The bee keeper diaries

[Iowanian]

It's a great time to buy stock in eppy pens.

This thread is a repository for bee keepers or those interested.

A couple of years ago, a couple of friends an my brother started puttering with honey bees. I didn't buy off because, well, I've never been a big fan of bees or getting stung by them. Last summer I tagged along a couple of times to check their hives and to remove honey bees from a house, public building and an old garage.

I realized at the end of the summer when I was helping them process some, that it's actually pretty interesting, and fits into my expanding "grow my own" logic. I'm not full blown hippy but I see a lot of logic in the self sustaining food thing and I'm doing some of that too.

That said, this thread is about bees, honey bees, bee keeping and bee fighting war stories.

I'm taking the leap and plan to get 2-3 hives this spring and maybe build some bee swarm traps to make it cheaper or to make a few bucks.

Join me and I'll share the real life lessons of an ameture bee keeper. I'm sure I'm going to learn some things the hard way.

[scho63]

Last week on my day off I killed 12 wasps with my blowtorch cane device while smoking cigars and drinking coffee on my front porch.

Little Bastards were everywhere !

[Iowanian]

2022 is off to a booming start.

I'll start by saying there are a lot of moving pieces this year in honey. Canada suffered heavy honey bee losses, and Ukraine is one of the top honey exporters. I know a guy who keeps 4,000 hives and lost 1,700 of those last November alone. That's all leading to a pending honey shortage...and skyrocketing prices. That's good if you have honey on hand I suppose.

Sunday was finally nice enough weather(but windy) and I was home and healthy enough to get into my hives. I still have 14 alive, with 2 that area either weak in numbers or appear to have a queen issue. I inspected all of the hives, found quite a few of my queens and then reversed/flipped the boxes. Typically, the bottom box is where the bees live and queen lays eggs and the 2nd box is supposed to be full of honey to survive the winter. Well, in the spring, the top box should be cleared of honey for the most part and by switching it to the bottom, it gives the queen a lot more room to lay eggs, thereby growing the hive number quicker.

I made it through 12 and everything was fine. I did find one that had a large field mouse that had done some serious damage and I'll have to supplement that one with frames of babies from a strong hive to get it back, which I did. It was getting a little later and I opened the last 2 hives and encountered some unfriendlies. Something set them off and I got climbed on pretty good. I had let my smoker go out, which was a mistake but once they started stinging the mask, I could smell bananas and that's trouble. For some reason they got after my jeans. When the dust settled, I probably had 100 stingers in the back of my jeans, the ass of my pants and crotch. Some stingers do get through pants and I had a number of welts on my ass and hamstrings. It wasn't too bad, just itchy for the most part. Glad it was done.

Yesterday, I had a vist from a local middle school FFA chapter. I've acquired about a dozen bee suits. We had a nice tour and saw a lot of native pollinators in the same pear tree honey bees were working. I showed them equipment for raising, feeding, working and processing. Then I suited them up in groups and took them to the hives and dug into them and let the kids see bees, brood and the resources the bees collect. We did find some queen cells during the inspection....It must not have sucked too bad, because I had the attention of 25 middle school kids for 2hrs and they didn't want to leave.

After they left, I went back down, pulled some frames of bees from strong hives, took the frame with the queen cells and did 2 splits(creating new hives from existing) and moved them to my new(2nd) bee yard.

My goal this year is to have a min of 30 hives by the 4th of July. We'll see but that's my goal.

I'll keep this discussion going if there is still interest, or I'll be happy to just do my own thing.

[ptlyon]

I like to see updates Iowa. I don't have any interest in doing any of it myself, but like reading about it.

[tooge]

So I'm officially a bee keeper. I have two hives and will be getting bees from a hive split this weekend. A beekeeper buddy brought the hives out to my place. He looked around and found a spot in the back pasture that he thought would be fantastic. Fingers are crossed. I'm totally new to this.

[Groves]

Went into winter with two. Came into Spring with two.

I do boring beekeeping. I take honey once a year, if I need it, and if they can spare it.

I’ll prolly catch a few swarms and get a few calls about swarms in “undesirable locations”


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[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by Iowanian

2022 is off to a booming start.

