Honey Bees

[waynem34]

Hey I just seen a honey bee! Please let the bees be healthy. 24541

[Blammer]

One dead out this year so far, they froze. My other two hives are doing fine.

[freebullet]

I love honey and beeswax. Not so much on bee stings, and my wife is allergic to them.

I hope them stinging little buggers make it.

[histed]

Hey I just seen a honey bee!
Was she wearing a parka and carrying a snow shovel? Blammer - coulda used you about two years ago - HUGE nest in my walls! Wish now I'd have saved the wax, but that was pre-casting.

[Wolfer]

The last 50 deg day I had only lost one hive that's close to home. I have three out yards that I haven't checked since late fall. I felt good about them at the time.
Like all of Gods creatures their born looking for a place to die.

Facisinating little critters they are!

[waynem34]

I was helping install a standing seam roof on an old house when a swarm of bees darkened the sun.They had taken the Queen, but they had yet to notice.They stayed for just a few seconds.

[shaper]

I joined a local bee club last month. Bought the hive and am waiting for a local to sell me a nuc. I plan to get another hive soon.

[xbeeman412]

We started feeding a month ago to build up for splits. Checked yesterday and We will make splits the weekend of the 14th.
Last year was a bad year as we lost from 150+ to around 50 so its nessary to bring numbers up with splits.

[MaryB]

I have been debating setting a hive out on my back 40. Crops are all organic and I am sure the farmer wouldn't mind at all.

[Charley]

Plenty down this way. Most Bee Keepers around here are pretty wary about taking bees from residential settings. Lot of worry about the mites that cause CCD, don't want to accidently introduce them their own colonies.

[waynem34]

Man I have the hicups and the same 4 0r 45 honey bees stayed with me all day. Sent them to my mom and her dozen cats and dogs.

[bangerjim]

Our many citrus trees are about explode with blooms, so the trees will be alive with thousands of honey bees very shortly. Have one tree already attracting hundreds of them and it sounds very loud with a constant hum from the little buggers working in there. Honey bees are nice. They will fly right into your face and not bother you at all....just doing what they do best.....gathering pollen. During the "bee" season, I fish live bees out of our swiming pool every day. Don't want them to drown. The more the better!

Except Africanized bees! Nasty little buggers. Had a "beard" of them last spring in my side shed. Spayed them with wasp killer from 10 feet away during a light rain a dusk when they were all home. Those things are nasty. Much smaller than our good old honey bees. Have heard and seen on the news where they will attack for virually NO reason. Read they track you by the CO2 you exhale. Will chase you in swarms! Can sting animals and people to death. Those are the ones that normally swarm in house walls and attics. Had another smaller swarm of them in our cable box in the front yard!!!!!!

[TheDoctor]

I got stung by one at the beginning of January! Who expects to get stung then? Was able to get the stinger out immediately, but still almost vapor locked. I know they are vital, but keep em away from me!

[Charley]

Our many citrus trees are about explode with blooms, so the trees will be alive with thousands of honey bees very shortly. Have one tree already attracting hundreds of them and it sounds very loud with a constant hum from the little buggers working in there. Honey bees are nice. They will fly right into your face and not bother you at all....just doing what they do best.....gathering pollen. During the "bee" season, I fish live bees out of our swiming pool every day. Don't want them to drown. The more the better!

Except Africanized bees! Nasty little buggers. Had a "beard" of them last spring in my side shed. Spayed them with wasp killer from 10 feet away during a light rain a dusk when they were all home. Those things are nasty. Much smaller than our good old honey bees. Have heard and seen on the news where they will attack for virually NO reason. Read they track you by the CO2 you exhale. Will chase you in swarms! Can sting animals and people to death. Those are the ones that normally swarm in house walls and attics. Had another smaller swarm of them in our cable box in the front yard!!!!!!
Um, no. Africanized honeybees are almost identical to the European honeybee. In fact, to get an ID the entomology department at Texas A&M used to want a "statistically significant" number of samples for an ID...usually about 40 or 50 specimens. Can't always tell by behavior as well, I've seen Europeans go berserk...get enough attack pheromone released and it can happen. Can't tell without seeing it, of course, but a lot of the behavior you mention sounds a lot more like one of the yellow jacket species, probably the Southern Yellow Jacket. Often a ground nester, common to see them get in small cavities like cable boxes, and they are some mean critters. They will not only chase you, they can catch you. Honeybees, Africanized or European , sting once and die, the stinger pulls out of the body. The yellow jackets (and other wasps) have a smooth stinger. They can sting you repeatedly, and when excited, will do it until they get tired of doing it!

