Beekeeping
65Interesting Video From My Hive
Beekeeping in the United States
Beekeeping is a common hobby in the United States. In recent years, due to lots of publicity about such things as the Africanized Killer Bees migrating up from the south as well as the sudden disappearance of entire bee colonies (commonly referred to as colony collapse disorder) bees have gained much interest in the general public.
First Year
Most new beekeepers aren't too sure what to expect. Here are some things you can definitely plan on.
- You will get stung
- It doesn't hurt all that bad
- You will, unless things go horribly wrong, get some delicious honey from your new hive around the end of summer or beginning of fall.
- You will have loads of fun learning about an interesting and critically important insect.
During the first few months, you will need to visit your hive on a weekly or at least every two week schedule. These visits will be to determine if the hive needs some food (at first they can sometimes need some feeding--later they will be strong enough to do it all on their own. Although after a particularly long winter they may need a little help in the food department). Your visits will also be to determine if the queen is laying a good number of eggs (she should lay between 1000 and 2000 eggs per day. Amazingly, she can keep this up for 4 or 5 years!). You will also be visiting your hive to make sure they are building honeycomb and have enough space for critical future growth. If your bees are getting crowded, you will need to add extra boxes for them to feel comfortable and have growing space. If they begin to feel crowded, they will swarm. This means about 2/3 of the bees will leave and go start a brand new hive. Very interesting to watch but sad to lose so many of your bees.
2nd Year Honey Extraction Photos
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Description of following video
In the following video, we are getting the bees out of the super (where the bees store honey) into the main hive. We do this by applying a scent they don't like, it actually smells like almond extract a little. They leave the area and go back to their hive. I took the super off of the top of the hive and placed it next to the hive so as the bees left the super they would be walking right into their home again. And we were left with a super full of honey. We later extracted almost 40 pounds from this super.
A second interesting video from my hive
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Peggy, no problems with colony collapse. There is quite a bit of thinking that this only is happening to bee farmers with many hives (over 50) because the bees are closer and spread diseases more easily. I live far enough north that the africanized bees probably won't make it here. They seem to be having trouble moving north of Las Vegas (more or less) because of the cold winters. I hope they don't come more north--getting stung 3 or 4 times is okay but several hundred stings almost doesn't bear thinking of.
For feed, you just give them sugar water (1/2 and 1/2). They love it and it is very similar to nectar. As far as the fields nearby, the bees travel up to 2 miles to collect nectar and pollinate. They especially love our yard though because my wife has thousands of flowers and several fruit trees. I swear our fruit is bigger than it used to be when we didn't have the bees.
Interesting - My grandfather had hives when I was very young - I think he only had the hives one year - but I was only around 4 so my recall of the event is limited - other than I do recall how much I enjoyed scooping the honey on a spoon right from the boxes - complete with the wax -- chewing and spitting out the wax. Great memory! Thanks
Neil--thanks for reading and sharing. The wax mixed with the honey and all is so good. But even better is the memory you share with your grandfather. Thanks for sharing with me.
Aha, I found your picture hub! Very cool!
It's always good to stay grounded! Good looking out.
we have a bee hive we just got this year. we want to know about the almond oil or extract used to get the bees away from the honey before extraction. is it just almond extract and how much is used? we love the bees and they are doing well, so far. we should have two honey supers full of honey.
deb, good question. I did get the almond oil or extract my first year and quite frankly wasn't super happy with the results. It seemed that it was very slow and actually made the bees quite confused. The next year we just suited up and pulled each frame out, shook it once or twice right in front of the main hive so the majority of the bees would fall off and find their way home, and then brushed off the remaining bees with a good bee brush. It only took about 10 to 15 minutes per super instead of waiting around for an hour or so with the almond stuff. And it was just as effective. Congrats on the two honey supers--that is fabulous news!
Very Long Bee Video
The following video is really quite long but fun to watch.
Video of beehive #3
Peggy W Level 8 Commenter 2 years ago
Are you having any problems with colony collapse or them becoming Africanized? You mentioned having to feed them in the beginning. What do you give them for food? Do you live near fields where they can do the much needed pollinating for our food supply?