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Duke
Duke Dork
3/9/09 2:10 p.m.

Yes, but you'd have to get used to throwing up every day. If you were allergic to cats and bulimic, things might work out!

DILYSI Dave
DILYSI Dave SuperDork
3/9/09 2:50 p.m.

I hate stinging things. I certainly don't want to breed them. Good luck though.

EastCoastMojo
EastCoastMojo GRM+ Memberand Dork
3/9/09 2:59 p.m.
DILYSI Dave wrote: I hate stinging things. I certainly don't want to breed them. Good luck though.

I generally dislike stinging things also, with honeybees being the exception.

My first real experience with honeybees en masse was actually at work last summer when we had a swarm of them take up in a bush one day. They were just looking for a new home, they had no intentions of staying in that bush but the maintenance guy was getting pissed at them. He wanted to spray them and I asked him to please let me call and get them removed before he did anything irreversible. He looked at me like I was wearing a clown suit but he let me call the agricultural extension office and they referred me to someone who came out to collect them.

There we were, me and this guy, in the middle of the parking lot completely surrounded by bees trying to shake them into a box so he could transport them. It was a trip. He told me I should get into beekeeping since I was so comfortable around them. We were shaking the hell out of those bees and neither of us got stung.

Jensenman
Jensenman SuperDork
3/9/09 3:02 p.m.
EastCoastMojo wrote: So I wonder, if you are allergic to cats would licking one every day help with that?

Yeah, licking a pu... er, cat a day is good for ya.

ECM in the near future:

EastCoastMojo
EastCoastMojo GRM+ Memberand Dork
3/9/09 3:06 p.m.

AH ha ha ha! That pic is great! That's my new wallpaper now

Strizzo
Strizzo Dork
3/9/09 3:07 p.m.
EastCoastMojo wrote:
DILYSI Dave wrote: I hate stinging things. I certainly don't want to breed them. Good luck though.
I generally dislike stinging things also, with honeybees being the exception. My first real experience with honeybees en masse was actually at work last summer when we had a swarm of them take up in a bush one day. They were just looking for a new home, they had no intentions of staying in that bush but the maintenance guy was getting pissed at them. He wanted to spray them and I asked him to please let me call and get them removed before he did anything irreversible. He looked at me like I was wearing a clown suit but he let me call the agricultural extension office and they referred me to someone who came out to collect them. There we were, me and this guy, in the middle of the parking lot completely surrounded by bees trying to shake them into a box so he could transport them. It was a trip. He told me I should get into beekeeping since I was so comfortable around them. We were shaking the hell out of those bees and neither of us got stung.

did he hit them with the smoke first or were they just that calm? i guess since they didn't exactly have a hive to protect, they had no reason to be defensive

EastCoastMojo
EastCoastMojo GRM+ Memberand Dork
3/9/09 3:09 p.m.

He didn't use any smoke. From what I learned about swarms in bee school the bees were likely disoriented and more worried about keeping track of their queen than they were concerned about defending a territory.

AngryCorvair
AngryCorvair GRM+ Memberand Dork
3/9/09 5:20 p.m.

i hope you're not bringing our next Emerald Ash Borer over....

EastCoastMojo
EastCoastMojo GRM+ Memberand Dork
3/9/09 5:35 p.m.
AngryCorvair wrote: i hope you're not bringing our next Emerald Ash Borer over....

Nope. Just apis melifera

Twin_Cam
Twin_Cam Dork
3/9/09 5:39 p.m.

Awesome awesome awesome. I would totally make mead all damn day long haha. I made some sweet mead last year...except the yeast I ordered went crazy and fermented wayyyy too much...the mead ended up being like 19 or 20% alcohol :)

DIY beekeeping...definitely cool.

thatsnowinnebago
thatsnowinnebago GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
3/9/09 5:42 p.m.
Twin_Cam wrote: Awesome awesome awesome. I would totally make mead all damn day long haha. I made some sweet mead last year...except the yeast I ordered went crazy and fermented wayyyy too much...the mead ended up being like 19 or 20% alcohol :)

I fail to see the problem

mel_horn
mel_horn HalfDork
3/9/09 10:06 p.m.
Duke wrote: An amateur apiarist. Awesome!

Damn, you beat me to it!

One of my favorite jokes has the punchline; " Me check for bees!"

friedgreencorrado
friedgreencorrado Reader
3/9/09 11:29 p.m.
EastCoastMojo wrote: I don't care too much about extracting honey, although that will be a nice bonus. I am doing this to help the population of honeybees and I could see renting them out to local farms for pollination. Also, it gave me a very convenient excuse to buy a pneumatic nailer on Craigslist so, BONUS!

Seriously cool. If most people knew just how much agriculture relies on bees-and how terrible the Colony Collapse problem really is, they wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

And of course..an excuse to buy new tools is always good (says the guy with two VW Corrados).

EastCoastMojo
EastCoastMojo GRM+ Memberand Dork
4/9/09 9:02 p.m.