[bangerjim]

These WERE bees, not yellow jackets. I have been around both for years and definitely know the difference. And they were NOT in the ground. Hundreds of them hanging from the ceiling on a comb they were starting.

These bees in question were much smaller than the ones we normally get on our citrus trees in the spring.....perhaps 30% smaller. And would tend to go after you when even approaching the shed during daylight hours. Our citrus "honey bees" are a bit larger and never bother anyone.

We have had a lot if instances of those "killer bees" around here in recent years and the news has carried several stories about the smaller more vicious strain to be wary of. Mabe it is the strain adapted here in the desert, but "experts" on the news reports said to watch out for the smaller more aggressive bees and do NOT stir them up! Call an exterminator.

banger

[oldred]

We must have at least 90% of the world's population of Yellow jackets here!!!!!

All joking aside these are some mean little critters and mowing the lawn in late summer/early fall can be a hazardous undertaking indeed! Mostly they nest in the ground but I have see them in walls many times and have even seen them on huge nests under eaves and other types of overhangs both on buildings and natural such as overhanging embankments which seem to be a favorite. About the best solution for these little,,,,,well I can't use that kind of language here, is Seven dust sprinkled around the entrance to their nests, those in the open can be sprayed with any good wasp spray. Seven 10 worked best by far but alas it has been banned and I only have a couple of pounds left now but the commonly available Seven 5 seems to work too but just a bit slower. If a nest is found just pour a small amount of the Seven around the entrance hole in the ground or wall and stay away from it for a couple of days, as they enter they will pick up the dust and carry it inside where it will kill every last one one of them! I have done this and then dug up the nest a few days later to find what looks like thousands of them, all dead or dying like they should be!

For the record I TRULY hate these things with a passion!

[Charley]

Just an entomolgist, with about 35 years spent dealing with industry concerns. Reckon I'm not qualified to comment. Believe what you want, no skin off me.

[farmerjim]

One of my beehives has been taken over by a Mean Queen (not African) . I have been stung several times working near it. I have tried to give them away but none of the local beekeepers want them. One more sting and they will all be dead.
I can go and take the top off of the other hive I have in the back field and steal a piece of comb without getting stung. The behavior of the hive depends on the queen.

[oldred]

I would truly love to have some bees, it's the missing link on my farm here and I have thought about it many times. The biggest problem is that except for knowing the difference between a bee and a wasp I know very little about them, I have heard and read about some of the problems with keeping bees and to be honest that has probably been the biggest thing that has kept me from attempting this very fascinating hobby, and hobby level would be what I would be interested in.

Any recommendations on good books or other learning materials?

[bangerjim]

Just an entomolgist, with about 35 years spent dealing with industry concerns. Reckon I'm not qualified to comment. Believe what you want, no skin off me.


Not callin you out on anything. I was just repeating stuff I have read and actually seen with my own eyes on my property.

"Everyone should believe in something.........I believe I'll have another beer!"

banger

[joesig]

One of my beehives has been taken over by a Mean Queen (not African) . I have been stung several times working near it. I have tried to give them away but none of the local beekeepers want them. One more sting and they will all be dead.
I can go and take the top off of the other hive I have in the back field and steal a piece of comb without getting stung. The behavior of the hive depends on the queen.
Why not requeen that hive? A package of bees, at least in VA is getting to be every bit of a $100 bill. Queens are a quarter of that. I've lost enough hives to Mother nature; I can't imagine killing them.

[Charley]

Not callin you out on anything. I was just repeating stuff I have read and actually seen with my own eyes on my property.

"Everyone should believe in something.........I believe I'll have another beer!"






banger
PAX...I've heard and read just about everything possible about insects and arachnids during that time. Much of it is very similar to WILCO'S thread about asking what odd things you've heard at the LGS, range, or gunshow.
No offense taken, hope non given.

[Eddie2002]

Just split my last hive Yesterday, it was boiling over with bees and would of swarmed in about another week or two. Didn't spot any swarm cells so I think I'm ok. Need to go back in for a inspection and pull some fresh brood for queen rearing.
Lost five out of six hives two years ago due to small hive beetles and haven't recovered yet. Lat year the nucs I purchase wereloaded with mites and died off one month after setting them up.

[goofyoldfart]

What is a nucs? God Bless to all.

[Blacksmith]

I would truly love to have some bees, it's the missing link on my farm here and I have thought about it many times. The biggest problem is that except for knowing the difference between a bee and a wasp I know very little about them, I have heard and read about some of the problems with keeping bees and to be honest that has probably been the biggest thing that has kept me from attempting this very fascinating hobby, and hobby level would be what I would be interested in.
Any recommendations on good books or other learning materials?

