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Post by binnylou on Jun 2, 2015 8:28:47 GMT -5
Bee envy!!!!
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Post by brownrexx on Jun 2, 2015 9:08:18 GMT -5
Yay, I was hoping that you would get one. Mine have settled in and are working diligently. I hope yours are too.
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canadiyank
Blooming
Central WA, Zone 6B
Posts: 125
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Post by canadiyank on Jun 2, 2015 23:57:54 GMT -5
Mine have settled in and are working diligently. I hope yours are too. Yes, they seem to be doing great! Checked on Sun and there is capped brood and saw the queen laying, too - hopefully they have a great hatch soon.
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Post by brownrexx on Jun 3, 2015 7:42:22 GMT -5
That's great news. If the queen has settled in then they are staying! Yay.
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Post by claude on Jun 5, 2015 8:20:04 GMT -5
Morgan Freeman was on Jimmy Fallon and has started keeping hives in his home too. I didn't if this is a rebroadcast from a winter show but he said he's supplementing the bees in his hives w sugar water until they discover food sources in the new location. What do you think of that? tinyurl.com/qjj7fv9
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Post by brownrexx on Jun 5, 2015 8:34:43 GMT -5
Most beekeepers do this when starting a new hive of bees. They purchase a certain number of pounds of bees and a queen who is shipped in a separate box. The bees do not have any stored honey with them when they arrive so supplemental feeding is traditional.
A natural swarm, like the one I just caught, will eat as much honey as they can before they leave the hive so that have something to live on at first and they start working right away to make more honey. We did not give them any sugar water.
We give all of our bees supplemental feedings of sugar water in the fall with their medication and again in the early spring when there are not enough flowers blooming to keep them going.
Sometimes a hive of bees makes it through the cold winter and then starves in the spring when their honey stores are depleted and there are not enough flowers blooming to feed them.
This is the reason we never collect any honey from a first year hive. We want them to keep all of their honey to get them through the winter.
Actually we do not take all of that much honey anyway - we just like the bees.
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Post by restless on Jun 29, 2015 6:23:31 GMT -5
What great pictures! Fascinating thread. I would be up close and personal with the bees like your husband is. I love observing insects.
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Post by brownrexx on Jun 29, 2015 8:01:25 GMT -5
They are fascinating but I don't really enjoy the "up close and personal" part so much!
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Post by ncgarden on Jul 4, 2015 18:50:52 GMT -5
I think we may have to supplement feed this month - we are in between the spring bloom and the goldenrod and there is very little for the bees to eat. The hives are quite populated and I want to keep them happy.
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Post by lilolpeapicker on Jul 18, 2015 22:19:34 GMT -5
I saw two different bees go into the base of a shed in my neighbors yard. What could be happening here?
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Post by brownrexx on Jul 19, 2015 13:39:53 GMT -5
Could be Yellow Jackets.
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Post by desertwoman on Jul 19, 2015 14:20:59 GMT -5
That's what crossed my mind, as well. Yellow jackets. They like to build their mud nests (they're small) in sheds. I've had them do it in my garden shed. They're easy to remove.
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Post by lilolpeapicker on Jul 19, 2015 18:59:29 GMT -5
I really thought one was a bumblebee but I could be wrong. Should I say something to the neighbor? and what exactly should I say?
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Post by desertwoman on Jul 19, 2015 21:48:06 GMT -5
Do they go into that shed very often or not? If it is rarely entered, I would definitely mention it. If they are in and out, they probably have noticed it themselves. But some people just aren't observant. So I'd say something anyway.
Maybe something like...You may have already noticed it, but I happened to see some bees or yellow jackets activity around your shed and it looked like some are getting in at the base. So just in case you haven't seen it, I thought you'd want to know. I'd sure appreciate it if someone mentioned it to me.
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Post by lilolpeapicker on Jul 20, 2015 5:03:37 GMT -5
The entrance is in a spot they may have missed....shed is at the back of property and facing and only a few feet from the property line. I happened to notice it as sitting there I was watering a couple of the squashes and melons in the potato bags.
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