting project. I like honey. It has many benefits. But hey, not in my yard dude! Having a beehive means living with the possibility of getting stung. I may live with that, but I won't impose that on my wife and kids. If my nasty neighbor would permit me though, I can put those beehives in his yard, hahahaha.

 

[Green Girl]

I have known several people who have kept bees, some even in urban settings, and the bees were no problem. I have not done it, but a couple of my friends say the bees are mesmerizing to watch. Given that, I suspect you will be more interested in the bees than they will be in you!

 

[patches]

My dad had a hive for years while the four kids were growing up. We never had any problems with them being aggressive and I don't remember ever getting stung. I'm thinking about getting a hive so we'll have honey bees to pollinate our garden.

 

[AndyMan]

Our area has many apple orchards. Every orchard has its own hives for pollinating the apples. Seems like a great idea - you get your apples and your honey both!