The classic work on beekeeping is "The ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture" by A. I. Root. The book is still in print and available on Amazon but it is also available on line at Internet Archive. Here is the link:
https://archive.org/details/abcxyzofbeecultu00root

Another classic is "Langstroth on the Hive and Honey Bee" by Lorenzo Langstroth, he was the guy who discovered bee space and developed the modern bee hive. Here is that link:
https://archive.org/details/langstrothonhiv00dadagoog

A search on the Internet Archive site for the term Bee will turn up many more books.

Or you can go to the the E. F. Phillips Beekeeping Collection at Mann Library at Cornell University which is the most comprehensive collection I have discovered. Here is a link to their bibliography:
http://bees.library.cornell.edu/b/bees/browse.html

[farmerjim]

joesig (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/member.php?4422-joesig) "Why not requeen that hive? A package of bees, at least in VA is getting to be every bit of a $100 bill. Queens are a quarter of that. I've lost enough hives to Mother nature; I can't imagine killing them."

I do not have a bee suit. Someone takes care of the hives and gives me some of the honey. He will not work on that hive because fire ants are raiding it and taking a lot of the honey, and now briars and privet trees have grown up all around it now so that it would have to be cleared out to get to it, and he won't do it and I can't. I have offered to give the hive (bees only) to two other beekeepers and they refused. Do you know someone near me that might want them, they can have them. Once empty I can put a Nuc in myself without a suit. I raise squash, watermelons, and cucumbers that need the bees for pollination.

[ohland]

Plenty down this way. Most Bee Keepers around here are pretty wary about taking bees from residential settings. Lot of worry about the mites that cause CCD, don't want to accidently introduce them their own colonies.

Read a story about two weeks ago, European researchers supposedly found that you could get significant bee parasite reduction with anabasine.

Plants noted lead by reduction:

81% Nicotania Glauca - Tree Tobacco - grows 10-15' tall.
67% Thymol
62% Nicotine - Annual nicotania - not good if ingested by pets... or kids...
61% White Turtlehead - chelone glabra what i am looking at growing.

Ah-ha! Found the original study

The Royal Society Publishing, Proceedings B
Secondary metabolites in floral nectar reduce parasite infections in bumblebees
http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/282/1803/20142471

http://www.sciencerecorder.com/news/nicotine-and-caffeine-may-actually-help-extend-the-life-of-bees-new-study-shows/

http://www.science20.com/news_articles/nicotine_reduces_parasite_infection_in_bees_up_to_ 81_percent-153296

"Chemicals in floral nectar, including the alkaloids anabasine and nicotine, the iridoid glycoside catalpol and the terpenoid thymol, significantly reduce parasite infection in bees, which may mean that that growing plants high in these compounds around farm fields could improve survival of diseased bees and therefore maintain more consistent pollination of crops. "

[1911cherry]

We must have at least 90% of the world's population of Yellow jackets here!!!!!

All joking aside these are some mean little critters and mowing the lawn in late summer/early fall can be a hazardous undertaking indeed!

For the record I TRULY hate these things with a passion!

I think the rest moved to my house, every year I find some of them while bush hogging.

[DougGuy]

Every year we grow African Blue Basil and let it flower out and grow until it freezes. It's usually the last flowering plant the bees have to go to at the end of the season, and they LOVE it all summer long.

Harvest and dry the leaves, crush them and put them in a jar, sprinkle them on ribs and chicken before you put the rub on, it is AWESOME on bbq!

[hoosierlogger]

I lost all 3 of my hives. I have a trapout to do in a catalpa tree, and a colony to
remove from an old conservation club that is going to get torn down.

[Charley]

Read a story about two weeks ago, European researchers supposedly found that you could get significant bee parasite reduction with anabasine.

Plants noted lead by reduction:

81% Nicotania Glauca - Tree Tobacco - grows 10-15' tall.
67% Thymol
62% Nicotine - Annual nicotania - not good if ingested by pets... or kids...
61% White Turtlehead - chelone glabra what i am looking at growing.

