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Post by brownrexx on May 22, 2016 11:00:29 GMT -5
Can you get mated queens from your bee supplier? I know that is what "real" beekeepers do but we just do not like opening the hive all that much and around here mated queens are only available in early spring and then they are sold out. I know that there is a risk of losing the swarm but we have some dwarf fruit trees about 30 feet in front of the hive and they always seem to go to those trees and are easy to catch. We have had really good luck with that over the years. We thought that they were acting like they wanted to swarm yesterday but then it rained and they stayed with the hive - hopefully today. We are keeping a close watch on them.
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Post by James on Sept 4, 2016 10:47:22 GMT -5
Been a while since any activity on this beekeeping subject.
All you beekeepers might chime in and let us know how your harvest went?
I had quite a party here. Two helpers came and we robbed 7 colonies. Went in the garage and uncapped frames and extracted honey. Bottled the honey in pint jars.
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Post by brownrexx on Sept 4, 2016 13:27:12 GMT -5
We did not take any honey from our bees this year. We started 2 new hives from swarms and allowed the remaining 1 hive to just keep their honey for themselves. We still have honey left from last year for personal use and we do not sell any.
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Post by davidjp on Sept 4, 2016 14:12:10 GMT -5
No harvest as yet I'm afraid. Only my second season so was hoping to have something. The bees are active pretty much year round here but the main nectar flow is primarily eucalyptus and citrus which runs from late Jan to March. Although there's actually quite a bit coming in now from Brazilian pepper trees.
Last year went into winter with two pretty nice hives established from packages in May and around November thought i'd treat for mites and get a clean start to the new year. So went ahead and treated with Formic acid which is an approved organic treatment, unfortunately lost one queen so that set back one of my hives although was able to get a queen from Hawaii which restored the situation. The result was I had one great hive booming about January time and one just starting to tick over. Obviously the booming hive collected quite a bit and it had about 1 whole deep box of lovely smelling orange blossom honey by the end of March.
Have been away for some time this summer and had meant to harvest but bottom line was that hive started to dwindle down a bit from I think varroa and ended up getting fairly badly robbed out. By the time I noticed the situation I think I've lost about 3/4 of that box of capped honey. Annoying is not the word.
Anyway at least now I'm acquainted with the local honey flow situation and the need to get hives really booming around end of January time to make the eucalyptus and citrus harvest.
So that's really my first year and bit, 18 months now I guess.
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Post by brownrexx on Sept 4, 2016 19:01:38 GMT -5
was able to get a queen from Hawaii A Hawaiian queen - how exotic sounding!
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Post by James on Oct 23, 2016 23:22:46 GMT -5
Wow, here it is third week in October and the weather is still pretty nice. The bees have been out flying but I see no blossoms for them to work.
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Post by James on Nov 1, 2016 11:16:50 GMT -5
likePost Options Post by SpringRain on Dec 28, 2015 at 12:16pm "James, I've been wondering how you protect your hives during the winter."
The only things I do are to make sure they have plenty of stores and put an entrance block in that reduces the entrance to a slot 3/8 inch by 3 inch. They stay in the same place and I do not use any insulating covers. In this cold country the bees cluster on the frames and eat honey to survive. Every few days they need to move onto new honey. They won't move if it is extremely cold. So if it warms up enough every few days that they can move on to new honey they will do fine. However if it goes to sub zero and stays there for ten days, they won't move and run out of honey in the cluster and die. You go out in the spring and there is your cluster of dead bees on the frames. Wintering bees here is an iffy proposition at best. For the few I keep its not worth going mobile with them, cost as much for the transportation as it will to replace them with packages come spring.
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Post by James on Nov 14, 2016 14:05:57 GMT -5
"James, I've been wondering how you protect your hives during the winter."
I keep bees in two deep boxes. In the fall one of the boxes will be full of honey. That is 60 pounds of honey. I may put on a entrance restriction block to reduce the size of the entrance so mice cannot get in. I will feed a bucketful of medicated syrup to prevent foulbrood diseases. No matter how you prepare, in this cold country, you may lose your bees anyway. I have lost from all to none. With honey selling at $6 per pound that box of 60 pounds of honey is worth $360. So one has to ask, "Should I rob the honey and just buy new packages in the spring?" I do not move nor wrap the hives for winter.
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Post by James on Dec 4, 2016 11:09:33 GMT -5
The old 4 frame hand crank extractor/spinner. Guess I ain't smart enough to make an image show up on page? link
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Post by James on Dec 4, 2016 11:46:06 GMT -5
Grrrrrrr. why can't I put an image on the page?
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Post by brownrexx on Dec 4, 2016 17:30:17 GMT -5
Grrrrrrr. why can't I put an image on the page?
I don't know. I cut and pasted an address from the address bar in a Facebook page to test it and it posted fine.
When I clicked on the link that you posted it said that it was intended for an audience that I was not part of.
Probably you have it restricted to just your Facebook friends and I am not in that group.
If you are trying to post the actual photo then you need to use an online photo sharing site like Photobucket or Flickr.
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Post by James on Dec 22, 2016 13:05:34 GMT -5
OK, try this. The old 4 frame hand crank spinner.
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Post by James on Dec 22, 2016 13:13:13 GMT -5
Here is a pic of a radial spinner. This one holds 18 frames and you don't need to stop and flip the frames like you do in the one in the previous picture.
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Post by James on Mar 16, 2017 11:17:24 GMT -5
Quote: "James, I've been wondering how you protect your hives during the winter. Do you bring them inside a barn? Build some kind of protective enclosure outside? If you're already at a -5 degree F temperature, that must be quite a challenge to keep them from freezing. Or does their activity inside the hive generate enough heat to keep them alive over the winter?"
I just medicate them, and put in an entrance restriction block that reduces the entrance to 3/8 inch by 3 inches. I also drill a 5/8 inch hole in the upper box just above the handle for an upper entrance in case the lower entrance gets clogged up. I do not move them nor wrap them. They must have at least three frames of sealed honey for winter stores. In spite of what one may do, in this harsh country you are likely to lose them anyway. I have lost from all to none. One never knows till spring.
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Post by James on Mar 16, 2017 11:24:14 GMT -5
This past winter all my bees died. So I have ordered up some packages that will be here about mid April.
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