'>>2652775
>>2640881
They discuss beekeeping this these generals';

'>>2657289
Is this true?';

'>>2657231
Bumping for beees';

'>>2657231

What are other beekeeping anons keeping busy with during the winter season. The girls are battened down for the season, so it's pretty much sugar stores and fondant for the year and enjoying the honey harvests for me until spring and swarm season.';

'How do I make fake honey to sell?';

'>>2658205
Are you a Red Chinaman with a large manufacturing plant? If so, it's easy.';

'>>2657231
> makes thread
> asking detailed knowledge about bees
> not even a bee
> actually a bee slaver

Hope y'all get stung';

'> make dogshit thread
> zero information or discussion
> hurrrrrrrrr general';

'>>2657231
Bumpin for bees';

'>>2658513
>>2658648
>samefagging
>upset that it only links to a bump limited old thread full of discussion
>dood if you don’t have amazing links and wisdom in your bread I can complainz!
I got stung twice this, my first year with my new free swarm in my old bought used hive. Both times I was messing with their hive entrance with my hand and got stung on a finger. Good for ya';

'>>2658034
I left them to fend for themselves for the winter. They have plenty of honey to eat. I don't want no bitchass hives that can't survive a winter on their own. It's survival of the fittest in this yard.';

'>>2658205
curse you';

'>>2658781
Do you now wear gloves?';

'>>2658809
Did you at least insulate your hive? Or do you live somewhere warm?';

'>>2659560
No insulation. I live in PA.';

'>>2659607
It gets pretty cold in PA anon. Is this your first season? You might want to insulate the top at least.';

'I work for the largest bee keeping supplier in the US (if you know you know). Ask me anything.';

'>>2660409
Good margins?';

'>>2660374
No.';

'>>2660648
Wood products that you actually need, like hive bodies and frames are the bread and butter. That's what keeps the lights on.

Tons of money wasted because they probably can't get anyone competent in the office. For instance right now we have no warehouse space because they keep buying things we don't need. If they could cut the waste then this place would be unstoppable.';

'>>2660726
Good to know anon. Unironically, have management to get a 3rd party consultant to tell them what you know (move all needles inventory off the books pronto) so that it gets sorted sooner than later';

'>>2660409
MannLake?';

'>>2660726
>>2660974
>doing this kind of work for free

Dont be a sucker. Never contribute unless you are being compensated specifically and generously. You think those corporate cocksuckers are going to give a shit about you?';

'>>2657231
set fire to your non-native shit';

'>>2657231
Anyone here catch wild swarms? I have nearby beehives And am hoping to get a loose swarm';

'I found some of my bees having seizures. I believe this is because of a nearby farmer spraying what was likely a pesticide on his crops.

I will have my revenge.';

'>>2661133
>>2661133
I caught a wild swarm with my beehive the second year it put it up. It was a used beehive with used frames and stuff though so it already smelled like bees. If you have new equipment google about it to find out when they typically swarm in your area and put cotton balls soaked in lemongrass oil in it, it helps attract them supposedly, but the smell of bees and honey and stuff is the best attractant';

'>>2661137
This is a common tale';

'found this one outside my house. should i get worried? they are black. i thought they were wasps but im not sure. their legs have those calves for polen so i think those are bees. can i harvest them in a beehive for honey? or that only applies to honeybees.';

'>>2661608
another one';

'>>2661608
>>2661609
wasps. kill.';

'>>2661608
Looks like wasps';

'>>2657231
This is livin';

'>>2661794
Looks tasty';

'>>2661794
Neat';

'>>2661133

Super easy if you know how anon, if your looking for swarms spring is gonna be your ideal time, put it out of social media if people see a swarm to call you etc. Most people are genuinely shitscared of swarms, so will be happy to have you come and take free bees.

>>2661608
They're a type of wasp anon, you want to remove them and put them in a woods somewhere. They're beneficial polinators, but also don't want them close to your bee set up.';

'>>2661794
Can you eat beeswax? I know it probably doesn't taste that good but I'm curious if it's bad for you';

'>>2661608
>should i get worried? they are black
Yes';

'>>2662818
You eat the honey then spit the wax out';

'I need to winterize my surviving hive soon.
I'll try to be more attentive next year. And continue guerilla garden more clover. I might do some over the winter now that I'm thinking about it
>>2662818
You can chew it like gum, taffy, fat off a steak texture. But sweet what with the honey and all';

'>>2661794
Comb';

'>>2660374
Insulation is overrated unless you're really far north. Ventilation is what's really important. Moisture kills more hives than cold.';

'>>2663148
Not wrong';

'>>2661609
>>2661608
Wasps anon';

'>>2662818

Yes anon, a delicacy is to have toast with honey comb on it, the wax gets warm and melty. Perfectly fine to eat.

I prefer to keep my wax and use it as an addition to any beard creams I come up with, just a little adds nicely for keeping hair in place.

Likewise I have a really good recipe for honey cream from the 1900's that shit on your breakfast toast vastly outclasses anything you could get in terms of modern spreadables.';

'>>2664283
NTA but thank you';

'>>2658205
DIAF';

'Gonna have my family get me a bunch of beekeeping stuff for Christmas. What's the best beesuit?';

'>>2666811
Ask the store anon';

'>>2664283
>beard creams';

'>>2667036
You just know';

'>>2661608
Bad day friend';

'we had about 2 months of 200mm/day rain every day so only the bravest little ones adventured outside. Been giving them suplementary feeding and now they started making honey pots again.';

'>>2669394
last year this whole top section was filled with honey and pollen baskets. This weather sucks because now is when most trees are flowering.';

'>>2669397
>>2669394
Cute';

'Is Hoover Hive stuff good?';

'>>2670656
they can't sting and they store their honey in these big vats.';

'>>2670814
What are they called?';

'>>2671187
Poobees';

'>>2671245
What are those?';

'>>2671187
Stingless bees. I have 3 species
>Melipona quadrifasciata (Mandaçaia) >>2669397 >>2670814
>plebeya droryana (Abelha mirim, probably one of the smallest social bees around) >>2669394
And Tetragonisca angustula (Jatai bee) in this pic.