Ah-ha! Found the original study

The Royal Society Publishing, Proceedings B
Secondary metabolites in floral nectar reduce parasite infections in bumblebees
http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/282/1803/20142471

http://www.sciencerecorder.com/news/nicotine-and-caffeine-may-actually-help-extend-the-life-of-bees-new-study-shows/

http://www.science20.com/news_articles/nicotine_reduces_parasite_infection_in_bees_up_to_ 81_percent-153296

"Chemicals in floral nectar, including the alkaloids anabasine and nicotine, the iridoid glycoside catalpol and the terpenoid thymol, significantly reduce parasite infection in bees, which may mean that that growing plants high in these compounds around farm fields could improve survival of diseased bees and therefore maintain more consistent pollination of crops. "

Hadn't seen that, looks promising. CCD is a moderate issue down this way, nobody wants it to get worse! Just a guess, I suspect the low level toxins involved work due to the size differential between the bees and the mites.

[PoisonIvyMagnet]

Oldred, not sure where you live, but you can probably find a local beekeeping group in your area. Most clubs hold "bee-ginner" beekeeping classes, and the guys and gals in them are usually quite friendly and helpful. They could answer your questions, and help get you set up with what you need. Bees are fun to watch, and you'll find that they have plenty to teach you.

I would truly love to have some bees, it's the missing link on my farm here and I have thought about it many times. The biggest problem is that except for knowing the difference between a bee and a wasp I know very little about them, I have heard and read about some of the problems with keeping bees and to be honest that has probably been the biggest thing that has kept me from attempting this very fascinating hobby, and hobby level would be what I would be interested in.

Any recommendations on good books or other learning materials?

[MaryB]

Former neighbor had a nest of them in his back yard. One of the kids got stung so many time she had to be rushed to the hospital. He dumped 5 gallons of gas down the nest hole then tossed a flare from 30 feet... pretty much killed them and apparently the mix was right to be borderline explosive because it lifted the dirt a couple inches!



We must have at least 90% of the world's population of Yellow jackets here!!!!!

All joking aside these are some mean little critters and mowing the lawn in late summer/early fall can be a hazardous undertaking indeed! Mostly they nest in the ground but I have see them in walls many times and have even seen them on huge nests under eaves and other types of overhangs both on buildings and natural such as overhanging embankments which seem to be a favorite. About the best solution for these little,,,,,well I can't use that kind of language here, is Seven dust sprinkled around the entrance to their nests, those in the open can be sprayed with any good wasp spray. Seven 10 worked best by far but alas it has been banned and I only have a couple of pounds left now but the commonly available Seven 5 seems to work too but just a bit slower. If a nest is found just pour a small amount of the Seven around the entrance hole in the ground or wall and stay away from it for a couple of days, as they enter they will pick up the dust and carry it inside where it will kill every last one one of them! I have done this and then dug up the nest a few days later to find what looks like thousands of them, all dead or dying like they should be!

For the record I TRULY hate these things with a passion!

[MaryB]

Honey bees I have been around have been pretty tame. Only been stung a couple times and that was trying to catch a swarm into a box as the branch was gently shaken. Most of the time you can gently wave them out of your face and they will fly off.

Fighting paper wasps here the last 2 years, dang things get into everything. I opened up my entrance panel for my ham radio antennas and they had built a hive in there after the steel wool blocking the entrance fell out.

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd248/maryalanab/lightning-panel.jpg

[big bore 99]

Those yellow jackets are some nasty critters. I had one hit me on the back of my hand and 3 more times up my arm in a blink of an eye. They all swelled up like golf balls and lasted about 2 weeks.

[Beagle333]

Fighting paper wasps here the last 2 years, dang things get into everything. I opened up my entrance panel for my ham radio antennas and they had built a hive in there after the steel wool blocking the entrance fell out.

I keep a box of naphthalene Mothballs in my outdoor tool cabinet and that seems to have completely stopped any interest the wasps had of building a condo in there.

[bangerjim]

Ahhhhhhh.......mothballs! Brings back fond memories of my grandmother's house!

bangerj

[joesig]

What is a nucs? God Bless to all.

Nucs, or nucleus colonies, are small honey bee colonies created from larger colonies. The term refers both to the smaller size box and the colony of honeybees within it. The name is derived from the fact that a nuc hive is centered on a queen, the nucleus of the honey bee colony.

[blackthorn]

Quote "One of my beehives has been taken over by a Mean Queen (not African) . I have been stung several times working near it. I have tried to give them away but none of the local beekeepers want them. One more sting and they will all be dead.
I can go and take the top off of the other hive I have in the back field and steal a piece of comb without getting stung. The behavior of the hive depends on the queen. "

Maybe she's not mean---just saying: "Get off my lawn!!"

[joesig]

joesig (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/member.php?4422-joesig) "Why not requeen that hive? A package of bees, at least in VA is getting to be every bit of a $100 bill. Queens are a quarter of that. I've lost enough hives to Mother nature; I can't imagine killing them."

