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When it's hot out beards are in!

Zippy69

Zippy69

With all this scorching humidity and heat bees will hang outside to maintain the hive temp. This is actually called bearding and this hive has about 60,000 individuals. All packed in and the hive overheats so some stay out while others inside fan their wings profusely while suspending a drop of water from their mouth. As the water evaporates it takes heat with it, in the greenhouses I worked at in college we had cooling via the same principle and called them swamp coolers

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Zippy69

Zippy69

Hawkeye said:
how are you able to hold those bees in your hand? i guess they realize you are not a threat?
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Been keeping bees for years, you know when they are in a good mood or not. That evening they were pretty calm and for a hive their personality is not overly aggressive. I do get stung, but its not that bad and I'm so used to the venom it amounts to a mosquito bite. I love watching them, quite democratic in most decisions.
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

A former co-worker of mine was a keeper too. He was selling his honey via farmers markets etc. Do you sell yours? Don't post here...pm me if you do since I'm sure buying/selling on open water is a no no.

Also - do you believe the recent articles about millions of bees impacted by a new pesticide used on corn? Not sure if those are anecdotal or people with a hidden agenda...
 
redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Hawkeye said:
Don't post here...pm me if you do since I'm sure buying/selling on open water is a no no.
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As a loooooooooooong time moderator, I would think you would know the answer to this!


Now where is that “report” button. :grin:


And when you get a jar, I like mine on a little piece of toast. :eek:
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

redfishbluefish said:
As a loooooooooooong time moderator, I would think you would know the answer to this!


Now where is that “report” button. :grin:


And when you get a jar, I like mine on a little piece of toast. :eek:
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i was testing to see if people were watching over my shoulder...HAAHA

I'll give you a case of honey in exchange for a small chiller...HAAHAH
 
Zippy69

Zippy69

Hawkeye said:
A former co-worker of mine was a keeper too. He was selling his honey via farmers markets etc. Do you sell yours? Don't post here...pm me if you do since I'm sure buying/selling on open water is a no no.

Also - do you believe the recent articles about millions of bees impacted by a new pesticide used on corn? Not sure if those are anecdotal or people with a hidden agenda...
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It's not as easy as it was over a decade ago. I sell to replace or support the bees, when you sell then it's a business and for me looses the enjoyment factor. I used to maintain about 25 hives and 20 nucs. Produced anywhere from 1500 to 2000 lbs. now with 2 small kids I do not have the time to properly dedicate to them and have stopped with 10 hives. Lost all but 3 this past winter and have been making splits to get my numbers up. Unlike other beekeepers I do not use any chemicals to treat my bees...I am Darwinian in thought. The strong survive and I split the strong survivors. A hive is so complicated and yet they all work together for simple solutions. Love just watching them, not unlike reefing. As for the honey it varies in taste and color from year to year and where and when you put out a super ( I can't stand the taste of the stuff anymore). With regards to pesticides it's a hot topic. The latest thoughts are bees are exposed to a multiple of chemicals at non lethal doses. It does not directly kill the bee but weakens the hive so other factors ultimately do them in. The best analogy I can give is smoking a cigaret today ain't gonna kill you....do it for 20-30 years and we have a different story. Beekeeping is for me as fun as reefing is now. I'll PM you later so Paul does not go gaga over rules:D
 
Zippy69

Zippy69

Jcurry@wesketch said:
What's a super?

Also were is a good place to do some reading about keeping bees? I've thought about it in the past but I'd like to do some more reading before I take the plunge.
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A super is an individual box that stacks on top of others. The term super is short for "superior" to any other method at the time to keep bees. They are also called Langstroth boxes, based on Lorenzo Langstroth who is considered the father of beekeeping and in the 1800's discovered what we call "bee space" @ 1/8 of an inch. It allows bees to move between objects but tends to not be filled with brace or burr comb. With this idea he created the concept for boxes stacked on top of each other with " frames" of comb numbering 10 per box spaced exactly 1/8 inch apart. What this allowed for was the harvesting of honey without demolishing the hive, and the ability to replace said box to be reused again and again. Of these supers you have shallow and medium with which to gater honey, when full they weigh 30 and 35 lbs. There are also deep supers that we let the bees raise brood and store food for themselves, when full it weighs 75 lbs and = herniated back. Obviously we tend not to use these to harvest honey.

Best place to get into beekeeping is google nj beekeepers association. There is an intro course offered at ( what was cook college) Rutgers yearly. When starting do it in the spring and start with at least 3 hives as not all will survive the winter. If you are wanting to see more pm me and I'll have you over at the house to check out the bees. For me it is no different to reefing, can be dangerous but when approached properly, not only is enjoyable but helps out the enviornment.
 
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