>>2671245
Some of them do use a mix of cow dung and clay to cover holes in their hives, mine just use a shitton of resin. There are also Meat eating bees that do not produce honey and scavange for dead animals.';

'>>2671347
The bees that stay flying around the entrance tube are of a special Soldier caste, they came as a response in the arms race they are locked in with Lestrimelitta spp. (they coevolved) which raids their hives.';

'>>2671348
>>2671347
What country are you from anon? LATAM?';

'>>2672104
Yes, Brazil unfortunately. I live in an apartment so I can only have stingless bees, but I hope to purchase a farm to become a beekeeper when I get a new job.';

'>>2672157
Thanks for sharing. Bees in Brazil sounds wild. I am praying for you and your bee dreams.';

'>>2672157
Try not to kill yourself like other brazil anons';

'>>2672941
>>2672933
I was working on monitoring them with a camera but life got in the way, I hope to restart the project when possible';

'>>2672933
thanks browski I hope I do not kms';

'>>2658205
Most Jewish post I've ever seen on /out/';

'>>2673476
...seems way more chinese to me.';

'I've read that log hives are the best for colony longevity, due to the natural habitat simulation and providing habitat for pseudoscorpions.
Question is how the fuck do I source these big ass logs for them?';

'>>2674064
Just make a Warré hive. It combines positive characteristics of a hollow log with good access for the beekeeper (and less cost and work than commercial designs).
A log hive is only really good if you want to set it up and leave the bees do their thing. You cant really do inspections and to get to the honey, you've got to destroy a lot of comb,probably with some brood. So no, or very limited harvest and if they have a problem, the colony will probably die.
For sourcing a log, make contact with a forester, treeclimber or land owner. Ask them to set aside a nice thick log or branch for you. Then use a chainsaw to cut it to size and hollow it out. Dont cut of your legs. Or you know, just get some boards and build a Warré.';

'>>2657231
Bump';

'What the cheapest option to wrap a hive? I have one box thats survived my neglect but Im going to the hardware store today . Just get an old blanket and some plastic perhaps?';

'>>2674064
>>2674095
Has anyone cut a square chamber into a log and just shoved frames into that cavity?';

'Nice find today';

'>>2674234';

'>>2674235
Brood was slimed out and couldn’t find the queen unfortunately, but got some cracking wild honey';

'>>2673005
What are you using as your platform for this tracker, ESP32 or similar? I was planning to equip some of my hives with arduino sensor loggers and maybe a camera next season for learning purposes, and to test out if it would be possible to use it for swarming detection .
God bless you and your bees anon.';

'>>2674236
>>2674235
>>2674234
This is awesome';

'>>2674297
old laptop running custom opencv code.
I read a research paper some time ago that used a little entrance, kinda like a subway turnstile, with LED emitter/receiver pairs. I was going to do that but these each species has a characteristic entry shape (that serves social and defence purposes), so I opted for cameras (most species also keep a garrison on the entrance). If you have european bee hives that can work really well. Imagine a little box which channels leading in/out of the hive. On each channel you put an Led on the top and a receiver on the bottom, and count how many hits you get. Super easy to connect to an arduino.
>>2674064
yeah they are good, but hard to extract honey/wax. I have a native hive which is literally a log sawed off in three sections. Extraction is not a problem because I do not use their honey.';

'>>2657231
Hello /hive/rs (or whatever you call yourselves) I'm seeing a lot of bees in my garden recently and I want to cuck whoever is cucking me out of my pollen. How do I get the bees to move their hive to my place? I have no experience with beekeeping so how do I get started?';

'>>2676402
Go on YouTube and look up swarm capture';

'>fewer bees and insects in general each year
>fireflies endangered
>soon bees will be extinct';

'any general tips for how to attract and keep bees in my garden? i'm an amateur gardener and i'd like to have some around since they're so useful';

'>>2676749
Plant flowers. Get a birdbath. Plant more flowers after the hat.
Look up when beekeepers say there's a pollen derth and find flowers that will be on bloom at that time.
Leave leafs on the ground in some spot';

'>>2676476
I live in Florida, I do not notice a lower amount of skeeters. It's almost worth destroying the ecosystem if it means no skeeters';

'>>2676476
> he posts doomerism in the thread dedicated to enslaving and breeding bees

Chin up friend, bee positive';

'Going to a big apiary to get my first colonies tomorrow. Getting them for free in exchange for helping to split a bunch of hives. I’ll post some pics';

'>>2677339
Very cool anon, good luck. If you haven't yet, check local laws. Some states require bee licenses.';

'>>2677340
Thanks bro. Yeah I got registered as a recreational bee keeper';

'>>2676476
I did an optional class on environmental law this last semester and we're really fucked
Imagine one topic, whichever one you like best. Biodiversity? Glaciers? Forests? Dangerous residues? Rivers and lakes? Yeah we're irreversibly fucked in all of 'em
I'm not American but it still applies to pretty much everywhere in the world';

'>>2677339
Made it. 5 hour drive into the outback lol. Hives from a deceased estate. Will post more later';

'>>2677698
>>2677339
Outstanding';

'>>2677698
Back at crack of dawn to close up our freshly split hives';