I do not have a bee suit. Someone takes care of the hives and gives me some of the honey. He will not work on that hive because fire ants are raiding it and taking a lot of the honey, and now briars and privet trees have grown up all around it now so that it would have to be cleared out to get to it, and he won't do it and I can't. I have offered to give the hive (bees only) to two other beekeepers and they refused. Do you know someone near me that might want them, they can have them. Once empty I can put a Nuc in myself without a suit. I raise squash, watermelons, and cucumbers that need the bees for pollination.

I sure don't know anyone but there has to be a bee inspector, Beekeeping Association, etc. around that could find it a home. It's been a while since I've lurked on one but there are at least two BEEK forums. I can't imagine NO ONE wants a free hive, if nothing else for the hardware.

One time I did it all wrong. Always wear a suit but one day a bit sweaty, overcast and no smoke netted me to deserved pokes. Lesson learned.

[TreeKiller]

Former neighbor had a nest of them in his back yard. One of the kids got stung so many time she had to be rushed to the hospital. He dumped 5 gallons of gas down the nest hole then tossed a flare from 30 feet... pretty much killed them and apparently the mix was right to be borderline explosive because it lifted the dirt a couple inches!
BEE environmentally friendly find the entrance during the day, slip up on it with a cup of gas pore in and place a rock over the hole. On need to light it the fumes will settle to the bottom and kill the nest. The tough part is finding there home.
Dan with honey bees

[MaryB]

We knew where this one was, they went after me mowing and I saw the hole at the base of a rotted tree stump. Told him and he nuked it. Notice I said former neighbor to... one I am glad is gone because I was tired of the drug traffic.

[crabo]

My wife uses Beekeeping for Dummies and The BeeKeepers Handbook by Sammataro and Avitabile in her classes.

http://beegirl.biz/?pid=show&page=BeeKeeping

We have bees coming back from Almonds in California on Sunday. Getting ready to make a 150 nucs, and do splits. We will then take the bees to North Dakota in the middle of May.

We have our honey house in ND.

I made a powerpoint on moving bees a couple of years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4i_AmOMQHs

[10x]

I used fear bees until I worked for a beekeeper for a summer.
After the first two weeks of working in the extraction plant, I got to work in the bee yards and it was one of the most memorable jobs of my life.
The bee keeper had a bee yard right at the plant and all doors and windows were kept open so the bees could salvage honey off of the frames after we ran the frames through the extractor.
One of the benefits of working the bee yards was the high black bear population. Our crew (4 guys, 2 trucks) would take turns entering bee yards. There was a 303 british with 40 rounds in each truck. The beekeeper had a $10 bounty on bears and every bear in a bee yard was shot on sight-that hit Canadian national news in 1973. But that is another story.
When the owner was not with us we could work a yard, changing off suppers without veils and just our cuffs and collars closed tight. The owner had a way with bees. he had a 2 stroke blower, (the first one I had ever seen) and when he was there he insisted on blowing the bees out of each super as it came off of the hive. The result was a large number of really unhappy bees. When we saw his pickup come into the yard we would all run stop and put on veils - and get a lecture about taking too many breaks.

A person can survive over 100 tame honey bee stings in a day, that was about where I lost count. My legs and arms looked like the Stay Puft marshmallow man. |After the first day the bees stopped stinging me. I have no idea why.

[jednorris]

I started removing honeybees from houses and dwellings in North Carolina in 1995 free of charge and used NO insecticide. In 2004 the N.C. State Structural Pest Control Div. fined me $7,000.00 for doing structural pest control without a licence. It does not matter that you use no insecticide, if you remove insects from buildings, you need to be licenced. I spent three years apprenticing under a company that did not treat stinging insects, then got my own pest control licence

[Charley]

I started removing honeybees from houses and dwellings in North Carolina in 1995 free of charge and used NO insecticide. In 2004 the N.C. State Structural Pest Control Div. fined me $7,000.00 for doing structural pest control without a licence. It does not matter that you use no insecticide, if you remove insects from buildings, you need to be licenced. I spent three years apprenticing under a company that did not treat stinging insects, then got my own pest control licence
Depends on the state laws and regs. Beekeepers here can remove hives, but if you apply ANYTHING, including a detergent/water mix, you need a TPCL. A TPCL also has certain requirements for insurance. Even if you don't need a TPCL, if you are working with bees on someone else's property, you better have insurance as well.

[bangerjim]

WOW......what a difference a week makes! Now that most of my 12 citrus trees are almost in full bloom, I THOUSANDS of honeybees back there.

