Bee Keepers ?

[RTII]

We started with 2 hives last year. They both went queenless near the middle of summer. Replaced one queen and waited to see if the other hive would raise their own. that one didn't make it but the new queen is a heck of a layer and that hive did well over the winter and up 'till now. Installed ten more nucs this spring so now have a total of 11 hives. 9 are looking pretty good and 2 we are monitoring closely as they don't seem as strong.

Pretty engaging stuff.

 

[Redbug]

I am retiring in about a year from now and planning to have few bee hives.

Me too! I used to have 3 hives years ago. But after I retire in less than a year, (and hopefully will have the time), I want to get back into it. I still have my old equipment and I miss having them.

I watch Bill Moyers each Friday evening on PBS. He had this short video that is really good.
Bill presents the short documentary Dance of the Honey Bee. Narrated by Bill McKibben, the film takes a look at the determined, beautiful, and vital role honey bees play in preserving life, as well as the threats bees face from a rapidly changing landscape.

“Dance of the Honey Bee” on Vimeo

Interesting stats posted about bees in the video comments...
All worker bees are female, The average lifespan of a queen is 3-4 years; drones (males) usually die after mating or are expelled from the hive before the winter; workers live for a few weeks in the summer and up to several months in winter. In the bees lifespan it produces about 1/12 of a teaspoon full of honey. 10 drops of nectar yield a drop of honey and ten drops of honey yield a single flake of wax.

 

[troutsqueezer]

Bees have been around for 50 million years. Nothing we do will ever kill them off. The Africanized Honey Bee is proof of that. When have we ever caused an insect to go extinct? Can't be done, despite our best efforts.

The news media loves to champion stories about the honey bee vanishing. They've been doing it for years. It's the kind of stuff that sells. Even NPR is guilty of it. For them, it's part of the big plan to demonize big corporations and their chemicals and bring us all back to the Garden of Eden.

Honey bee populations have been ebbing and flowing ever since man decided to harness them. Before that, too.

 

[vabiker23518]

This is a great topic, and I'd like to have a couple hives or two to keep the trees and veggies pollonated on my 30 acres. I did find a wild hive in a dead tree last fall, but they seem to be gone now. I plan to take a course at a local college or work with a bee keeper to learn the "ins and outs". I hope to retire in less than two years and that would be the time to start up. My land is in "bear" county, so understand I'll need an electric fence to keep them safe.

 

[Rayster]

Redbug, thanks for the link. I have not seen that before.

:thumbsup:

 

[Rayster]

Here are the photos of the nucs. We drove about 30 miles to get them. you can see Lisa inspecting the brood before we take them. The guy put grass in the hole and a single strap to keep them closed . We had a few escapees on the ride home but it was not too bad. We are very excited about being new bee keepers. You can see the nucs in my jeep, and then the new hives facing southeast on the stands I made for them.