Any Bee keepers in here?

I'll have to do that.. I got stung with a few yellow jackets nested in the ground while cruising for wood and got the same reaction.. I never use to have the area puff up before... First time I got stung by my honey bees, one got me right between the eyes, just hurt and nothing happened. Now I wonder if my eyes would swell shut.. I thought the more I got stung you would build up an immunity. Guess not? Yes I'll have to get a suit as I feel bad , I like having hands on helping my bee guy.. That's how I'll learn.. I don't think I'm real allergic but I never did have the sting area puff up for a few days... Thanks for the heads up on the suit style.

 

Would like to get involved in this some day. My father use to have bees. Interesting. The last few years, and right now for that matter, I am too swamped to get into it. And the wife wants to get some chickens. I need to get going on that. She has wanted that for many years now.

 

Sounds like you way ahead of me.. My bee keep guy as all the equipment... I came over to his place at the tail end of him making my honey.. He's very adamant about keep the honey cool as to not destroy the live enzymes in the honey.. We probably got about 15 pint jars and about 6 quarts out of one hive the first year... We left like two boxes so they had plenty of food for the winter... My bee keep guy is very much concerned with leaving enough food for the winter months for the bees.. me too.. He actually used a friends smaller electric extractor but has big commercial stuff that holds like 20 racks or more, I forget at the moment,,, but I think another guy helping him and his son are eying up his bigger equipment... The future will tell.. He's a smart old timer with the bees... He brings like 60 hives to the apple orchards to pollinate the trees before they spray... He's a very busy guy...into all natural healing, etc... nicest , easiest going guy too. He uses dry hay and bailing twine for his bee smoker.. Brings bag of dry grass with him...

 

We got into the chickens about 2 years ago... They're are fun! We cook on the grill all 15 show up for cooked hamburger hand outs,,, they love that protein.. We give them oatmeal in the winter when it's cold out with some honey... They look forward to that.. Can't beat the eggs... Under where they roost we laid the shiny bath room wall board, then we squeegee their poops up everyday into a pail that goes to a compost pile.. Then spray the board with a essential oil cleaner and paper towel it clean. Makes for healthy chickens and a clean smelling coop.. The floor shavings only get a few poops as they are usually let out early so they don't hang out long in the coop, only to roost and back in to eat or drink and lay eggs... Good way to keep your chickens clean and healthy.. They are very smart pets.. Every time the wife pulls in with the car they all come running up because a lot of times while at the store she'll get them sunflower seeds... They forget nothing!

 

I would highly recommend at the very least to get a jacket with a veil if you get stung in the eye you will stand a very high chance of losing your sight. This is my second year with bees so Ive got a long ways to go I always leave plenty of honey in the hives for them to overwinter on Im trying to learn more about natural healing and all that kind of stuff but its sure a hard thing to do what with everything being processed these days.

 

Thanks for the heads up about a sting to the eye... You don't even see those honey bees coming.. When I got stung between the eye's, I said to my bee guy, it felt like someone hit me with a stone... He said when the go to sting they fly at you like a letter U with their butts pointing forward.. That's how they can hit you so hard... Natural healing, there is a lot to learn but it does no harm,,,, it fixes what's wrong...The Indians were great natural healers.. A Special Forces guy lives down the road from my farm.. Very cool guy, lives off the land trapper, etc... told me that most of the stuff you need to heal with grows all around us.. Most people just aren't educated... I use a lot of Young Living essential oils... You can take them internally as well.. They are all from plants and trees, stuff your body recognizes.

 

Stupid question: If the queen bee is larger than the workers, can you not put her in a container of some sort within the hive that allows the workers to come & go, but she can't? I'm sure it's been thought of before though.

 

Our chickens are super friendly, especially when you have handouts! Benny is so patient!

 

Stings to the head are the largest concern. Regardless of allergic conditions, the head is a worrysome area for stings.

Someone should start a chicken thread! Really. I have questions but don't want to hijack here.

 

Yes, sorry for the chicken post in with the beesops: It's funny when I got stung between the eye's it really never did much of anything.. Now I would never take a chance... Second time they got me good I was weed whacking when it was cool and almost dark around the hive, doing the front first and then the rest.. I should have hit the front area last as my bee keep said that's the sting area... Funny, he said the best time to work on the hive is when it's hot and their going about their business, cool and damp he said their hanging more inside and can be nasty then... He said my hive seems pretty calm as others he's worked with over the years had been nasty.. I guess certain strains of bees of different attitudes...

 

My first year and decided not to rob the hive this year.