They fly rigit into me as I wall by and under the trees.....no big thing. Some friends are deathly afraid of a little bee.......and they ARE NOT allergic to bee stings!! Silly people.

God Bless Our Bees!

Did y'all see where a swarm of bees interrupted a spring training game out here in Phoenix?

banger-j

[Wolfer]

Mike Bush has an excellent website about natural beekeeping. Just google " Bush bees "

The weather just broke here this week. The girls are out in force. Just started my spring feeding. The seven hives here at home all survived but I have 4 out yards that I haven't been to yet.

I won't build nucs here until the blackberries bloom. Could be the end of April or it could be the end of May. Advice per Walter Kelley. I've built a good many earlier in years past but none saw fall much less the following spring.

[Charley]

They fly rigit into me as I wall by and under the trees.....no big thing. Some friends are deathly afraid of a little bee.......and they ARE NOT allergic to bee stings!! Silly people.

God Bless Our Bees

Foraging bees are not a threat, for the most part. The defensive instincts to protect the colony are what gets you.

[duckey]

Haven't seen any yet here in VA but should with these warmer temps. On a side note....if your a bee keeper do a search for "flow hive" and tell me if your not blown away by this product. Truly amazing!!!!!

[Beagle333]

How do you fellows feel about the Flow Hive? :coffeecom It looks like it might need perfect conditions. And is it good for the bees? Wouldn't you still need to get in there and check for mites and clean up things? In the video I watched, the honey all appeared to flow right out and no bees came out to retrieve it and no other insects bothered it and they closed it back up and you had a nice clean empty frame with no trash or crystalized honey left behind.
And it appears to completely disregard the wax, which is one of my favorite things about bees. 8-)

[Surculus]

|After the first day the bees stopped stinging me. I have no idea why.

You changed clothes & weren't wearing the ones that smelled of old Hoppe's #9... Either that, or you got the bananas out of your system and stopped transmitting the order to attack! ;)

[7Acres]

I was helping install a standing seam roof on an old house when a swarm of bees darkened the sun.They had taken the Queen, but they had yet to notice.They stayed for just a few seconds.

That's quite a sight, isn't it? My father and I catch swarms. He got a swarm yesterday. First one of the season for us!

[waynem34]

I feared people who feared bees,when growing up learning the roofing trade and carpentry. Bee gets after some bee allergic person. Knock you off or knock the ladder out from under you. I'm allergic is always the excuse. They still get stung or worse. Run off the roof. Bee can since fear and you give off very pleasant smells and reflexes being what they are. May as well stand there and get stung. We'll get you to the emergency room. Always laugh when some grown man like me will move out when attacked. I know yellow jackets will make you move out in a hurry. I know japanesse hornets will make you move and then some. Never been attack by honey bees. Wasp will mess you up. I have all ways been stung the must with wasp when the wind was blowing a litte maybe just a breeze. I'll scramble to if they get after me in numbers. Guess will find out. Keep On!

[duckey]

There is a common misconception that using the Flow Hive is simply a "plug and play" application......yes a bee keeper will have to enter the hive from time to time to inspect and treat for various issues. This product is simply an alternative to (harvesting the honey) taking honey supers off a hive after removing bees by what ever method, lugging supers back to a facility and extracting then lugging them back to the hive and so on. Think of how much labor the Flow Hive saves!!! A ton! The reviews I have seen seem to support the ease of the product, time will tell. the equipment to extract and process the hone ain't cheap. I believe the Flow Hive will pay for it self after one season. Thats just my 2 cents.

[dragon813gt]

I'm allergic and have to very cautious at work. I carry a can of wasp spray onto every roof I go on. They love to make their nests in the rails and corners of rooftop units. Honey bees don't bother me. They are docile and I've never had a problem w/ them. Yellow jackets are mean buggers. Some of the other wasps are even worse.

The cicada killer wasps moved into this area about five years ago. To say I freaked out the first time I saw one would be an understatement. It's the sentries that guard the perimeter that bother me the most. They come in to close for comfort than back off. I have no desire to get stung by a 1/4" stinger.

[MaryB]

I had wasps set up housekeeping in my boat trailer frame. It was open on both ends so I emptied the shot from a shotgun shell, loaded it and blasted the nest out of the tube because they had stung me about 15 times, 4 times in the face.

[Charley]

Cicada Killers look scary, but are not aggressive. It IS tough to walk through a field where a couple hundred are foraging the first time, but they pretty much ignore you. Very common around here, depends on the terrain exactly where they live. Solitary wasp species, and don't have the "protect the colony" instinct.

