Honey(bees) - 150 pounds in my near future

[uncle eddie]

I started beekeeping last spring - April - 3 hives, 2 nuc's and 1 swarm catch. I had no idea what I was supposed to do but I had friends with beehives and I had YouTube. In the last few days we hit a streak of 70 degree F weather.
All 3 beehives survived. Is it weird to be glad bugs lived through the winter? When I examined the hives, I had roughly 100 pounds of honey in each. Once the spring blooms start happening, I should be able to harvest about 1/2 of the honey - or about 150 pounds. Stoked!

I am going to try and catch 2 more swarms this spring and get my hive count up to 5. 5 hives don't take much more work than 3 - and the bee's do the heavy lifting.

I see a LOT of honey in my sauces going forward

 

[zwiller]

Jealous. I want to get into that. Time to learn how to make mead and melomel.

 

[chopsaw]

Now I know where all the bees went !
That's awesome . I worked with a guy that had hives . Really great honey .

Is it weird to be glad bugs lived through the winter?

No . Guy next door used to have some kind of fog sprayed . Killed every bee in the neighborhood . Stuff doesn't pollinate very good without bees .

I asked the guy spraying if he had an MSDS sheet .
Packed up and never came back . Now I have bees again .

 

[uncle eddie]

chopsaw - My hives are near the center of my 123 acre property. The nearest row-crop ag field is about 1.25 miles away. Mostly oak forest and fescue-pastures otherwise...so I am not losing too many bee's to insecticide (thank goodness - always a concern!)

My native Missouri prairie fields (7 acres) on my farm keep many of the bee's close to the hives - when we get enough rain. But the prairie plants are crazy drought resistant!

 

[BigW.]

Cool. How do you catch a swarm and move them? I assume you have to catch the queen and then the hive moves?

 

[millerbuilds]

That is awesome! Beekeeping is something that has always interested me, just wish I had the property to do it.

Thanks for sharing!
- Jason

 

[JckDanls 07]

I know Jerry pineywoods use to have hives as well... Don't know if he still does... But I imagine he could also give some pointers...

 

[jcam222]

I have a friend who got into it. He loves the hobby and sells quite a bit of raw honey too

 

[uncle eddie]

That is awesome! Beekeeping is something that has always interested me, just wish I had the property to do it.

Thanks for sharing!
- Jason

I know people with 2 hives in their back-yard and the neighbors have no idea...

 

[uncle eddie]

Cool. How do you catch a swarm and move them? I assume you have to catch the queen and then the hive moves?

I use a swarm trap. It is pretty straight forward. Scout bees find it...go back to the hive that is splitting. The queen, workers, drones and the balance of the hive-half split off and go to the swarm trap because it looks like an inviting home to them. My swarm trap pic - with swarm inside it.

 

[mike243]

Congrats, I noticed a neighbor on the next valley over had disassembled all of his hives 10-15, next time I see him there going to stop and introduce myself and see what happened, hopefully he just moved them but inquiring minds would like to know

 

[millerbuilds]

I know people with 2 hives in their back-yard and the neighbors have no idea...

Hmmm... HOA can't see my back yard...just saying..

- Jason

 

[Astralogics]

Man, I'd love to get into this hobby, but neighbors got some very curious kiddies running around. Your honey is gonna be great!

 

[uncle eddie]

Hmmm... HOA can't see my back yard...just saying..

- Jason

My bee's get "pissy" when I start a weed whip...just so you know. So I use battery-powered hedge clippers by them instead, which they totally ignore. I am also in a cab-tractor when using my cutter so no idea about mowers near the hives...best to ask others that do similar.

 

[ajbert]

I would love to have hives, but I don't like honey. Wish I did, though. Plus, living at 9100 feet elevation and in the forest, I don't think they'd survive the winter. For some reason wasps prosper here. I guess they hiberate under ground like the ants?

 

[uncle eddie]

Congrats, I noticed a neighbor on the next valley over had disassembled all of his hives 10-15, next time I see him there going to stop and introduce myself and see what happened, hopefully he just moved them but inquiring minds would like to know

Buying "retired" beekeeping equipment is way, Way, WAY cheaper than buying new. I just always ask, how much for everything? They usually say something in the neighborhood of about 15 to 25 cents on the dollar of new price.

 

[Florida Chris]

I've got this weird split rail fence set-up in my front yard. Instead of posts to hold the rails, there's brick boxes, maybe 2'x2'x3' tall.

About 4 yrs ago I noticed honey bees were occupying one of the boxes. Went on the local FB searching for someone to come gather them since I wanted to remove the fence but didn't want to kill the hive. All responses wanted to charge me a few hundo $$ to come out.

4 yrs later they're still there! Seems like the hive splits at least twice a year down here in FL. I now enjoy watching the same local FB group when I notice the decline in bee activity. Never fails that someone else is asking about bee removal for a swarm that "just showed up".

Strangely enough, it seems that the local hotties seem to get free bee removal services

They're mellow and I can stand right next to the hive without issue. They aren't even bothered by mowing. Figure I'll keep them around as long as I can.

 

[Fueling Around]

Awesome thread.
What do you have for uncapping and extracting equipment? I assume a hot knife and a gravity drip system.

I would love to have a hive back north in Minnesota, but I live in town and bees and chickens are on the no list but potentially hazardous dogs are allowed because there is a leash law?
Luckily native (yes honey bees are not native) bees keep my garden pollinated.

I use a swarm trap. It is pretty straight forward. Scout bees find it...go back to the hive that is splitting. The queen, workers, drones and the balance of the hive-half split off and go to the swarm trap because it looks like an inviting home to them. My swarm trap pic - with swarm inside it.
...

Swarming is common if you don't keep enough empty boxes on the hive stack.
Swarm boxes need a good amount of drawn out frames to make them attractive to the swarm.

 

[JLinza]

Very cool, you'll get some great honey from that I'm sure

 

[DRKsmoking]

That is fantastic, and yes. many cooks with Honey coming up for you.
Good luck with this adventure.

My Cousin started honey bees about 4 years ago. And is doing ok and having fun with it as he is retired now. Sells it in a few small markets and stores around his area.

David