'>>2678101
Boxes were fully ravaged by fire when the old beekeeper accidentally started a fire with his smoker that destroyed 3 houses in the area';

'>>2678102
But the colonies were thriving them, full of holes and hadn’t been checked in ages';

'>>2678103
The girls were happy to get some fresh air after a long hot drive. No overheated bees fortunately. Boxes are made out of douglas fir and are a good 4 or five inches thick so nicely insulated. Can’t wait for some honey';

'I've been reading about owning bees, which is something I really want to do when I get a house.
One thing that has me worried is: how do you control swarming?
I understand you can add more racks for the bees to prevent it temporarily since swarming happens when the density reaches a point, but what's the long term plan if I only want to keep a couple of hives and no more? Let them create another nest naturally? Force them into another?';

'Just bought local "natural 100% beewax" (cant have bees yet). How do I know if its legit and not laced with candle wax or something like that.';

'>>2678858
Different melting temps. Buy a candy thermometer and a try it out.';

'>>2678182
Monitor them Regularly adjust. Or kill extra queens of you see there little pods.';

'>>2662818
Mind your own beeswax anon. It's the bees' knees.';

'>>2678104
>>2678103
>>2678102
>>2678101
Neat';

'>>2678858
I’ve never seen natural beeswax that yellow';

'>>2679513
Maybe they ate yellow pollen?';

'>>2679882
That's not how this works';

'>>2657231
Thoughts on flowhive? Is it worth it to get a cheapie one from China? Where does one even get a colony to start off with?';

'>>2680376
I’ve heard they suck balls, but that could just be elitist bee keepers talking. Check YouTube';

'>>2680376
Frank the bee guy swears by them';

'>>2680712
????';

'>>2680989
The bee guy';

'Hive beetles are fucking up my new hive! What do?';

'>>2682541
Use the treatment ??';

'>>2677698
Nice anon';

'Is making your own beehives a worthwhile endeavor?';

'>>2684141
The tolerances for bee space are pretty narrow. Depends how handy ewe are.';

'>>2684141
Spiritually worthwhile? absolutely
monetary worthwhile? depends of the kind of bees you have, and the products you make. Ivve hear honey and beewax are not as profitable for the little man, so they make more money using them as polinators for crops.';

'>>2657611
Yes
but don't call me They... it weirds me the fuck out.';

'>>2684141
Depends';

'>>2657231
are beekeeper anons aware that women lust over them on the internet? I.E. "Beekeeping age"';

'reminder to every last one of you faggots that australian bees are 10000000 times better cause they don't fuck up environments, they cant sting and they make cool ass hives';

'>>2684607
This is weird';

'>>2684607
True?';

'>>2684607
I saw something in reference to this as well. Anecdotally, I have rotten luck with women but when I told a couple of girls I was gonna pick up beekeeping soon they perked up and we're super interested in me. Haven't really talked about it since but I thought it was worth noting.';

'>>2686256
Good luck anon';

'I could watch these guys for hours';

'>>2684608
I’m not paying 700 bucks for a native bee hive';

'>>2678903
>>2679513
Me again, thanks for the answers, I tested it and it was legit. the past week made a marigold/beewax/olive oil cream and it worked pretty good so far.';

'>>2687456
> Paying
> for a native hive
Just find and follow the equivalent of this video in your country (your bees are very similar to ours), and sonner than later you'll have free bees.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9vKrWkNG-E';

'>>2684607
>>2686256
> Men that can handle hundreds of dangerous females, take care of them and at the same time blow smoke in their faces to shut them up
The math adds up.';

'>>2687925
Real?';

'>>2687925
Fish swim in and cant get out';

'>>2689190
Free fish?';

'>>2687453
Nice bees';

'>>2687925
That’s a disgusting language, I’m not listening to that, and I’m not making a microplastic hive for my bees';

'Stay warm little guys.';

'>>2691191
what a sad existence, i recomend you to leave this site and enjoy life with your family and friends. anyway its just a trap, you are supposed to put the bees on a wood hive shortly after there is a queen there. you even have to cut the bottle in half.';

'>>2691344
Indeed';

'>>2687927
Kek';

'>>2657289
Dead threads';

'>>2676476
Monarchs are endangered and bumble bees are becoming extinct in more US states.
It hurts so much :(
>>2677542
What’s really ducked is that even if humanity were to collectively stop releasing carbon and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, heating will still continue due the the feedback loops from glaciers and permafrost melting.
>>2657231
Just got done painting the insides of traps with beeswax. Family member and I are still new to beekeeping but we got 5 boxes right now with 3 doing really well. We have a whole bunch of wood boxes and 3-4 different types of poly boxes to test out. Bunch of queens are in the way and hopefully by this time next year we will have around 20 boxes of bees. We’re going to plant clover, buckwheat, various wildflowers, and sunflowers for da bees.
Garage and barn is packed brim with bee boxes, frames, nucs, supers, and other related thingys. Next year we will harvest honey, not sure how we are going to approach everything regarding that but I’m excited regardless.
If only there was a way to raise bumble bees!
Fuck mites
Fuck beetles
Fuck mice
Fuck euro hornets
Fuck bald faced hornets
Yellow jackets fuck off
And fuck whatever is killing off all the insects';

'>>2684546
I don't even know what's real anymore
Beyond based';

'>>2658513
>bee slaver
Lol, I wish. 100 years later Bee NFL, Bee NBA, Bee minority loan program, Bee priority in hiring, bee priority for immigration.

