Apiary Farmers please sound off. : )

[Beekeeper]

Gwpercle.
They are most likely honey bees!
There are several strains that are stingless and someone near you may of had them at one time and they swarmed.
As to their entrance being close to the ground versus high in a tree it is just as normal close to the ground.
Ever see a bee hive? The entrance is usually only inches off the ground.
When they swarm they look for the best housing available and if the entrance is low or high they take it.

I would say enjoy them and hope they do not become africanized or as Chrisw says a" hot hive"
as then they become very agessive and no one is safe.
I belive Chrisw as I had several "hot Hives" as he says and wound up requeening them in hopes of calming them down. Didn't work so killed them off and replaced them with packages.

All bees "hot or otherwise can be handeled with the proper equipment " protective" but if they are in a residential area be very carefull as you are liable for their behaviour!!

chrisw , where are you located?
haven't been around bees since wife became sick and had to move.
Nice to talk to someone still in the business.
What is the going rate per hive for polination now?


beekeeper

[VintageRifle]

I run 12 hives. Hope to have most of those come out of winter alive. Want 20 by the end of the year.

[chrisw]

I'm in VA so no Americanized here yet, just pockets of hot older feral stock that doesn't have much Italian in um. I'm still newish and building. Hoping to have 30 survive winter and 115 going into next winter. I've started breeding my own queens and my "goal" is 200 production hives and 40-50 nucs going into winter in 2014.

[gwpercle]

Beekeeper,
Ever hear of " sweat bees " ? Upon closer observation I can see thier nest is in a hole in the base of the tree and extends more down into the ground and not so much up like I assumed. They are about the same size as honey bee, w/ striped abdomen- yellow and dark brown. They are eusocal ( live in a group) but the group is small, maybee a few hundred not thousands like a honey bee hive. So
I caught one and took it to the LSU bug dept. and was told it was a genus of Halictide, but it was not the small metallic ones that are at times confused with flys. Not as fuzzy as honey bee either. I've also seen them drinking from our humming bird feeders.
And now that I have looked at them side by side they aren't as bulky as honey bees. I have never heard of these guys. Fellow at LSU said they are resistent to the disorder that wipes out the honey bee colonies. They are good at pollinating but not worth squat in honey production. They don't make much and the hives are so small. He told me bumble bees make honey too, who knew.....You got sweat bees in Calif. ?
gary

[Beekeeper]

Out here the "sweat bees" are a pest.
A number of people have been hurt by them as they do sting and like a wasp can sting multiple times.
Yes they are good polinators but can sting enough to hurt adults and even make children sick.
If yours are gentle maybe they are a diferent strain than the ones here but I would watch them carefully and if they get hot I would kill them off.


beekeeper

[chrisw]

I agree. I used to live in Ca too and had several bad attacks. I'd wait til after dusk and spray them.

[gwpercle]

Thanks to Beekeeper and chrisw for " sweat bee " warning and advice...I will keep a close eye on them. Luckily the tree /nest is small and there arn't many in the colony but I will spray them at the first sign of trouble.
gary

[Wolfer]

I trade horses and keep bees and assure you that occasionly you'll get stung in both occupations.
I've got three hives that might make it thru the winter. That's about all I want so hope to sell a couple nukes this spring. I find bees extremely interesting but I'm easily entertained.

[Area Man]

I'm taking a class this year and will actually put up a hive next year. Seriously looking forward to it

[enoch59]

Wow ! I'm impressed with the activity in bees back east. I've just been laid off from a company in Eagle Point that does local raw honey. I don't know how many hives the owner had but I was working a booth selling his honey at the Grants Pass Fairgrounds once per week. His honey is excellent and I would often have 2-3 types for sale at the same time. My layoff came due to lack of production. Our bees were only giving out approx.20% of norm ( guess). Wholesale cost of raw honey is at $10 quart and we would sell at $15. I was told that we might ramp up again in the fall. I think the owner is waiting to get our bees back from Wyoming where they were sent for the Clover harvest. I wonder why there are so many more bees in the eastern section of the US ?
I have a small garden at my home ( 2200 sq.' ) and I've only seen honey bees twice this year and I mean only two bees total ! All of our pollination comes from other bees and or other flying insects. The owner told me that there was a huge loss of commercial bees in the US in 2012. Can anyone confirm this ?