I'll start by saying there are a lot of moving pieces this year in honey. Canada suffered heavy honey bee losses, and Ukraine is one of the top honey exporters. I know a guy who keeps 4,000 hives and lost 1,700 of those last November alone. That's all leading to a pending honey shortage...and skyrocketing prices. That's good if you have honey on hand I suppose.

Sunday was finally nice enough weather(but windy) and I was home and healthy enough to get into my hives. I still have 14 alive, with 2 that area either weak in numbers or appear to have a queen issue. I inspected all of the hives, found quite a few of my queens and then reversed/flipped the boxes. Typically, the bottom box is where the bees live and queen lays eggs and the 2nd box is supposed to be full of honey to survive the winter. Well, in the spring, the top box should be cleared of honey for the most part and by switching it to the bottom, it gives the queen a lot more room to lay eggs, thereby growing the hive number quicker.

I made it through 12 and everything was fine. I did find one that had a large field mouse that had done some serious damage and I'll have to supplement that one with frames of babies from a strong hive to get it back, which I did. It was getting a little later and I opened the last 2 hives and encountered some unfriendlies. Something set them off and I got climbed on pretty good. I had let my smoker go out, which was a mistake but once they started stinging the mask, I could smell bananas and that's trouble. For some reason they got after my jeans. When the dust settled, I probably had 100 stingers in the back of my jeans, the ass of my pants and crotch. Some stingers do get through pants and I had a number of welts on my ass and hamstrings. It wasn't too bad, just itchy for the most part. Glad it was done.

Yesterday, I had a vist from a local middle school FFA chapter. I've acquired about a dozen bee suits. We had a nice tour and saw a lot of native pollinators in the same pear tree honey bees were working. I showed them equipment for raising, feeding, working and processing. Then I suited them up in groups and took them to the hives and dug into them and let the kids see bees, brood and the resources the bees collect. We did find some queen cells during the inspection....It must not have sucked too bad, because I had the attention of 25 middle school kids for 2hrs and they didn't want to leave.

After they left, I went back down, pulled some frames of bees from strong hives, took the frame with the queen cells and did 2 splits(creating new hives from existing) and moved them to my new(2nd) bee yard.

My goal this year is to have a min of 30 hives by the 4th of July. We'll see but that's my goal.

I'll keep this discussion going if there is still interest, or I'll be happy to just do my own thing.

I’m down. I don’t have much to contribute but I enjoy reading it.

[srvy]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

I’m down. I don’t have much to contribute but I enjoy reading it.

Me three!

[Mr. Wizard]

Originally Posted by Iowanian

2022 is off to a booming start.

I'll start by saying there are a lot of moving pieces this year in honey. Canada suffered heavy honey bee losses, and Ukraine is one of the top honey exporters. I know a guy who keeps 4,000 hives and lost 1,700 of those last November alone. That's all leading to a pending honey shortage...and skyrocketing prices. That's good if you have honey on hand I suppose.

Sunday was finally nice enough weather(but windy) and I was home and healthy enough to get into my hives. I still have 14 alive, with 2 that area either weak in numbers or appear to have a queen issue. I inspected all of the hives, found quite a few of my queens and then reversed/flipped the boxes. Typically, the bottom box is where the bees live and queen lays eggs and the 2nd box is supposed to be full of honey to survive the winter. Well, in the spring, the top box should be cleared of honey for the most part and by switching it to the bottom, it gives the queen a lot more room to lay eggs, thereby growing the hive number quicker.

I made it through 12 and everything was fine. I did find one that had a large field mouse that had done some serious damage and I'll have to supplement that one with frames of babies from a strong hive to get it back, which I did. It was getting a little later and I opened the last 2 hives and encountered some unfriendlies. Something set them off and I got climbed on pretty good. I had let my smoker go out, which was a mistake but once they started stinging the mask, I could smell bananas and that's trouble. For some reason they got after my jeans. When the dust settled, I probably had 100 stingers in the back of my jeans, the ass of my pants and crotch. Some stingers do get through pants and I had a number of welts on my ass and hamstrings. It wasn't too bad, just itchy for the most part. Glad it was done.