Fucking total bee dominance thanks to slavery. >You're welcome.';

'>>2678102
stop showing off you upside down aussie! cunts are so cocky about being upside down! without jest, cool adventure.';

'>>2695389
You sound like a great steward of nature

Keep it up';

'>>2666811
Heavy weight Tyvek suit, duck tape, Boonie cap with screen door mesh, more duck tape. Dont forget smoke box and bees are solar powered. No sun no move no sting.... Ohh and someone to tape you up and release you from your shit suit.';

'>>2695389
The weak hive is kill. Probably have been dead for a long time. All the hives have been insulated and strapped for winter conditions. Getting the Queen and starting a new hive so late in the season was a a crap shoot but we learned from the experience and we will keep the boards of honey for whatever and all the built up honeycombs will be put into the swarm boxes.
The other weak hive is doing good thankfully. They’re eating the pollen and protein patties and only started to eat from their candy board.
One hive is so full of bees they have ate half of their candy board. We guess they are big enough to get two nucs from it.
Seeds are coming soon. Will be planting barley in a ways it will be blooming during a time when pollen/nectar levels are at their lowest in the summer so all the bees can have a steady supply of food.
Also we built a smaller sized box that can hold six frames out of general polystyrene from a hardware store, not as dense as the kind used to make polystyrene hives but $30 of this stuff from a local hardware store can make multiple examples for the cost of a simple polystyrene sized box. Just make sure everything measured good.';

'People who kill carpenter bees are jerks.';

'Anyone here sell honey, wax, comb, or bees themselves?';

'>>2696569
True

>>2697552
Some anons who drop in here. Unironically, you'd find immense value using an AI to mine data from Reddit, premies, YouTube comments';

'>>2664283
I want those recipes, anon.';

'>>2666811
at the Apiary i worked at we just used a veil and fishermans jacket if it was hot you want to wear less bees hate the smell of swaet and wash your clothes in scented lavender';

'No one told me about all the poop on a warm winters day?';

'I got a free hive today';

'>>2698819
How'd you get it, anon? Was the previous owner just tired of maintaining it?';

'>>2682541
If you are using a Langstroth you can put square strips of Swiffer in the corners of the hive pinned in place between the supers and the small hive beetles will get stuck in it when bees chase them into the corners (I believe it has to be rough side up not sure though). You can also buy cheap plastic traps online that you fill with oil.';

'>>2698917
It was being used in government testing and was gonna get destroyed';

'>>2663012
Universal law';

'>>2657231
Bump for bees';

'>>2658034
Just leave them with honey they can eat and don't be greedy. Feeding sugar syrup to bees will make the honey less pure because they WILL store it away in the same place they keep the honey.

>>2658205
By feeding your bees sugar syrup like >>2658034 does. It will result in the bees storing that syrup with the honey and diluting it. That's how big honey corporations make their honey so cheaply, by feeding the bees with HFCS that mostly ends up in the honey. The best part is that since the HFCS is technically bee food and honey is considered a single ingredient they're under no legal obligation to disclose that there's a high amount of HFCS in the honey, so they sell their pale HFCS-diluted honey in stores while people are none the wiser. This is just another reason it's so important to know where you're getting food from, who's making it, and how.';

'>>2699965
Not anon
The trick is to not feed sugar/syrup when you have your supers on your hives.
Candy boards/sugar squares are fine for winter. Heck, some of our hives haven’t even touched their candy boards, preferring to consume their honey reserves first, while others have been going at them.';

'>>2699965
what is the best way to identify honey that's made this way, is it just a lighter color? I buy local honey and it's the color of molasses.';

'>>2661137
salt his earth anon.';

'>>2699906
Based';

'>>2700625
You generally can't tell. Honey is too variable depending on nectar source. Theres some seals and trademarks and stuff like that, some are worthless, some are actually quite strict and enforced, so needs some research what to trust.
The best way is to know where the honey came from and how it was produced and knowing the beekeeper. You know the beekeeper best, if it is yourself.';

'Got a Better Bee polystyrene hive and a standard white painted 10 frame Langstroth hive ready for my backyard. I think I will get an additional hive too.
We have made plenty of swarm traps. Lots of Nuc sized traps that will put into trees and 8 traps using standard deep well boxes that are reinforced with wood on the sides and a somewhat insulated roof made of plywood on the top. These will be set upon tall flat surfaces like deer stands. Total amount of frames is ~120 IIRC for the traps we’ve made. Even if we only jump to ~20-30 hives by this time next year we will still have to put in much more time, money, and effort into building/assembling more boxes, frames, nucs, supers, winter insulation, and more.
Exited for it all. Maybe I such quit Americorps and become a full time keeper with a growing apiary :DDDDDD
Went to the local bee keeper association meeting. Of course I am the youngest guy there, plenty of boomers that have been doing this for years, newbies that are getting into bee keeping, some Amish/mennonites that have been beekeeping all their lives but know little aside from what they’ve been told by prior generations, and thankfully 1 guy who lives close by who is extremely knowledgeable and motivated. This guy spends half the meeting give Q&A to everyone and enjoys. He’s got only a bout 2 dozen hives but he stacks them talk (with a method name I can’t recall) and gets lots of honey from them. Too bad he’s stuck with a hand crank extractor that only takes about 4 frames at a time LOL, meanwhile me, my uncle, and another guy are wondering if a good chuck of change should be dropped on commercial sized honey extraction equipment. It’s amazing how some people who’ve been beekeeping for years have somewhat limited knowledge.

Also at work today, I spent a couple hours going through my state agency’s EBSCO portal and send myself 50 links of peer reviewed studies and some books regarding bee keeping, mites, disease, and whatnot.

