Any Bee keepers in here?

Coyotes? Haha! I hear mention of fisher cat sightings once in a while up here.

 

Don't know much about bees,but new neighbor down below came up with some hives last fall,boxed them in with straw.Must have survived the winter a he has put a section of dog fence in front of them.As we are in the mountains(deer elk moose yotes fox bears and everything else) I do not think 3 sides of straw and a loose piece of fence is not going to keep something from its snack!

 

I love how the same people that think cute living creatures need to be coddled also think that other ones that might not be convenient to them need to be done away with. Double standard anyone?

 

Got neighbors like that,want all the wild ones controlled now that they live in the mountains,but think it is ok to let their dogs run wild.Been attacked 3 times on my own property,by dogs,never by the native creatures.

 

Yep, and I bet if you even did so much as throw a stick at the dogs in self defense, they would freak.
We should probably end this train of thought before I get heated.

How is every ones bees doing so far?

 

I'll brighten you up.Out here we have something called "sudden lead poisioning",and I own a backhoe!

 

I was going to mention something like that. Its a amazing how a 25 cent piece of metal can solve a few problems.

 

My 2.5yr old son got stung for the first time today. Insisted on picking the flower right in front of the hives. Got whacked on the cheek. Learned him real good.
My queens did not emerge yet. Not putting honey in supers yet either. Needs to warm up more.
To the noobs: dont split your brood frames up! I thought it was warm enough for me to get away with it. I was trying to get bees to clean up some wax moths i froze after winter. Nope. Lost two frames of eggs. Dont split the brood up!

 

I'm working setting hives right now. 1200 so far. It's warmer out now and they are pretty pizzed when the nets come off the semi rigs. Bee jackets on and duct tape pants and gloves shut. Little SOBs still get you through jeans. Had a couple end up inside my veil... They fought it out and decided I was the problem... My ear still hurts.

 

Um... OUCH!!!!!
I can only imagine how that looked to someone across the parking lot.

 

Nothing you can do. Just keep working and try to ignore it. I had to walk away for a bit earlier to get 30-40 of the little buggers off me. They lose interest fast. Most of the time you can kill them faster than they can sting you.

 

Slotta hives joe. Do u do pollination services i assume?

 

The bees are not mine. I work for a commercial bee keeper. I'm the only employee though... But yes, it is pollination service for the next four weeks. Blueberries. The rest of the hives are due to come back home next week. Those will stay local in yards to produce honey for the summer.

 

The blueberry farm was kind enough to put us up and even gave me some blueberry plants for free! Planted them in front of my workshop:

 

Joe I highly recommend getting one of these http://www.mannlakeltd.com/beekeeping-supplies/category/page131.html I have one and its awesome! I wear shorts and a t-shirt under it and havent received a single sting through it yet. The only problems I have with it is its a little itchy at first, its flammable (keep your smoker away from it) and the leg openings although having velcro closure arent that great Im thinking about getting some kind of a wrap around for my feet.

 

I have the jacket with veil they offer.

Most of the time I don't wear it. Usually just a veil if they're getting hot. 95% of the time we don't bother. You get stung a couple times, but I've been stung so much it doesn't really hurt anymore. pizzes me off when they get my chin or ears though. My co-worker (son of the owner) had a hole in his pants last year... Got him in the ... Yeah you got it, right where you don't ever want it. I've seen some jumping and jiving, but wow. That had to hurt. Pretty sure I heard Latin or some long forgotten ancient language.

 

Tractor trailer hauling bees overturns near Newark

http://www.wdel.com/story.php

 

I heard about that this morning that was a bad accident I hope that wasnt our friend Joe