Yesterday, I had a vist from a local middle school FFA chapter. I've acquired about a dozen bee suits. We had a nice tour and saw a lot of native pollinators in the same pear tree honey bees were working. I showed them equipment for raising, feeding, working and processing. Then I suited them up in groups and took them to the hives and dug into them and let the kids see bees, brood and the resources the bees collect. We did find some queen cells during the inspection....It must not have sucked too bad, because I had the attention of 25 middle school kids for 2hrs and they didn't want to leave.

After they left, I went back down, pulled some frames of bees from strong hives, took the frame with the queen cells and did 2 splits(creating new hives from existing) and moved them to my new(2nd) bee yard.

My goal this year is to have a min of 30 hives by the 4th of July. We'll see but that's my goal.

I'll keep this discussion going if there is still interest, or I'll be happy to just do my own thing.

Do you still have your horizontal hive. Hopefully the wind will die enough that I can check bees, it's been awful this spring, even for western Kansas. I need to get some traps set out.

[JPH83]

Originally Posted by srvy

Me three!

Me 4. I find it really interesting. I don't have the space or, to be honest, the patience to keep them, but my partner worked in horticulture and has fully convinced me of how amazing bees are. Please keep it coming

[allen_kcCard]

I'm interested in it as well. A buddy has talked about doing it a few times and has the place for it, but not sure if he ever will.

[Iowanian]

Originally Posted by Mr. Wizard

Do you still have your horizontal hive. Hopefully the wind will die enough that I can check bees, it's been awful this spring, even for western Kansas. I need to get some traps set out.

I do still have the horizontal. My bees have done very well in there, but i haven't really used it for honey production. There are a TON of bees in it, and while I saw the queen yesterday when I was robbing a couple of frames of bees for a split, there isn't a ton of brood. I saw quite a few queen cups, so I'm thinking that queen needs to go. This was the hive that was mean sunday, which goes against what they're supposed to be. I'm assuming it's a queen issue that has them grouchy.

I wish my design was a little different. I think I'd much prefer if I had the room to just use inside covers(normal Lang style) and had taken the time to hinge the lid.

Other than that, I like it and plan to use it for resources.

There is a lady that has bred a great line of local bee in the Des Moines area and she's selling queen cups. I'm thinking about picking up 3-4 of them to bring those genetics to my yard, and then splitting the bees in the horizontal into 2 splits and re-queening what's left.


I don't know if I'm going to do it this year, but I've been thinking about making a hive in one of those large, clear water cooler jugs, and putting that inside my honey shed with a PVC exit tube so I can have an observation hive. I think that would be fun.

[Mr. Wizard]

Originally Posted by Iowanian

I do still have the horizontal. My bees have done very well in there, but i haven't really used it for honey production. There are a TON of bees in it, and while I saw the queen yesterday when I was robbing a couple of frames of bees for a split, there isn't a ton of brood. I saw quite a few queen cups, so I'm thinking that queen needs to go. This was the hive that was mean sunday, which goes against what they're supposed to be. I'm assuming it's a queen issue that has them grouchy.

I wish my design was a little different. I think I'd much prefer if I had the room to just use inside covers(normal Lang style) and had taken the time to hinge the lid.

Other than that, I like it and plan to use it for resources.

There is a lady that has bred a great line of local bee in the Des Moines area and she's selling queen cups. I'm thinking about picking up 3-4 of them to bring those genetics to my yard, and then splitting the bees in the horizontal into 2 splits and re-queening what's left.


I don't know if I'm going to do it this year, but I've been thinking about making a hive in one of those large, clear water cooler jugs, and putting that inside my honey shed with a PVC exit tube so I can have an observation hive. I think that would be fun.

Yes a hinge would def be needed to make it handy. I don’t use covers at all I use pieces of burlap about 6 frames wide. When I want to check them I just smoke a bit and peel back the burlap as I go. I leave burlap over the frames I am not checking right then. Love it. Super easy on me and the bees. Yes it makes sense a hive that is not queen right would be defensive. I don’t wear a suit anymore but have found I don’t really have to pull frames to check them in the horizontal just slide them over.

[Iowanian]

Bonus bees.

I dropped a kid off at practice and picked up another and had an hour and a half for the next shuffle. It’s supposed to rain for a couple of days so I decided to go grab some equipment.