Fugg yeah';

'>>2701231
unfortunately I can not keep bees where I live.';

'Me and this drone got a lot in common';

'>>2702172
You'll never get to learn about the birds and the bees if you've got these on show when you bring a real female home. Pussy repellant in plastic form.';

'>>2702222
Nice quads, I will never bring a female home in my current condition. The figgies make good workout fuel sometimes';

'>>2702172
Bruh';

'>>2700628
Illegal';

'I fucking love this board so much :>
thank you guys
I'm living pretty much in the city right now (albeit near the edge) but the posts here and my memories of times spent out hiking and in far-from-city nature make me so so happy and hopeful';

'I found some bees harvesting woolly blue curl awhile back and they all had this indigo pollen collected on their legs.';

'>>2657231
What do you think about Flow Hives?';

'mann lake anon here. I hope you bought your equipment already, they just put us on 12 hour schedule so the factory is running 24/7 now and they still can't hire enough people to fill the open roles. We finished the last big commercial order right when the truck showed up Friday. The weekend crew needs to finish the next one for Monday morning. the company was on the verge of bankruptcy a few years ago and they still can't seem to turn it around.';

'>>2705068
Awesome.
>>2705095
Haven’t seen any up close but they seem best for a backyard type hive that you can collect honey from rather than a hobbyists or cottage/commercial operation. There are cheaper knock-offs on eBay invade you want to experiment with the type of hive before jumping in on hundreds and hundreds of bucks for a single Flow branded hive.
I might get one in the future as I wish to expand to various types of hives for fun and to compare/contrast.
>>2705132
Any information about the company and products you’re willing to divulge?
What’s it like there? How would you rate the products? What products do you all build there?';

'Is it feasible to do totally plastic-free beekeeping and honey harvesting? Glass, metal, and wood implements only, not even plastic tubing or anything?';

'First harvest boys. What a journey';

'>>2705918
A small one, big one to come shortly';

'>>2705919';

'>>2657231
Bees are based';

'>>2705920
>>2705919
>>2705918
Good on you anon.
Is this recent?';

'I've been considering this but I can't make the cost work out. Although to be fair I'm not looking to profit, I just don't want to sink a lot of money into another hobby.

If I were to start, flow through or langstroth style? I really don't care about the intricacies and I just want pollinators more than I do honey, but honey would be an okay side benefit.

How much am I looking at for a hive box with everything needed plus a starter nuc?

What breed of bees is best? I live in NC, zone 7b.

I have about 40 fruit trees, several thousand sqft of garden space, my neighbor has a larger garden, and my yard abuts a field that we alternate tobacco / onions / wheat so there are always flowers growing in the waterways and field.

Can this be a "passive" thing? Like I really just don't care a lot about the beekeeping "hobby", I would just like the benefits of having a few hives for my plants. How much attention would 2 or 3 hives really need, absent a predator tearing the boxes open?';

'>>2707254
What's your diy skills? Langston hi es are literally just 4 boards and some inserts. Buy the foundations and do the rest yourself and it'll be as cheap as your can scavenger together 3ish foot boards.
As far as passive. You can check them a few times a year. Any hive about to split and can put into the ones that have died or ran off.
You'll have to do a lot more hives to account for losses and disease pressure.
Or you could just rent out the space to a local beekeeper.';

'Even though it's naturally more quiet over winter, his thread is a bit sad, I wish we had more beekeepers here. It's a based hobby and good way to make friends.';

'>>2707254
Read into Warré hives. You can easily DIY one with $20-30 of lumber and you dont even need to buy frames or wax foundations. Theres a 100 year old book by Warré "Beekeeping for all", that is obviously a bit outdated, but still very interesting. You'll find plenty of newer material about the Warré hive on the internet.
Other than that, you pretty much only need a smoker, veil and a hive tool. For bees, get in contact with local beekeepers near you. You should be able to start for under $200 easily.
It can be a very passive thing and you maybe open the hive 3 or 4 times a year and let them bee the rest of the time. You only check up if they are healthy, have mites or other problems, have enough food for the winter and take some honey if you want and there is surplus.';

'>>2707436
P.S. you dont even really need a smoker. I mostly just spray them down with a little water from a handheld spraybottle with some added propolis. Makes them settle down and clean themselves up and they dont waste energy from going through an emergency response from the smoke. The smoker is really only needed if you've got very aggressive bees or want to do some work that will upset them a lot. So you can safe on that item if you want.
For bees, you can also set up some bee traps in spring. If there is any bees around you, there is a good chance you can get a swarm to move in on their own. You wont know the genetics, but its free bees. Its also possible a beekeeper will give you a swarm for cheap in the same time.
If that works out, you probably spend less than $100.';

'>>2707441
I'd rather miss my veil suit than my smoker, water I only use for swarms. In my experience they don't really fuck off the edges with water, which makes things a lot more messy, plus where I'm from picrel is the prevalent smoker type, so I still have both hands free.';

'>>2707469
Fair. I use topbar hives, so I dont stack boxes with bees all over the edges. Just handle a frame at a time and I can easily nudge any bees out of the way when I put one back. So thats a bit of a different situation. I pretty much stopped using smoke unless they get very agitated.';

'>>2707495
>topbar hives
these look interesting. Are you using them exclusively? How would you rate them against other types?
I might give one a shot, always stacking stuff like a retard gets annoying and the honey boxes are heavy, but I wouldn't like to give up the flexibility of my current system.
Also, do any of you guys make a profit or at least even out the expenses of your beekeeping?';

