Bees! Any other beekeepers?
Hi! I might be getting beehives in the spring and I'm really excited, because bees are my special intrest! I know a lot about bees (and ants) but I've never had my own hive, any tips for getting started? I should be inherriting some from a group I worked with this past summer, because they decided to disband due to members leaving and the ones that stayed are busy and older. But yeah, any other bee enthusiasts? Or just if you like bugs in general :) what's your favorite bug?
@LonleyCheese I love bees, we have a swarm that regularly visits us here and they are amazing!
I hope you get yours and come back to tell us all about it :)
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@MistyMagic a swarm? how so? also, in the GIF you can see pooh's honey pot, and that shape, right? well, that's a pretty commonly recognised beehive shape, but it's rather outdated! See, beekeepers used to house their bees in a basket in the same shape as that that is depicted nowadays. However, this basket beekeeping forced them to destroy the hive and the bees were very unlikely to survive, and difficult to check their wellbeing. Now, we use a box shape with frames for easy checkups and harvesting that allows bees to reuse the comb after the honey is extracted. Isn't that cool?
@LonleyCheese They just turn up when the bushes are in flower and then a few days later they all disappear. It so noisy! I am amazed at the loud Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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I learned from a friend that you can pet bees <3
I also love picking up and holding rollie-pollies (AKA sowbugs or pillbugs) <3
Better get one of those white full-body suits, so you don't get stung half to death when working with them...especially if you decide to gather the honey.
update- the group contacted me and told me that the girls likely didn't make it through the winter. We're still working things out, but I will still be getting the supplies and also possibly any of the workers that survived, but I'll have to get a new queen. I'm debating on which kind I want to get, russian, italian, or carnolian honeybees? we'll see! It's pretty sad to lose the original colony though...
Even though I know almost nothing about bees, somehow a Carnolian queen sounds like the best option... What kind of honey would a Russian queen help to produce? Stuff with a rather earthy flavor, I would guess.
@slowdecline48 so, the flavor of the honey that the bees produce actually isn't based on what kind of bee you have, but rather the flowers nearby. most is simply wildflower honey and varies by where you live, but if someone had a beehive near, say, an orchard of some sort, then you could get honey with fruit tones! Some kinds of bees do make more honey than others, and some bees are better at defending against diseases and hive-robbers. Some kinds of bee are very gentle, and others are more agressive. I'm pretty sure that carnolians are a rather gentle breed, and russian bees are more agressive. However, this agression may be a stereotype because I've heard mixed things. Also, it keeps them safe from hive-robbers like wasps, as they can defend themselves better. I also believe the're a fairly hardy breed too, less likely to have diseases and more likely to survive the winter. I gotta check though. As for carnolians, i think their honey production is pretty good, and they're considered a good beginner breed, so they're probably pretty gentle, which has it's pros and cons. I picked up the order form recently and russians are not available, so i will either be getting italian bees or carnolians (:
That is most informative. Color me impressed. (Seriously)
Good luck with the beekeeping...I hope you get plenty of good honey out of it. Were it not for Cups rules, I'd ask to barter for a jar of your honey after the harvest season. Most likely I would offer you a homemade emergency candle, or a few sketches.
@LonleyCheese thanks for the update. Sad though. Can you tell us more about bees and winter? Is there anything we can do to help them?
@MistyMagic There are a few important steps we as beekeepers can take to give them a chance, yes. It's important to make sure they're facing away from cold winds, and to put up a windbreak, usually made of a tarp. It's also very important to put a "mouseguard" over the opening to the hive, and it has to be metal. If you use plastic, the mice will still get in. Honestly, a beehive is an ideal place to overwinter for a mouse- it's warm, and there's food. So put up a mouseguard to keep them out (:
You gotta make sure that the bottom panel of the hive is returned, because sometimes it should be removed for hot weather or mites, just make sure to return it by winter.
Theoretically, you could combine two weaker hives to form a stronger hive.
Don't take too much honey from them during harvest season. (this depends on where you live- the harsher the climate, the more honey they need.)
But yeah, once you take the right steps, it's all up to the bees and the weather to see if the girls survive. All we can do is hope, and be there to support them come spring, because they'll need it.
@LonleyCheese I’m not a beekeeper. I recently read a book called Mad Honey where one of the main characters was a beekeeper! In the book the character spoke a lot about beekeeping.
@adventurousBranch3786 ooo interesting, what was the book about?
Fellas! today I went down to the farm store and picked up the order form for a new queen! I'm now debating if i want carnolians or italians, and if i wan to just get a queen, or if i want +packacage bees (3lbs) or a nucleus hive. exciting choices!! and to be made by the end of the month
@LonleyCheese can't wait to hear more. 
We ordered the bees! I ordered an italian nucleus hive (bees + a few frames of food and baby bees + an active queen) and I get to pick them up the first of may :)
@LonleyCheese Does that mean you are in Italy? or is that just a breed, and does it matter which breed in which country etc? But Yayyy good luck May Queen Bee! 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
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@MistyMagic no, i am not in italy lol. Yep! Italian is just the breed of bee they are. they're a pretty common breed, with good honey production and gentleness. Different breeds have different prominent desirable traits, such as their honey production, gentleness, disease resistance, overwintering, and swaming tendency that beekeepers will look at when deciding on which bee to keep. Beekeepers can also breed their queens specifically to higlight and combine traits, but this did accidentally make africanized bees (also known as killer bees) and that was and is kinda horrible so gotta be careful, haha
@LonleyCheese So how does that work? You get a "bee box", and then do you have to have flowers nearby?
@miraculousParadise2759 not neccesarily! you have to order the beehive (the box) and the bees seperately, but you put them together when you get them. You don't neccesarily have to have flowers nearby, because the girls can fly out quite far to find them if neccesary (that's why they are such good pollinators!) but if there is an extreme distance with no blooms then you ought to plant some, or feed your bees pollen and nectar substitute.
@LonleyCheese "Bee Box" sounds like something you buy to record your shows like a DVR, "put it on the hoppa", back when memory was limited, and people used cable. But that's cool though, girl power, flower power, amazing being so small that they contain the chemical energy to buzz for miles. Hey I hope that's a blast, avoid those stingers! Easy to get stung when we're socializing with the beezies. Easy breezy coverbee.