Well, today was Bee Day The bees were ready for pickup this afternoon and I brought home two packages for my hives. I helped some friends install their packages and then I came home to do mine. Having someone to help makes it a lot easier, but I managed to install them by myself without getting stung or screwing anything up.

Here's the hives after I had installed one package:

Here's a close up of those girls waiting to be released:

Here's the hive body open with some frames removed to make room for the box of bees to be temporarily set in place:

Once the top was removed I removed the queen box and hung it near the top of the hive body in between two frames. Then I removed the can of sugar syrup from the package and placed the package inside the hive body, put the sugar syrup in the feeder and put the roof back on top.

Here's the entrance feeder:

Once both packages were installed I sat and watched them for about an hour. It was SO cool.

Here's a close up of a gal that just came out of the entrance:

EastCoastMojo
EastCoastMojo GRM+ Memberand Dork
4/9/09 9:18 p.m.

www.brushymountainbeefarm.com I have a local guy that is a distributor, so I didn't have to pay any shipping. I bought them unassembled but they are offered pre-assembled also.

Tighe
Tighe New Reader
4/9/09 11:42 p.m.

Not suprised you make mead with that avatar racing inc. By the way it might be the Dogfish Head and Flying Dog talking but I'm so damn intrigued by this beekeeping thing. And it just brought back a memory I didn't even know I had.

My grandpa owned some land outside of town and had a few beehives (not exactly hives, white wooden boxes that had bees in them whatever thats called). Man, thats been twenty years ago. I can't believe I remember that. World war two vet, bigtime for little town land owner, and beekeeper. I wish I could know him now.

I might have to try my hand at mead, or at least incorporate some of your honey into a blonde ale when your producing at full steam. Any idea of what the annual harvest will be? Do you have a peak production time then a lean period during the Winter?

nutherjrfan
nutherjrfan New Reader
4/10/09 3:40 a.m.

if anyone can make an el cheapo version of an Augustinerbrau I'd buy some. Not so much the Maximator, but for sure an Edelstoff $14 for a six pack at Whole Foods is prohibitive. Flying Dog I'll have to get before I get off my HST kick right now. Love the copper roof on the hive - show us how they patina in a year or two.

stan
stan GRM+ Memberand Dork
4/10/09 7:09 a.m.

Very, very cool, ECM!

A fun hobby and helping the local ecology at the same time.

Stan

EastCoastMojo
EastCoastMojo GRM+ Memberand Dork
4/10/09 9:55 a.m.

I opened up the hives this morning to take the package boxes out and install the rest of the frames in the hive body.

Here's my girls! In this pic you can see them still climbing out of the box:

Here's another:

Here you can almost see the queen box hanging from the top of the frame. They are eating the rock candy away so they can release her:

One hive definately has more activity than the other one, but I think they are still a little disoriented.

I placed the boxes in front of each hive and gave them a ramp to climb. Yes, I know they can fly, but their natural inclination is to climb and they are still hungry and tired from their journey in the box.

ansonivan
ansonivan New Reader
4/10/09 11:48 a.m.

Awesome new hobby sir.

I've done bee lining/hive discovery as a kid, that's a whole lot of fun for a tiny bit of work.

I never found a wild hive, the bee lines always led to man made operations.

Couple of articles on the practice:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Nature-Community/1982-03-01/Hunting-the-Wild-Honey-Tree.aspx

http://www.beesource.com/pov/wenner/bsjun1992.htm

Dr. Hess
Dr. Hess SuperDork
4/10/09 3:12 p.m.

I made a meade once. 5 lbs local (Houston) honey in 5 gal, beer yeast. After my usual 5 day fermentation, it was still bubbling, I let it go another day and bottled. It was too soon. I had a few bottles burst. It was some kick azz stuff, though. Then we moved and I had to pitch it because I was afraid it would blow in the truck. Oh well.

I usually add a pound of local honey to my beer just before putting in the yeast. That's for my Hesselbrau Select line.

pigeon
pigeon Reader
4/10/09 3:34 p.m.
ansonivan wrote: Awesome new hobby sir.

You mean "m'am"... I agree though with the awesomeness, though I have a very strong fear of flying insect. Just because I know it's irrational doesn't make it any less intense, and it would definitely keep me away from beekeeping as a hobby.

EastCoastMojo
EastCoastMojo GRM+ Memberand Dork
4/10/09 4:09 p.m.

Hey now, don't be maamin' me Makes me feel old.

Yes, I'm a shiela, but I don't get offended when people assume I'm just one of the guys. I take is as a compliment.

That bee lining sounds very interesting. I have to admit I had never heard of it before!

rebelgtp
rebelgtp Dork
4/10/09 4:33 p.m.
EastCoastMojo wrote: Hey now, don't be maamin' me Makes me feel old.

Yes ma'am

EastCoastMojo
EastCoastMojo GRM+ Memberand Dork
4/10/09 4:35 p.m.

GAH! I feel like the cryptkeeper!

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