'>>2707507
I like them a lot. When you open up a normal hive, you basically expose the whole colony in one go. With the top bar hive, you take out a frame at the edge and there is only that frame out of place. That means most of the bees have no idea whats going on and it stays a lot calmer. Means for me no smoke most of the time and often no veil either. It's also easy to quickly check in on a certain part of the hive with little hassle and yes, you never lift more than a single frame, which is nice. I also don't have to prepare and store full frames with foundations. For harvesting honey, its crushing the comb and letting it strain through a nutmilk bag. That means you can't give back the empty comb and get more honey quickly. That reduces the yield/hive, but balances out with fewer expenses. So if you want to maximize honey yield, you go with langstroht, but if you want to save on costs and work, top bar hives are really nice.
They are my only hives atm, but I want to build some Warrés soon. I like how you stack the new boxes on the bottom and they naturally build their comb down and fill the top with honey. Seems like it more closely resembles their natural building patterns. You got to stack boxed with that system though.
I'm not really keeping track of the finances, but it covers the costs. Not really serious about high yields and selling though.';

'>>2707436
Not him but thanks';

'>>2707249
Thanks yeah last week. Gonna harvest a big super this week if it’s all capped';

'Brothers. It was a glorious day.
We had our honey extracting equipment picked up and they were placed into storage along with all the swarm traps and excess hives.

But before that we were able to locate and paint two queens after searching for far too long. These two hives were worse for wear compared to the two other surviving hives from this winter, with one hive being only a single box. Despite mother nature’s attempts, these hives are starting to flourish and queens are reproducing at rapid rates already. One of the queens was laying in fresh comb on an blank frame. The bees haven’t even completed forming the comb before Queen started to lay in them lol.
Drones were already laid and are on the verge of hatching.
Also the bees have been making vibrant collages of nectar and pollen, all the foragers coming back are wasting bright assortments of amber, yellow, orange, and everything in between.
Also got myself a book on making stuff with beeswax.';

'>>2708607
That sounds so based. Isn't one box of bees plenty for winter? We have mostly carnica bees here and it's absolutely ridiculous how small their winter groups get. It looks pathetic, as if they're on death's door, but they're always powering through. I've overwintered some in mini nucs before lol.';

'Just got raped opening the lid on one of my hives without a suit lmao. Wanted to show my friend my bees and they had drawn comb on the lid so I broke it when I cracked it open. Bee got stuck in my ear, luckily got it out five minutes later and it hadn’t stung my damn ear canal. 15 stings all over my head and arms. Lesson learned, sorry bees';

'>>2708629
Did you shriek like a little girl';

'>>2708650
No. The stings don’t really hurt and screaming isn’t gonna help. The ear rape was unpleasant though. My lip is swelling up';

'>>2708656
Have they been this aggressive before? I would nip that queen dude, this is unacceptable. And don't you use some kind of tarp under the lid?';

'>>2708708
I haven’t been beekeeping that long but no never when I’ve just cracked the lid. Breaking the comb connected from the lid to the frames was what did me in. Duly noted, I’ll put some ply between the super and the lid. I don’t mind if they’re a bit fiery, they’ve got varroa and beetles to fight off so it’s good for that. But I’m fine sitting next to the hives usually no problem. Just got a bit complacent I suppose';

'>>2708629
kek
What did your friend think about your bees?';

'>>2708799
He thought I was retarded. He did fish the bee out of my ear with some tweezers though, so I gave him some honey';

'>>2708656
I'm just going to imagine you did shriek repeatedly and at a hilarious pitch';

'>>2708866
It’s your life';

'Who here /nativebee/?
>Several times more effective at pollination
>Never have to worry about them swarming away
>Only downside is no honey';

'>>2709109
Your setup and things like carpenter bees are cool but the honey slavery can't be beat';

'>>2709242
This exactly. You don't really "keep" wild bees, they're a neat accessoire at best because you can't work with them.';

'I have some frames that are capped that I never was able to harvest, they're somewhat crystalized but liqud enough that I think I can extract them, would I be able to put them in an oven at like 120 to "soften em up" a bit?';

'I'd like to take a minute and thank these fuzzy little fuckers.

Before (3/2)';

'>>2709386

2 weeks later, excellent if not excessive fruit set on 3 year old plums.';

'>>2709387
>>2709386
Based';

'This fucker?
A female (Queen) Rostrote Mauerbiene.
Started showing up in my garden place about 10 days ago.
There was about 6 days of orgies where they where fucking on the table right in front of me.
Now the males are mostly gone and it's just fat queens closely inspecting all the holes, made for screws, in my outdoors furniture.
Sorry, mediocre English, situated in central Europe.';

'>>2710168
Obacht: Nur female, nicht queen - weil sie nicht staatenbildend sind. Cool, dass du so viele hast, das sind wirklich legendäre Bestäuber.';

'The sweetness this harvest is knocking my socks off';

'>>2710479
Thanks for the info!
Status is that I have at least four females hanging out. Three around the table and its holes, one in the rolled up "Rollo" for the garden place.
Not exactly sure what they do down there, nothing much to see yet. But it's also at the bottom of the table, so my main source of information is my phone camera in selfie mode.
One of the visited holes is like 20cm from where my leg usually is. No problem though, I'm very bee friendly. And apparently not interesting at all, they almost never land on me and go straight for their holes.
It's really hard to take pictures, because they're either flying or under the table. Pic related is from last year, a female I assume. The males have a white spot front on their head.';

'Opened some hives to mark queens and check status of brood.
Turns out both were already marked, one of which has a yellow dot. Rest are pajeet-like with red dots.
Drones are in full swing and there is capped drones in every nook and cranny.
Also got myself a wax dipped soon boxes to see how they will compare to a typical white painted box and a polystyrene box but I need to go back to the store to exchange the bottom board with one of the angles/elevated bottom boards with the bottom screen.
Also saw a couple potential Queen cells in the making but they could just be drone cells since the hive still has some blank grams to build more comb on.';