[docone31]

About 25yrs ago, I was traveling on my Bike. I was on the Jersey Tpk around Cape May, when I saw this cloud moving over the highway.
I came up fairly quickly, and suddenly I saw BEES! A clouds worth of them. Splat and then some. I got them in my shirt, glasses, helmet, gloves. On my bike, engine, tank, on the seat, and my pack.
I did not get a single sting. They were Honey Bees, and they were swarming! I had never seen anything like it before.
I made it to the Carolinas, and got a room. I was sticky with honey. Dead Bees everywhere. I never forgot it.
The only other time I saw a swarm was when I lived in Portland Ore. A swarm went to the tree where I lived. They grouped and the branch started to swing down. As the swarm grew, the branch got lower and lower. The noise was definately audible. They stayed about an half hour, then left. You would never have known they were there.
A definate cool thing to watch.

[waynem34]

Yellow Jackets are wasp right?

[SSGOldfart]

How do you fellows feel about the Flow Hive? :coffeecom It looks like it might need perfect conditions. And is it good for the bees? Wouldn't you still need to get in there and check for mites and clean up things? In the video I watched, the honey all appeared to flow right out and no bees came out to retrieve it and no other insects bothered it and they closed it back up and you had a nice clean empty frame with no trash or crystalized honey left behind.
And it appears to completely disregard the wax, which is one of my favorite things about bees. 8-)

Same here the wax is what I'm after,I'm replacing 5hives this year,got to get my numbers up so I can split before next fall.

[GaryN]

I found something that works for me on wasps stings. As soon as I get hit I put a dob of MSM cream on it. Within five minutes there is no redness and no pain. You would be hard pressed to even tell where you were stung. I have heard that it works on spider bites but have not tried it on them. I found it online. The company that made mine is Home Health. I get a lot of wasp nests in older vehicles that don't get driven a lot.

[7Acres]

There is a common misconception that using the Flow Hive is simply a "plug and play" application......yes a bee keeper will have to enter the hive from time to time to inspect and treat for various issues. This product is simply an alternative to (harvesting the honey) taking honey supers off a hive after removing bees by what ever method, lugging supers back to a facility and extracting then lugging them back to the hive and so on. Think of how much labor the Flow Hive saves!!! A ton! The reviews I have seen seem to support the ease of the product, time will tell. the equipment to extract and process the hone ain't cheap. I believe the Flow Hive will pay for it self after one season. Thats just my 2 cents.

There's a reason it's called bee-keeping rather than honey-getting. Harvesting is the easiest part of job.

[ascast]

money money money now that I have your attention
if any of you mid atlantic guys want to roll me up a 3-4 lb nuc (or 2) and ship them up it would make me about as happy as finding a Hepburn at a yard sale.
I still have 1 ft of snow, mid 50 today for the first time. Still have a month or more to go before apple blossoms. I don't even care about any take off this year.
I would like to get 1 or 2 colonies built up to winter 15/16.
Around here, the big boys take orders in October for nucs with deposit. That runs about $100 to maybe 125. I think that is way too much money.
NUcs can be shipped in the mail, or used to be as I have done it before. I will check.
Anybody interested and can make queens cells and nucs HMU please. PM me
thanks

[ascast]

ps I did not think this through, if mail works I would talk to anybody. anywhere

[Charley]

Yellow Jackets are wasp right?
Yes, yellow jackets, both the Southern and Eastern, are wasps of the genus Vespula. Many, many people refer to wasps from the genus Polistes as yellow jackets, but they aren't. Common name for the whole Polistes genus is "paper wasp" referring to the paper nest, which is usually aerial, hanging under eaves and other sheltered spots. Most are not that aggressive, but will defend the nesting site. Only species that I consider aggressive is Polistes Carolina (or Polistes Carolineus) depending in your source material. Mean SOBs, or more correctly, "they have a much more pronounced defensive reaction".

[Wayne Smith]

Here in the suburbs don't really have room for a hive, only just over 1/4 acre. But my early blueberrys were buzzing with bees this afternoon!

[Iowa Fox]

We must have at least 90% of the world's population of Yellow jackets here!!!!!

