TnAndy
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I lost two hives a couple years ago. The upside was I gained a nice bearskin rug.
Beekeepers on here? Lost a whole hive today
- Thread starter JRobyn
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Thanks, good tips. The hives had all day sun, but backed up on the north side to shaded woods. We'll move them out to where they can get air and sun all around. Entrance was reduced to about the size of a matchbox. Might try top entrance if she can figure out a good way.
She used "bee patty" over the winter which may have been a bad idea - supposed to be good for mites, but can attract SHB, we hear.
The colony was as healthy as she knows how to help them be.
teejk
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Have a friend that just started in that bee business...what an industry that is becoming huh? As such I think the "hucksters" will be running rampant until things settle down and "best practices" establish themselves.
4570Man
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My Grandpa says if you can find where the bees get water at they will fly straight back to the hive after getting water. This supposedly makes it easy to follow them back.I am retired and live a Blessed life. I spend many hours a week in the timber. I've found about 50% by sitting quietly in the timber for maybe an hour in one spot watching flying insects. Discovered that the closer I get to a hive the less activity I see in regards to random flying insects. I learned how to scour trees for signs of hives. I can spot a hive hole at quite a distance. I found the other 50% by doing timber maintenance work and disturb the hive. "What's all the bees doing buzzing around me"?
Redneck in training
Elite Member
We used to have wild bees in a hollow oak tree but only every other year. The hive never survived winter I suppose. The oak made the opening smaller as time went by and closed it completely last year.
I have a picture of the honeycomb somewhere on my HD but can't find it now.
Redneck in training
Elite Member
We used to have soy beans on our land for few years. It was sprayed for weeds every spring. We had great soy plants but there were no bugs, no bees no life. Now we have prairie restoration project in progress. What a difference in two years. You walk in it and it just buzzes by life. Quails are back strongly, I hear few pheasants every evening, lot of turkeys, deer, rabbits and many kinds of birds.
I talked to a beekeeper few years back and he told me farmers first poison everything and then pay him money to bring bees there for pollination.
There is a beekeeper not too far from me. I will ask him if wants to put some bees in the prairie.
There is another thing I learned about honey. Prefered color of honey is the US is golden and transparent. I guess the clarity is sign of purity. If you go to farmers market in some parts of Europe and especially in Russia it is other way around. The darker is the honey (produced from pine, cedar and spruce forests) the more expensive it is. Some honey I bought in Siberia was almost black and you could almost smell the tajga when you opened the jar. It seems to me that if the label says pure bee honey it actually means all the good stuff was removed. If I see a beekeeper selling honey by the road I buy bunch.
I talked to a beekeeper few years back and he told me farmers first poison everything and then pay him money to bring bees there for pollination.
There is a beekeeper not too far from me. I will ask him if wants to put some bees in the prairie.
There is another thing I learned about honey. Prefered color of honey is the US is golden and transparent. I guess the clarity is sign of purity. If you go to farmers market in some parts of Europe and especially in Russia it is other way around. The darker is the honey (produced from pine, cedar and spruce forests) the more expensive it is. Some honey I bought in Siberia was almost black and you could almost smell the tajga when you opened the jar. It seems to me that if the label says pure bee honey it actually means all the good stuff was removed. If I see a beekeeper selling honey by the road I buy bunch.
OldMcDonald
Platinum Member
Redneck, You have given the reason for the colour yourself. It is dependent upon the plant(s) from which the nectar came. A pale honey can be just as wholesome as a yellow, reddish, mid brown or very dark one. A couple of years ago I was given a jar by someone who had been gifted it (she does not like honey) by a beekeeper. I found it inedible. A few enquiries revealed a fairly common practice of feeding the bees molasses in summer time when it is hot and dry and little by way of forage. Sure it was honey made by the bees of the beekeeper and not messed about with in any way before being put in the jar, but it was not made from the nectar of flowers!