'>>2657231
I just got my first house and I'm really excited to start working towards bees in the backyard. My city requires you take a course and get some bee mentors. My wife and I have a couple of older friends lined up as our mentors. I'm focus on starting the garden this year, but my preliminary bee research is getting me really excited, so hopefully I can get going next year.';

'>>2712469
Congrats on the house, Anon. Bees are just an absolute delight to work with. Cute, funny, hardworking and smart. Truly the thinking man's animal.
I like rearing queens even more than honey. And just in case: don't fall for the flowhive meme, I haven't tried it myself, but I don't hear good things about them.';

'>>2712628
Thanks! I feel a little guilty about wanting honeybees rather than something native, but I'd really like to be able to gather some honey and beeswax. And yeah as far as as flowhives go, I'm inherently skeptical of anything that looks like it's promising to take away a bunch of the work. Would you recommend warre hives?';

'>>2712692
Yes, it's awkward when people think we are "saving the bees"...
Warré are okay but if I were to start again, I'd just copy my mentor's system the first few seasons. They have an entirely different work strategy, I think it's only a good idea if you find a guy who uses them.';

'>>2710168
Amusing';

'>>2712692
If your concerned about native pollinators, why not include some native bee houses on your property and actively grow a wildflower garden? I have a few beehouses on my property and have never had issues with my bees :)';

'>>2713043
Good idea, I wanted to grow more native plants in place of empty grass anyways.';

'gonna be working on the space I'm gonna set up my hive today bros. Got some bees ordered from a local place and will have them sometime next month. First hive, pretty excited';

'It's feeding time. I helped my dad setup feeders in each hive (there are 50 of them). He clipped 3 queens (all of them were older than 2 years old there was this one is from 2019 which is equal to 500years in human scale) and there are 2 more hives to be clipped in the upcoming days. The hive that their queen retired have enough daily eggs to prepare queen candidates that's what we hope at least. Overall turnaround of this season was good there are maybe 4-5 weak hives that are concerning but we'll see. Up until mid may hives will be fed twice a week.';

'>>2713861
good luck buddy, learn to do your mite checks and make sure you have all your equipment ready.

I'm about to get my bees out of wintermode and take off their cozies. we are still getting snow where my bees are at.';

'>>2713861
also consider getting another one if you can afford it. When you're first learning its really helpful to have two hives to compare to each other or to borrow resources *if* the doner is strong enough.';

'>>2713861
Godspeed anon

>>2713994
This is remarkable

>>2714124
Good advice?';

'Midwest anons, depending on your hive setups and how many you have, it would be best to not only weight your hives down with rocks or bricks but to also strap them down. We have permanent fixed stands they can all be strapped down in times of very windy weather in addition bricks and rocks.
Don’t assume your hives will be fine, even if you’re insured or have your hives registered with the USDA’s bee keeping program.';

'>>2714123
>>2714124
thanks anon! Just gonna start with one but I'm not opposed to getting another hive pretty quickly. I've got a question though, since bees sleep(very cute) would it be bad that there would be artificial uplighting on a nearby tree shining on the hive at night right? id assume so and everything I've read points to this being the case. I've got no issues removing the light but I was curious what you guys think on the matter';

'>>2715132
Wind sucks';

'>>2715318
Bees navigate via the sun so it might be disruptive to them depending on the light and how intense it is. You wont interrupt their rest since the hive is enclosed but its more about them thinking its daytime. Bees are pretty smart though so if its like a porch lamp you'll probably be okay. It might be less disruptive if you ensure the entrance is facing away from the light and in shadow.';

'>>2657231
How to get started?';

'>>2715805
I started just by watching a ton of youtube videos on beekeeping. if you can find a mentor that would be better but theres a lot of avenues

beekeeping classes, beekeeping books (The beekepers bible), youtube. There really is a lot of resources out there. Check your state laws if they have any requirements. Beekeeping isnt really that technical and you learn a lot just by handling them.';

'>>2715805
Start by keeping two hives no more no less. Add up as you gain knowledge and experience. Read a book about honeybee biology & colonial workflow.';

'>>2715805
Get bees';

'Novice beekeeper here, I was going through one of my three hives that I had noticed had less activity at the entrance. It has one super, which was nearly full of honey, and the brood box was also mostly full of honey, couldn’t see any brood. I noticed one emergency queen cell and couldn’t find the queen (not sure how old she would be because I got the hive off someone else who didn’t know). The hive has pretty strong numbers. Should I buy a new queen for the hive or let them lay a new one?';

'>>2718001
If there is no brood at all, the queen is probably gone for a while already the the queen cell might not have a larvae inside. Easiest solution would be to give them a frame with fresh eggs from on of your other hives and they'll rear a new queen from that.
You can of cause just buy a queen if you prefer spending money. Advantage would be that you'd get new brood faster.';

'>>2718009
Oh that’s a good idea, I definitely don’t have a lot of money to spare at the moment. Hopefully a brood frame works, there’s plenty of big healthy bees in there for now. Should I just check back in on the hive weekly after adding a frame of brood to check for a capped queen cell?';

'>>2718034
If the hive is strong, they'll do it. Giving them a nice brood frame also gives them some new workers in the time frame they don't have their own hatching. Yes to keeping and eye on it. You want to be sure the new queen mated successfully and starts laying eggs. Once you see open queen cells and a few days later new eggs, everything's fine, even if you dont find the queen.
You could even use the opportunity to get a few extra queens/colonies. They'll make a couple of queen cells. If you leave them, the first one hatching will kill the others. If you put a few frames with food and workers in a new box and add a queen cell, you get a new colony with a young queen.';

'Anyone have experience with horizontal hives? Every colony I’ve put in one gets angry af.';

'>>2718134
Thankyou for your advice';

'>>2718216
np, let us know how it works out.
>>2718151
what kind? what are the dimensions?';

'When you split do you have them hatch their own queen or buy one? I'm doing my first split soon and I'm leaning toward hatching';

'>>2718326
You can do either. Having them hatch their own is generally fine if you're okay with the 2-3 week gap. Just make sure you're on top of it so they don't go worker laying.