The people I bought out had some hives in a field they presumed were all dead. When I got there, one was busting at the seems with bees. Change of plans. I threw a ratchet strap around it and duct taped the entrance shut. It was about all I could do being 3 boxes deep and full…but I got it loaded into the truck and moved it to the new apiary I started yesterday.

I’ll do mite treatment with oaxcillic acid vapor soon and plan to try to split this one into 2-3 depending what I find. A nice surprise. With splits and these, I’m up to 18 and we aren’t to swarm season for a couple of weeks.

[btlook1]

very cool, love to hear the updates. Would like to mess with them but not sure I have the motivation. How much honey do you get from a hive? And how long does it take to harvest the process the honey? Just curious. Thanks for the share!!

[Iowanian]

"how much honey"

Well, if you've read this thread....more than once I've been singing the theme from Lowered Expectations.

I've ready a wide variety of numbers on the average, but "the average" hive should produce 30-60lbs of honey per year, and some COULD produce 100#. The issue is there are a ton of variables. Is it a first year package hive(you bought 2# or 3# of bees in a box with a queen and you put them into a hive with no or limited comb)...you're not likely getting much honey from that hive in year one. It's all about getting them into year 2. If it's a swarm, did you get them in May or early June? If so, and you've got some existing frames of comb, they'll go gangbusters building those first 2 boxes and maybe you'll get some honey. Do you have a strong, robust queen and hard working bees in a hive, or are they lazy? Did your queen die or get replaced during the season? Did you work your hives and keep them from swarming, or did half of the bees leave your most active hives? Is it a drought year? Is it a flood year? Do you have verroa mites?

There are just a ton of variables. I guess if I had a goal for my hives, I'd like to see 40-50#/hive average. that would be great for me.


Harvesting. I've posted a couple of times about that with pics. The time it takes I guess depends on how many hives you have, what equipment you have and how you're processing. Grove would have a different answer than I would, because from what I understand he takes full combs, crushes/smashes them and drains honey off into jars.

I've done extraction a couple of ways. I've used someone's 20 frame extractor(which I now own and is 12' from me in my office right now) and last year I used a hand crank 3 frame extractor which took a long time and a lot of small batches. I'm trying to extract the honey, and preserve the frames of comb so they'll be easy for the bees to clean up and repair and fill back with honey the next year. It takes about 8#/honey energy for a colony to produce 1# of wax to build come...so there is great value in honey production next year, by preserving this year's comb.

Basic process for me:
1. use fume board with honey bandit on hive
2. Remove honey supers, and blow as many bees as possible out with leaf blower
3. remove individual honey frames, decap(remove wax coating from honey frames)
4. Put frames of honey into extractor, spin until most honey is out, flip, repeat
5. pour raw honey through metal screen to remove bulk wax and bee legs etc
6. bucket honey
7. store and bottle

If I had to put a time on it, I'd say just processing honey(not bottling) would maybe take 45min-1hr per hive with my setup. So, If I end up with my target of 30 hives, I think it will take me 2 days to get the honey extracted. If I had to guess how much time I have in them in a year? With swarm catches, feeding, inspections, adding supers etc...I'd guess I would easily have 10hrs/hive in them.

I also do comb honey. That's a different process. For those frames, i pull the boxes the same way, remove invididual frames of capped honey, put them into a freezer for at least 48hrs. that makes sure any tiny creepy crawlees are dead. Then I remove those, thaw them, hand cut with a tool into 4"x4" squares and package.

In short, it's all time intensive. All of it. Even if there isn't "work" to do, you still need to check them.....and you're going to WANT to just got watch them do their thing. It's captivating and relaxing to just watch. Great stress reliever, when it's not stressful.


I wish I had taken a pic the other day when I visited a place with 4000 hives. They had them grouped in 4 per pallet in a parking lot with 4 guys going through and feeding them before they place them. They'd just gotten them back from pollenating almonds in california and were getting them ready for honey production. Ironically, the honey produces from almonds is gross. The big advantage for the bee keeper is they come back from a warm climate full of bees and brood and ready for splits when they need a lot of new hives to replace deadouts.