Beekeeping

CloverKnollFarms · Friday at 6:11 AM

BackRoad said:
Do you find the swarms, or are people contacting you?

I don't recall ever seeing a swarm of bees in the wild...

People call me all the time. I'm in my shop about 8 hours per day now

ponytug · Friday at 9:59 AM

Before a couple of drought years, here we used to have two or three overflights of swarms every year. I love watching the swarms move and hang out around the house, before finding a how and drifting away. If you are interested or fascinated by swarms, I really recommend this book;
"Honeybee Democracy"

All the best,

Peter

CloverKnollFarms · Friday at 1:32 PM

Got these girls moved today, and I will get them in a big box tomorrow. Black locusts are in bloom, so there is plenty of work for them to do

drumminj · 2025-05-17T11:15:44-0400

Picked up our two nucs today. Excited to start the journey. Goal #1: get them to survive the first winter.

Kind of sad watching them start dragging out their dead when I first opened the entrances. Hopefully not too many.

EddieWalker · 2025-05-17T11:19:37-0400

Do you have to take any precautions when mowing around them? I'm curious how you maintain the grass, and if you risk getting stung while on a mower or using a weed eater.

drumminj · 2025-05-17T11:51:05-0400

EddieWalker said:
Do you have to take any precautions when mowing around them? I'm curious how you maintain the grass, and if you risk getting stung while on a mower or using a weed eater.

From what I've read, folks tend to wear at least a veil when mowing around the hives. It's basically just one width of my mower behind the hives so I can just make a quick circle around them and hopefully be far enough away to not bother them, but we will see

I was out there yesterday with a weedeater getting everything nice and low so I don't have to worry about it for a little while. Of course we got a ton of rain last night and will rain more this week, so I'll have to do something here in a week or so I'd guess.

EddieWalker · 2025-05-17T11:59:51-0400

For me, it's something I never thought of. My wife really wants bees, and usually, what she wants, we end up getting.

CloverKnollFarms · 2025-05-17T13:00:02-0400

EddieWalker said:
Do you have to take any precautions when mowing around them? I'm curious how you maintain the grass, and if you risk getting stung while on a mower or using a weed eater.

You will definitely get stung. I got hit about 30' from one of my hives yesterday. I wear a jacket and veil when I mow near them and trim around them.