 

Good for you.. I had two different Bee Keeps here, doing it for a long time,, tell me the biggest mistake is to not leave enough food for the winter... We took two boxes and left two boxes last year and my bees did fine.... Year before that we just left them... My one Bee Keep had swarms come to his trees all summer here in the North East... for years.. Now he moved to Tennessee , got sick of the taxes here,, same thing is going on there with his bee keeping, more swarms are coming to his yard trees... I know he has a bunch of hives built up after just 2 years being there... He's a bee attractant!

 

No she has to be able to roam all over the hive laying eggs. If she is stuck in one spot you wont have enough brood and also if the worker and nurse bees cant have a hard time getting to her they wont be able to take care of the brood they might give up on her and abandon the hive. Swarming is a natural thing that we cant stop there are things that can be done to help prevent it or slow them down but when they decide to do it they are going to do it. Generally when they swarm they make a new queen or a couple of them leave about half the workforce and enough honey stores for them to carry on. Its rare for the whole hive to abandon and take off usually when that happens with a swarm that has been caught and not established in their new home.

 

Chickens are pretty good for bees they help to keep the bugs down in your bee yard such as mites and small hive beetle. I can tell you for a fact its not a good idea to mess with the bees when its damp and cool like tonight when I went out to put the honey supers back on the hives for them to clean up a couple of them nailed me through my pants and now I have a nice itchy lump on my hip Mine are generally pretty calm and happy there was the one time that they were worked up and just plain downright evil mean. Turns out I had taken the queen in my tool bucket back to the shed I couldnt figure out why they were so angry until my friend saw her in the bottom of the bucket. I put her back and checked on them a week later and they were back to normal.

 

Isn't that something about the Queen... A lot to learn about taking care of bees... I should get a book and start reading and also in case something happens to my bee guy..he's getting up there in age... What a nice quiet happy go lucky guy...he's enjoyable to watch and be around,, tells me why he's doing what and what he's looking for, etc... I'm just disappointed that I swell so much after a sting now.. I can deal with the stings but the swelling sucks, plus it itches terrible for a few days... Last time they nailed the top of my hand, my hand swelled up the next day and by the second day my forearm was swelled up a bit.. Like it was working up my arm... I figured the more you got stung the more immune you would be .. I'm thinking too, maybe I didn't get the stingers out and they pumped me full of venom.. They stung me through the knit grip gloves I wear when cutting firewood...

 

Charlie it sounds like youve got a good guy there helping you out. Stick with him and learn as much as you can you might also want to look for a local beekeepers club that you could join so as to build a bigger support group it never hurts to have more people around to lean on for support. As far as the stings go I have heard that your immunity actually goes down the more your stung and Ive heard that it goes up Im not sure exactly but if your having worse reactions after every sting you should look into getting an epi pen along with a suit also I like to wear leather gloves when working the bees I havent been stung through them yet I know a lot of people like to work them barehanded or with neoprene gloves but I can stand getting stung and it seems no matter how gentle I am I always see one or two trying to get my hands. I cant blame them though I would be super pizzed if someone ripped the roof off of my house and started taking stuff out and moving things around.

 

Yes George my bee keeper just wears a Vail... I asked and he said yes, the Bees can sense if your afraid.. He's a no glover too... Yes I'll get a suit.. I wonder if I can take a homeopathic remedy to help decrease my sensitivity to the stings? They are amazing creatures.. Nice thing about owning them, they do all the work as far as making honey... I know it's a job to process it... we kept some honey and sold some.. We could have sold all the honey we had 4 times over... It s was golden rod honey at the time... This year my apple trees blossomed , so they were all over them, year before a bad timed spring frost wiped out the apple blossoms, no apples last year... Hoping the honey is good this year... I wanted to get like 20 hives going but George my bee guy said go slow, he said he's had people lose 25 of 30 of their hives over the winter in one year, bears getting into them, etc.. He said a real heart ache...and you just never know,,, they can just leave..

 

beek here checking in. got 50lbs from my one hive this summer, but the other didnt produce. used all for our wedding favors in june. requeened and should have 2 strong colonies going into this winter. i plan to split them and up production next year. they are a great benefit to fruit trees and gardens and honey is better than any drugs you can take for the allergies. gotta be local stuff tho. i have a tablespoon about 4-5 times a week and havent touched allegra or claritan in 4 years. beehives are much more complex than the non-beeper realizes. bee forewarned, beekeepers are generaly quirky people. but then again, if you are part of a woodburning forum i guess you already fit the bill!

 

i have an electric fence around my hives but i was letting the bees clean out a box with frames in the back of my deuce and a half. a bear climbed into the truck and ripped out a bunch of the comb. the can definatly detroy several colonies in short order.