Buying a queen isn't too expensive and you generally get better control on decent genetics rather than rolling the dice. I buy queens because it's easier and in a worst case they'll make their own.';

'>>2718326
I buy because the area is full of subhuman beekepers and their aggressive bees. I want to work without protection so I need to have at least some knownledge on the queen.';

'>>2718237
Got a good frame in there, about 60% brood, plenty of eggs. Hopefully it works';

'>>2718694
you'll know pretty quickly if it takes. You might want to borrow another frame of brood from your donor hive in a week or so just to make sure the brood pheremones are present';

'>>2718979
I left my sage on, good luck with your split';

'>>2661133
I caught a swarm 10 days ago with a hive i bought on Amazon.';

'>>2719051
Here they are moving in.';

'>>2719083
Cute';

'>>2719083
make sure to keep them in quarantine for a while to make sure they're not carrying afb or any other nasties, congrats on the free hive';

'>>2719095
>>2719113
Thanks! It’s my first time doing this so I’m gonna baby it.';

'picking up my nuc tomorrow.
Bump!';

'>>2719215
im still waiting on a call from the people I ordered a nuc from in town. Should be sometime this month, very jealous that you are getting yours though anon!';

'>>2719215
Godspeed';

'>>2719215
Any luck?';

'>>2657289
Dead?';

'>>2703397
>illegal';

'So what's the matter with flow hives?';

'>>2722961
You will not get nearly as much honey as you should. Shit design for the meme keeper.';

'>>2723114
Well it's either a flow hives or warre hive for what I've been looking at.';

'Hi /hive/. What have you done to help the nesting of wild honey bee species' to improve their population numbers? Because, after all, it is the wild species that are generally threatened and NOT the prototypical honey bees, which are farmed.';

'>>2724165
Aren't euro wild bees at this point mostly interbred with human-cultivated ones? Euros have been cultivating bees for more than a millennia and shaping the local populations';

'>>2699965
As a rule of thumb, avoid the paler honeys if you're buying store-bought honey?';

'>>2724706
Forgiveness, didn't see >>2699965

OK, is it necessary to test (like bloodwork or something) to determine if you're allergic to bees before taking further steps into beekeeping? I've been stung before as a kid, and didn't bloat up and die, but are there any standardized bloodwork tests out there? If so what is the test called and can any testing center do it?

I'd just like to have some scientific backup here before I commit to a new career/hobby.

Also how do anons with domestic pets get along with bees? Like outdoor cats, are they smart enough to leave bees alone or would it be an issue?';

'>>2724708
If you keep bees my personal advice would be to get an epipen (or any generic) either way. If you didn't have extreme reactions to bees before, I wouldn't say an allergy test is completely necessary, you can of course still do one, it will be a simple prick test. Just go to your general physician, either he can do one himself or you will be referred to a specialist, it should be fairly straightforward.
Anyway, back to the epipen: Being a hobby keeper, you will be exposed to bee venom more than some random guy, but less than a pro. This puts you at the highest risk of developing such allergies, I know people who suddenly got them after years without issues. It's smart to have epinephrine nearby if that ever happens to you or your family. Anyone will have more or less pronounced local swelling in the beginning, but when your body breaks out in hives or your breathing changes, it's time to act.
I try to give myself at least one weekly sting throughout the year to lower the chances.
Oh, and most pets will either intuitively avoid the bees or learn their lesson once.';

'>>2723265
From what I heard of people using them, they "work", but are kind of an expensive gimmick. It's probably ok to get one for the memes, if you dont care about spending that money, but I really would not base an apiary around them.
>>2724634
Wild honey bees are practically non-existent in europe. It's just too easy to change their genetics in a wide scale by breeding and swapping out queens and yhe dense settlement and logging of old growth forest has greatly reduced their natural habitat in hollow trees. You can find an occasional feral swarm, but they will likely have genetics of domestic lines. These days, they also have a hard time surviving varoa without a beekeeper treating them.
There are still wild populations of honey bees in asia and africa.';

'>>2724718
Thanks bro. Epipen sounds like a great idea. Can you do a monthly sting instead?';

'>>2724816
What about a warre style of hive, it appeals to me to mess with the bees as little as possible and to let them live their own lives until harvest time.';

'>>2724828
Tbh I'm not exactly sure in the optimal amount, you don't really "need" to do it at all, but I work without gloves anyway so it usually happens by itself, at least during the season. Personally, I think it's a great idea, it also helped me to stay calm and never drop a frame when I get stung all of a sudden.';

'>>2724832
Yes, warre is absolutely recommendable. Probably one of the closest designs to them living in a hollow tree, while still being able to work on the bees. They can naturally build down and you remove the oldest comb with a harvest.
They will produce less than with a commercial langstroht setup, but that is greatly offset by reduced materials and work. In doubt just add hives until you are happy with workload/harvest.';

'undefined';

'>>2724837
I'm not really too concerned with huge harvest volume, i figure if I get 5 boxes I would have 2 or 3 per year for myself and my family and at about 25lbs per box of honey I would think that would be well more than what we need.';

'>>2724846
This is lovely anon';