[Baja_Traveler]

Checking in...

[xbeeman412]

Checking in Attachment 79103Attachment 79104Attachment 79105as a beekeeper also! here are a couple pictures of Me.

[Just Duke]

I have the plans for hive building and I do everything big. Beware!
We have a separator on our ebay watch list.

[LET-CA]

I've been a beekeeper for about 15 years now. Started in Colorado, stopped for the 12 years I lived in Texas (didn't want to fool with the Africanized bees) and now keep three hives in my very small back yard. I ususally only go into the hives a couple of times each year, having found that they seem to do best with benign neglect. I'll pull a few frames of honey and replace them with empty frames to give the bees enough room. My neighbors on either side of my fence were unaware I had hives until I gave them each a bottle of honey. I've only been stung a few times, but over the years have noticed that my body reacts a little worse each time I get stung. I may have to give it up and pass them on to someone else. I don't eat enough honey to justify the expense any more. They are fascinating little creatures to watch though and I've spent a fair amount of time just sitting to the side of their hives and watched the entryway. The amount of traffic is amazing!

[Mitch]

I have been keeping bees for 13 years.I keep around 20 hives in north west Ohio.Every year it seems to get harder to keep them thru the winter.But so far I have been able to keep up with the die off.This years honey crop was not very good,ony about 25% of normal.Bee farmers is what it is lol.Every year is different in one way or another.My 2 cents worth is.If you start keeping bees get 2 hives to start then you will be able to see if one is doing better than the other and know there my be a problem with the slow hive.

WARNING BeeKeeping is addicting.Soon you will not be able to turn down a swarm no matter how far you have to travel or how hi in the tree.You will soon have your own little side busness.If you start I will bet you will have 10 hive or more in a few short seasons.

Just a few bits of info.
On an average year I get 100lbs of honey per hive.
You get 2 to 3 lbs of beeswax for every 100lbs of extracted honey.
Early spring honey is very light in color and fall hoiney gets a lot darker
You will get stung now and then.
People will ask how the bees are doing.Everyone seems to be somewhat interested in bees.
You will have less time to load and shoot lol
Bob

[BubbaJon]

I kept Bees for 3 years. Then two years ago the summer my wife got cancer I woke up to the most qawd awful thing I've ever seen - my hives were bring robbed on a scale I wouldn't have believed possible. I tried blocking, water sprinklers smoke - anything I could think of. By the time it was over there were tens off thousands of dead bees in the yard. I was broke at the time and busy with my wife and I haven't started them back up again.

[longshot1154]

I've always wanted to keep bees. I remember when I was growing up, my grandmother got the Service Merchandise catalog and they had bee kits available. I have all the plans saved on my computer to build the hives just haven't gotten around to doing it yet.

[dbosman]

I kept them in my teens. Never had a bad reaction to honey bees. Stings were just a nuisance. Thirty years later I got nailed by a sweat bee and wonder if they were dipping their stingers in hot sauce.

I find it interesting how many over lapping interests a bunch of us have.

[Beekeeper]

Don't know about everyone else but being a "jack of all trades and master of none" I have tried just about everything at one time or another.
25 years Navy stationed in 7 Countries
Worked as a consultant for the Navy after retirement
Worked for an airline.
Owned my own beekeeping business and finally retired when wife became sick.
If I had to choose a job to do forever I think it would be beekeeping.
Here in California it is a 360 day a year job , most of it outside in the fresh air.
You get to see a lot of backwoods and meet a lot of great people along the way!!


Few side jobs,
Made fishing rods comercally for a hobby
Welder for most of the local people where we lived.

In the 1960's I shot match and gave it up when the kids needed me more than the range did.
40 year gap .
Started to shoot again 4 years ago but found out I like working on them more than shooting them.
Goes well with wifes condition as I have to spend at least 6 hours a day doing the chores.


beekeeper