All joking aside these are some mean little critters and mowing the lawn in late summer/early fall can be a hazardous undertaking indeed! Mostly they nest in the ground but I have see them in walls many times and have even seen them on huge nests under eaves and other types of overhangs both on buildings and natural such as overhanging embankments which seem to be a favorite. About the best solution for these little,,,,,well I can't use that kind of language here, is Seven dust sprinkled around the entrance to their nests, those in the open can be sprayed with any good wasp spray. Seven 10 worked best by far but alas it has been banned and I only have a couple of pounds left now but the commonly available Seven 5 seems to work too but just a bit slower. If a nest is found just pour a small amount of the Seven around the entrance hole in the ground or wall and stay away from it for a couple of days, as they enter they will pick up the dust and carry it inside where it will kill every last one one of them! I have done this and then dug up the nest a few days later to find what looks like thousands of them, all dead or dying like they should be!

For the record I TRULY hate these things with a passion!

Thanks for the tip oldred. Two years ago I had a hole right along side of the house. Took 3 or 4 days and several cans of Hornet spray before I got the air traffic of them coming to the hole stopped. I took a spade and dug the nest out and there must have been millions of them. Took several stings in the process. I even gave the hole a quart or two of diesel fuel which didn't even phase them.

[Blammer]

Visited my bees today, both hives were BOOMING! I had to add more supers, more room for them to make honey. :)

[Charley]

Thanks for the tip oldred. Two years ago I had a hole right along side of the house. Took 3 or 4 days and several cans of Hornet spray before I got the air traffic of them coming to the hole stopped. I took a spade and dug the nest out and there must have been millions of them. Took several stings in the process. I even gave the hole a quart or two of diesel fuel which didn't even phase them.
Sevin dust (carbaryl) will kill with enough time and contact, but has drawbacks. Most dust formulations loose effectiveness when wet, if you place it on an area that gets heavy dew, it can't be picked up by insects. Also a repellent, tends to push the yellow jackets away from it. Also, those exposed tend to be "shunned" by other members of the colony. Last, it is a cholinesterase inhibitor, affects mammals (including humans) as well as insects.
I'd lean towards something like Temprid, a combination of two active ingrediants. Both are synthetic copies of plant derivatives, have much less effect on mammals. Also non repellent, insects don't sense it is there. Apply it to where the YJ are landing and entering the nesting site, and you will crash the colony within about 24 hours. Apply it at night, and you won't get stung.

[quilbilly]

My mason bees just came out of their houses yesterday just in time for the peak of my asian pear bloom and my apple bloom will burst in a day or two. I just built two of the mason bee houses last year wondering if it would be enough. It is and they are everywhere and I am smiling. The literature says that, while you do not get honey, they are a much more efficient pollinizer than honeybees.

[ol skool]

Gotta a question about Yellow Jackets and Bald Face Hornets. Me and BF Hornets go way back and I don't have much love for them. I literally stared death in the face as a young man 'cause of them, but that's another story.

Thinking of a Sevin trap.

Pie tin, poison scattered all around in the pie tin. In the middle wetted and rotten meat with a tight roof over it. They gotta land in the poison to walk to the meat and tear off a chunk for the home crew. Bring back the meat and the poison to infect the rest of the Borg. Leaves the flower loving bees alone, goes right after the meat bees...

What can I do to kill BF Hornets. Hunting down the nest is pointless, try it every year. Too many square miles of oak, pine, doug-fir, and creek side cottonwood and brush to cover to find a hive or two.

Does this even have a chance of working?

[Charley]

Probably won't work, as I mentioned Sevin (carbaryl) is repellent to insects. Would probably work with something like Fipronil, or Imidacloprid. Both are non repellent, and when the insects exposed to it do the social activities they do in the colony (grooming, sharing food, etc.) they will pass it along to others in the colony that were not exposed to it originally. The colony will crash at some point. Bald face hornets are beneficial, I wouldn't recommend killing them indiscriminately. They do play a role in pollination, and also help control caterpillars and other insect pests. OTOH, I'd sure kill a colony if it was in my yard!
The use of either of the materials I mentioned, around a baited area, is off label, and technically illegal. If you want to do it, you're on your own.

[John Allen]

We actually are setting aside a part of our field to make a habitat that is more conducive to honey bees hanging around. I hope we get some.

[duckey]

Sooo, how about the flow hive. Curious what others think?

[ol skool]

The use of either of the materials I mentioned, around a baited area, is off label, and technically illegal. If you want to do it, you're on your own.

Ok, thanks for the heads up on this. Appreciated.

[shaper]

I am new to bee keeping. I bought two hives with extra uppers and boards and everything else to go with bee keeping. Over $600. I had the promise of two nucs to go in them but the guy just backed out of the deal. The local farm supply has already closed the book on ordering package bees and they will be delivered tomorrow. So it looks like I am out of a lot of cash and will not get the bees this year. Yep, I'm happy.