Heather M

I'm a beekeeper. The county Beekepers Association wanted to sponser a young person (I'm 15) to get youth involved in beekeeping. I heard about it through my uncle, who is also a beekeeper. I applied and they chose me. Anyone else a beekeeper? Interested in honeybees?

Shawnie

wow congrats!! what an interesting hobby/job ...the only bee's I keep are away from me!!!!!

Beth1965

Congradulations! That's great. I am not a beekeeper. A girlfriend of mine who works outside has a friend who is a beekeeper, the beekeeper brings her wooden boxes with bees holding one female. It's really interesting to watch them when they are out and helping to pollenate the gardens.
I hope you have a lot of fun with it - great learning experience.
Beth

aquarist48

Hello Heather. mmmm I love some honey in my cereal I had honey bees nest in my fire place last year. I called a couple of bee keepers and they didn't want them. I called a bee remover suggested by the bee keeper I called, and I just couldn't have my fire place torn out and charged $250 to go along with the mess and having to rebuild. So, sadly I had to take care of it myself. (it wasn't pretty) Honey bees returned this spring. So to solve the problem once and for all I completely sealed the fire place with spray foam that fills gaps (but doesn't not expand) . I hated to do it because they really are getting scarce around here. Every year I have to pollinate more and more of my flowers myself for them to go to seed. I thought for sure the bee keepers would jump at the chance to have them. hmmmmm your thoughts ?
Have fun and enjoy Fish Lore!

bolivianbaby

Congratulations! I'm not a beekeeper, but it sounds like a really interesting job

Heather M

Well, what else could you do? Next time I would go to the bee culture website (I'll give you a link) and click on State Apiarist Directory. See if you can find the phone number or e-mail address of someone who can help you. Another option would be to catch the honeybees and put them in a hive of your own. Then you wouldn't have to worry about pollination and you would be doing something good for the environment. I would definatly seek the help of a beekeeper when removing the bees. If you want to learn more, find the book "The Backyard Beekeeper." You could also learn more on the internet. They are fascinating little creatures.

http://www.beeculture.com/index.cfm

aquarist48

Thanks Heather!

gremlin

My brother keeps bees - so does one of his sons. He won't take a "wild" hive because they have been cross bred with the so-called africanized bees. They are more aggressive than the domestic strain. To keep his hives "pure", he re-queens every year. He takes his bees to California to pollinate the almond orchards there. My Mom kept a couple of hives in our backyard when I was very young. I'm sensitive to the bee stings now - not exactly allergic, but I do swell up pretty bad if I get stung. We must have a feral hive somewhere around here though, there are tons of bees coming to my pond for the water.

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Heather M

We don't have africanized bees here in West Virginia. My bees are buckfast. They're very gentle and are doing great so far. I hope to have a decent honey crop this year.

Heather M

Here's a bee pic. This was taken the day I put my bees in the hive. All the bees are females except the fat one in the middle. That is a drone, a male bee. Drones don't poliate. Their sole purpose is reproduction. They don't even have a stinger. When the weather turns cold in the fall, the worker bees forcibly drag the drones out of the hive because they preform no useful function. They either starve or freeze. The other bees surrounding the drone are workers. All worker bees are female.

Drone picture attempt number two:



Attempt number three:



grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's still not working!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good morning. I merged these threads. Ken

Butterfly

Picture wouldn't open for me
I read an article saying that bee had suffered a bacterial infection and had died out but are finally coming back a little stronger. We don't use any pesticides in the hopes that we can help a little After all without all the little flying creatures plants don't get pollinated
Sounds like an interesting line of work. My granddad kept honey bees when I was young.
Carol
That's really nice printable poster down at the bottom

Tony G.

my dad was a bee keeper. They stung me like crazy when i was little

Gouramiguy17

my nieghbor made his own honey with his own beehive, it was cool. he had a shed he made one wall out of that one way glass and he had the bee hive build into the wall. it was sooo cool. you could go into his shed and watch the bees work without being stung. he could be called a bee keeper but he would be a little old. he made really good honey.

Heather M

That's really cool. The picture is working now! Yay!!! I was doing it wrong. It needed resized anyway.

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bolivianbaby

That's a cool pic!

Heather M

aquarist48

Nice picture Heather! I merged some of your threads where pictures were not coming through, to save space and be a little less confusing. Hope you don't mind.
Ken

Heather M

I don't mind at all. Thanks.

Heather M

I saw a really cool documentary at the beekeepers' meeting yesterday. It is Nature: Silence of the Bees. It is about the disappearance of honey bees all over the world. This has been in epidemic proportions, and if if continues, honeybees will be extinct by the year 2035. This would be detrimental to our food supply. It is definitely an eye opener. Check it out!!!

sirdarksol

That's really cool. I may keep bees if I ever have a decent amount of land (it's not allowed in the residential areas of my town... I can have a paper wasp nest growing on my house but I can't keep their less aggressive cousins on purpose)

Probably the most comprehensive report I've seen on the issue suggests that there is no one problem that's causing the loss of bees.
Infection certainly is one issue, but none of the current infections are anything new. Beekeepers have been dealing with all of them for years.
Magnetism from power lines is another theoretical issue, but it's one that's difficult to substantiate since we understand so little about how magnetic fields affect living beings.
Another is the lack of variety in diet. Take MN: The state used to be a giant prairie, with a ton of different wildflowers all over the place. We've stripped most of that and replaced it with a tiny handful of crop plants. The lack of variety could be weakening the bees, making them more susceptible to illness. The same is seen in larger animals. Cows, pigs, and chickens are fed an all-corn diet, and have to be treated with prophylactic antibiotics to keep them from getting sick. People who just eat at fast food places have similar issues.
Global climate change is another issue. Changes in weather patterns are also throwing animals' own patterns off. Some animals adapt, others don't.

Even with all of this, there is the possibility (however unlikely) that this is all just random chance. Animal populations will sometimes face a sudden decline due to bad luck.

gremlin

Also, I've heard that the main problem is with the "domestic" bees. Native bees are not having the same issues as the domestically bred honey bee.

sirdarksol

This could be because the native bees are not colonizing unsuitable areas to begin with. Now, if only we knew precisely what made an unsuitable area.

gremlin

and too, the honey bee is not native to America, it is (I believe) a European native. Now, if we could just figure out how to harvest honey from the native bees...

sirdarksol

Yep. Honey bees are native to Eurasia and have been brought to the American continents.
Not much point in harvesting from bumblebees. They hoard less than honey bees, and their colonies are much, much smaller. As far as I know, wasps, yellow-jackets, and the like don't produce honey.

Red1313

Hmmm... I don't know about honey bees (too cold in canada?) however I do know a guy in our area who raises bees specifically to pollinate local crops. Basically (I think) the farmer's call him up and he sets up hives in their field. I don't know what type of bees he has but he winters all the colonies inside an old school bus.

Have you ever tried alfalfa honey?

gremlin

alfalfa honey is pretty good. I like citrus honey too. They are probably the domesticated honey bees. There are more than just bumble bees that are native - maybe breed a new, hardier strain by crossing the honey bee with a native bee?

Native Bee Species

* Digger Bees
* Bumblebees
* Sweat Bees
* Alkali Bees
* Squash Bees
* Leafcutter Bees
* Carpenter Bees
* Mason Bees
* Shaggy Fuzzyfoot Bee

Red1313

Neat I didn't know that.

Heather M

I'm not sure I would want genetically mutated bees. Humans usually seem to mess up things when they try genetic modification. I believe that God made creatures just the way He wants them. Humans need to change their habits and stop polluting the honeybees' habitat. I think it is awful that humans have the "I don't want to change my destructive ways, so I'll fix something that would be completely fine if I wouldn't be irresponsible" mentality. (My English teacher would love that sentence, wouldn't he?! )

Heather M

This thread is starting to be lonely again. Come back people......!!!!

TedsTank

ok Hi, Bee keeping is cool. I kept some years ago and got soooo much honey. Gave it away to all our friends!!
Where I live now, I'm sure the neighbors would complain...they just don't understand!!! how gentle the bees can be. I had a beekeeper teach me...he would not let me gloves or a bee suite or hat, etc. to learn. Everything went great...no stings and no angry bees!!! I miss the hobby....Glad you like it!!!!! Keep it up!!